US of A Presidential Elections 2012

Do we have a thread regarding taxes in the US? I think it would be an interesting one to have...
 
Government spends X gets tax revenue of Y has to borrow Y - X to fund the gap but the interest payments go into next years X. ? So the X gets bigger. Result misery, or 2008 and onward. Something has to be done world wide I think, the South Americans have a good way of dealing with the problem, they renege on the obligations and start again.
 
Government spends X gets tax revenue of Y has to borrow Y - X to fund the gap but the interest payments go into next years X. ? So the X gets bigger. Result misery, or 2008 and onward. Something has to be done world wide I think, the South Americans have a good way of dealing with the problem, they renege on the obligations and start again.

Except, here in some states we have the so-called Tax-Payers' Bill of Rights (TABOR), which does more harm than good. As member of the graduate student government here at the University of Colorado we are working toward repealing TABOR.

What does TABOR do? It was introduced about 20 years from neo-liberal and libertarian desires. It dictates that if there is surplus in the budget from tax revenue, that surplus can't be used for public use (gardens, transport, education, roads etc...) but needs to be returned to the People! (everytime someone in America uses the phrase "the People" everyone gets giggly and mesmerized by fantasies of individualism)

Doesn't sound too bad, now does it? Except that it technically froze funding for education at a certain level. Over the years, due to inflation, that funding has been dwindling. The University of Colorado - the largest public school in the state, is now down to being only 8% publicly funded, and projections are that in the next 5 years it will go down to 0%.

But here is the kicker - in-state tuition in the last 5-6 years has gone up from $2,200 to $8,000, not primarily because of TABOR, but TABOR has prevented increases in public funding so it is one of the culprits.

So on the one hand you are happy - you get $2-3 more on your tax return every year, but on the other your kid's college tuition has tripled.

(TABOR itself is much more complicated, and I don't want to get into details here. Just wanted to illustrate some of the idiosyncrasies when it comes to taxes in the states)
 
I have written a fair bit on taxes in this thread and the general politics thread but no I do not think we have one just for taxes.

On a slightly related to the election note if you want to break your brain go read any comments on the photos released of Obama shooting a shotgun.

Man the stupid is so high that I just cannot even try to correct it.
 
Wouldn't that just be 200 pages of people saying "Introducing higher taxes = Communism"?

Maybe. I know a few members disagree with a flat-tax on everybody and I just can't fathom why. A sales-only flat-tax, IMO, would be a dream.
 
The argument against a flat tax is usually that it is unfair to low income people who currently pay no (or very little) federal tax. A VAT type tax or flat would result in a large tax increase for these people, who are the ones who can afford it least.
 
The argument against a flat tax is usually that it is unfair to low income people who currently pay no (or very little) federal tax. A VAT type tax or flat would result in a large tax increase for these people, who are the ones who can afford it least.

They pay excise taxes already, what would be the difference? Low income people need to pay taxes out of principle so that it is understood where their benefits come from.
 
a GST that was consistent across the U.S (hell even states) would be a good start, one thing I can't stand when I go to the U.S is that prices are advertised without the tax applied, here I know exactly what I"m going to pay when I pick up the item
 
Wouldn't that just be 200 pages of people saying "Introducing higher taxes = Communism"?
No. Half of it would probably be me and British_Rover contradicting it and one third would be me questioning the intellect of anyone who call Eisenhover era tax levels 'communism'.

Doesn't sound too bad, now does it?

It sounds immensly imbisilic and like one of the worst ideas I've heard since that clown who wanted me and my colleques charged for evicting him last night. It ranks up there with the House of Lords voting against a budget in 1909.

In other words, it's very stupid.
 
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