I’m not a big fan of the Income Tax, I think there are better ways to raise revenue and it’s similar (although to a much lesser degree) to indentured servitude. I’m requried to work a percentage of the year for no compensation, it goes straight to the government. And that percentage of my labor that I get no benefit from is increasing. It doesn’t seem like we’re going to get rid of it any time soon, but maybe we could at least improve it. I think it’s ridiculous that I have to pay more of my money to buy software or hire someone to figure out the tax code to determine how much money I have to surrender.
I would like to see us move to a simplified non-punative progressive system. I would say that we put no tax on the low end of the income spectrum. Perhaps take the poverty level calculations and say that income up to that amount is not taxed at all. So lets say the first $30,000 you earn is not taxed at all. Then from $30,000 to $100,000 is taxed at a low tax rate, just a flat 2% to pull a number out of thin air. So it’s not that you break into a new tax bracket at $30,001 income and suddenly owe 2% of your entire income. Instead you just begin to pay tax on that income, so you’d owe 2% of that $1 and nothing on the $30,000. Then you slowly increase the percentage tax as the income brackets go up, say 3% on $100,000 to $250,000 then 5% on $250,000 to $500,000. I don’t know what the numbers should be, but I think we could figure something out. Keep it simple no loopholes or shelters or anything. Although I’d be all for a complete exemption for any and all forms of education, just don’t count any of that money towards income.
The benefit of this system is that there isn’t any punishment for increasing your income. It gives huge benefit to those at the lower end of the income spectrum, allowing them to keep that money that will help them the most. For those who begin to make more they don’t have to worry that they’ll hit a higher tax bracket and make it harder to maintain what they had before. You’ll never make less because you earn more.
