Flat Tax and Tithing

[Deleted member 365]

Since this IRS thing a lot of my conservative friends have been crying for tax reform. They are using the argument that 10 percent is good enough for The Lord so why isn't it good enough for the government? I just think that's an interesting comparison and argument.

 

[Zulu]

WUt????

 

[unluckyseventeen]

https://qkme.me/3up0z0

 

[Nate505]

“And once again tithing is 10% off the top. That’s gross income, not net. Please people, don’t force us to audit. Now I’m going to pass this around a second time. Brother Ned, you’ll do the honors.”

 

[Gameface]

The tax rate and the level of government services need to be connected to one another. While I'm a libertarian, that's an ideological position. In the real world there are services being provided and they need to be paid for. If we'd like to stop providing those services we need to make that decision first, not take the conservative approach of shutting off the funds and watching the program flounder about before it suffocates.

It's like if you have a dog you can't take care of. Shutting it in the closet until it "goes away" is not an honorable way to go about your dilemma. But that seems to be the approach conservatives are taking in regard to our fiscal situation. They've made their "no new taxes" pledge and their sticking to it no matter the consequences.

 

[Dr. Jones]

The tax rate and the level of government services need to be connected to one another. While I'm a libertarian, that's an ideological position. In the real world there are services being provided and they need to be paid for. If we'd like to stop providing those services we need to make that decision first, not take the conservative approach of shutting off the funds and watching the program flounder about before it suffocates.

It's like if you have a dog you can't take care of. Shutting it in the closet until it "goes away" is not an honorable way to go about your dilemma. But that seems to be the approach conservatives are taking in regard to our fiscal situation. They've made their "no new taxes" pledge and their sticking to it no matter the consequences.

Speaking for myself, that is a gross mischaracterization. Said slightly differently;

If no one can seem to shut some programs down because the money is there.. let's remove the money and force solutions. (I'm not debating this topic here, though..)

 

[PearlWatson]

That's what you call equality under the law. We can't have that.

 

[One Brow]

That's what you call equality under the law. We can't have that.

$1000 means a lot more to a person living on $10000/year than $10000 means to someone living on $100000/year. It's not equality.

 

[babe]

$1000 means a lot more to a person living on $10000/year than $10000 means to someone living on $100000/year. It's not equality.

What anything "means" or is supposed to "mean" is irrelevant on an objective scale of measurement. You float in and out of objectivity to suit your purposes with so little good reason it actually is insane.

 

[Dr. Jones]

$1000 means a lot more to a person living on $10000/year than $10000 means to someone living on $100000/year. It's not equality.

Puke. Vomit. Puke.

 

[leftyjace]

$1000 means a lot more to a person living on $10000/year than $10000 means to someone living on $100000/year. It's not equality.

And if you have 2 people living in a house each making $10,000 a year, what about $2,000 a year versus $20,000 a year? More palatable, right?

That's the problem with making exceptions. Let's say there's a flat tax of 10%, and a guy is making $100,000. Due to the graduated flat tax, if an individual is making less than, oh, say, $60,000, they only pay 8% versus 10%. So what does the guy do? He apportions half of the income - or possibly, 40% - to his spouse. They both pay at the 8% rate instead of the 10% rate, and voila, they've ducked $2,000 in taxes simply by creative accounting.

For those that espouse exceptions to promote fairness, you must acknowledge that those exceptions are also opportunities for others to exploit, and end up being even less fair in the long run.

 

[One Brow]

What anything "means" or is supposed to "mean" is irrelevant on an objective scale of measurement. You float in and out of objectivity to suit your purposes with so little good reason it actually is insane.

By any objective measure of which I know. taxing $1,000 from a family making $10,000 causes a more significant loss than $10,000 from a family making $100,000. Of course, these are measures that value things like fresh vegetables and medicine as being more important than a third car.