Taxes

[flowerseverywhere]

Oh I think it's definitely a slippery slope, there's not enough money among the top 1% to pay for everything most of you want. I think it will take the placement of a significant burden on at least the top 50% to come close, but they won't tell us that until it's too late to prevent them coming to power.

And it's almost bound to happen, the number of people looking jealously at IL's stash outnumbers IL and her beneficiaries. That's the danger of our version of democracy, it allows a mob to take whatever they want from others as long as it's not constitutionally forbidden, and modern jurists have decided that the government has an unlimited interest in our personal finances through taxation. It's just a matter of time.

you could bury all your music net in coffee cans in the yard. Only kidding. Many people do hide wealth through the barter/cash economy. Actually, I’m mixed on this, just looking for further explanation for the call for even lower, or no increases in taxes. Somethings gotta give.

[flowerseverywhere]

Cut 10% across-the-board. Let the bureaucrats decide within their own areas it gets cut.


Although I know that leads to all kinds of blow back, having been part of those discussions at the government level for years, one trick is to cut something that is very popular and obvious so that the public season and screams about it.

interesting proposition. So what if 10% across the board was put into place. What is to prevent the commander in Chief from making changes, like for funding a border wall? Or a military parade? Or a White House garden? Or new drapes for the White House?

I find all of this so perplexing. Should the NIH get 10% as well as defense? Since defense accounts for 45% that might be a good place to look. Or maybe not.

[Alan]

you could bury all your music net in coffee cans in the yard.

Music net?

​Actually, I’m mixed on this, just looking for further explanation for the call for even lower, or no increases in taxes. Somethings gotta give.

I still think spending is a perfectly viable option.

[Gardnr]

Our current state of spending vs. taxes is unsustainable. What specific programs/spending would you be in favor of cutting?

ie. Eliminate federal flood insurance for a savings of $20-30 billion (depending on who is telling you)?
or no free school lunch and breakfasts . Around 15 billion
close army bases abroad?
no weekend trips to Mar A Lago? (That’ll get someone going)
what hard choices should our legislators make instead of raising taxes.

It will never be easy choices. I truly struggle with the constant rebuilding of homes/business is locations that are repeatedly devastated. Floods, hurricanes, earthquakes.....yet where do those folks go to rebuild a life? How much of our population lives in these locations?

I am one of those crazy people that believes children are the future. (I don't have children so I don't have skin in that game). They NEED nourishment to learn and grow. Do we take food away from our future?

The expensive travel of our leaders? I'm all for cutting that bigtime. Camp David is the presidential relaxation escape funded by the taxpayer. So if you want to go elsewhere? The costs in excess of taking you there are a personal expense. I am sick to death of the taxpayer cost for this President's "outings".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...tial_vacations

In 8 years Barack Obama only spent 96 million.

In just 28 months in office Mr Trump: golf trips having cost taxpayers at least $102 million in extra travel and security expenses, trips to Florida having cost $81 million, his trips to New Jersey costing $17 million, his 2018 two days in Scotland costing at least $3 million, and $1 million for a trip to his resort in Los Angeles.^[8][9]

And this is ONLY VACATIONS!


Meanwhile, the infrastructure of our country is crumbling. More than 47,000 bridges in the United States are in crucial need of repairs, says the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, or ARTBA. https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/02/us/de...rnd/index.html
A bridge in my rural hometown crumbled one day. So now folks are driving much further to get where they need to go. It is still not under construction. No $.

Crap like this needs to stop: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-...d24-story.html
I've been to a few of these places and they are awesome. But does the federal pocketbook need to fund them? I have mixed feelings about these.

And this year: https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politic...s-pet-projects

https://americansforprosperity.org/f...r-money-pt-ii/

https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-b...sting-money-on

That said, I keep voting to fire long-term Congress peeps. But I am not among the majority in my state. Until a big change happens in DC, there will be no change in behavior.

[Teacher Terry]

We definitely need universal health care. As for the other things being tossed around not so much.

[LDAHL]

interesting proposition. So what if 10% across the board was put into place. What is to prevent the commander in Chief from making changes, like for funding a border wall? Or a military parade? Or a White House garden? Or new drapes for the White House?

I find all of this so perplexing. Should the NIH get 10% as well as defense? Since defense accounts for 45% that might be a good place to look. Or maybe not.

Defense accounts for 15%. Social Security is 24%. Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and Obamacare subsidies are 26%.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/federa...tax-dollars-go

[Gardnr]

Defense accounts for 15%. Social Security is 24%. Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and Obamacare subsidies are 26%.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/federa...tax-dollars-go

Social security source:

In 2018, $885.1 billion (88.2 percent) of total Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance income came from payroll taxes. The remainder was provided by interest earnings ($83.3 billion or 8.3 percent) and revenue from taxation of OASDI benefits ($35 billion or 3.4 percent), and less than $50 million in reimbursements from the General Fund of the Treasury.

Medicare $ sources:
Part A's inpatient admitted hospital and skilled nursing coverage is largely funded by revenue from a 2.9% payroll tax levied on employers and workers (each pay 1.45%).
Parts B and D are partially funded by premiums paid by Medicare enrollees and general U.S. Treasury revenue (to which Medicare beneficiaries contributed and may still contribute). In 2006, a surtax was added to Part B premium for higher-income seniors to partially fund Part D. In the Affordable Care Act legislation of 2010, another surtax was then added to Part D premium for higher-income seniors to partially fund the Affordable Care Act and the number of Part B beneficiaries subject to the 2006 surtax was doubled, also partially to fund PPACA.

[flowerseverywhere]

Music net?

I still think spending is a perfectly viable option.[/COLOR]

I think I meant money. I could be president!

[flowerseverywhere]

Defense accounts for 15%. Social Security is 24%. Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and Obamacare subsidies are 26%.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/federa...tax-dollars-go

Very interesting. I’ve seen other sites that say it’s 45%. I truly have a tough time deciphering all these web sites and finding the truth. I’m looking for further explanations as to why some say 45%. If we have learned everything’s, facts can be bent to fit the personal bias of the writer.

26% is a really lot of money for the government to be kicking in for healthcare when we are all kicking in a bunch as well.

[Yppej]

We spend much more per person on healthcare than other countries. We should go single payer with a payroll tax like Social Security but without a cap on the earnings taxed. Taxes will go up but almost everyone's costs will go down.

Other expenditures should be offset by cuts elsewhere, starting with endless wars.