The Uncensored Tax Plan

[Uncensored2008]

I propose a one line tax code:

All Income of individuals in excess of $200,000 shall be taxed at a rate of 40%. Income below the threshold is not taxed. There shall be no exemptions, deductions, loopholes, adjustments, or any other attempt to alter said tax. Congress shall adjust the threshold to keep pace with inflation every ten years.

Provide rational reasons to oppose this.

 

[Mycroft]

I propose a one line tax code:

All Income of individuals in excess of $200,000 shall be taxed at a rate of 40%. Income below the threshold is not taxed. There shall be no exemptions, deductions, loopholes, adjustments, or any other attempt to alter said tax. Congress shall adjust the threshold to keep pace with inflation every ten years.

Provide rational reasons to oppose this.

What will be the total tax revenue?

Will it be enough to pay for everything?

 

[ttwtt78640]

What will be the total tax revenue?

Will it be enough to pay for everything?

Who cares about such ‘details’?

 

[TheDoctorWasIn]

I propose a one line tax code:

All Income of individuals in excess of $200,000 shall be taxed at a rate of 40%. Income below the threshold is not taxed. There shall be no exemptions, deductions, loopholes, adjustments, or any other attempt to alter said tax. Congress shall adjust the threshold to keep pace with inflation every ten years.

Provide rational reasons to oppose this.

What about married couples that file jointly?

Does that 40% apply to all income, or just income above the 200,000 line? Will someone who makes $200,000.01 in a year pay no taxes, or $80,000?

What counts as "income?"

Why are taxes indexed to inflation?

 

[ttwtt78640]

What about married couples that file jointly?

Does that 40% apply to all income, or just income above the 200,000 line? Will someone who makes $200,000.01 in a year pay no taxes, or $80,000?

What counts as "income?"

Why are taxes indexed to inflation?

Reading is for the mental.

All Income of individuals in excess of $200,000 shall be taxed at a rate of 40%. Income below the threshold is not taxed.

 

[aociswundumho]

What will be the total tax revenue?

His plan would generate about 1.4 trillion compared to current individual tax revenue of 2.2 trillion, but that assumes high income earners will not change their behavior under the new tax plan.

 

[aociswundumho]

Does that 40% apply to all income, or just income above the 200,000 line?

Obviously the latter.

 

[Hari Seldon]

I propose a one line tax code:

All Income of individuals in excess of $200,000 shall be taxed at a rate of 40%. Income below the threshold is not taxed. There shall be no exemptions, deductions, loopholes, adjustments, or any other attempt to alter said tax. Congress shall adjust the threshold to keep pace with inflation every ten years.

Provide rational reasons to oppose this.

Works for me. You should define income. Retirement, interest, dividends, etc. Municipal bonds help state and local governments by being tax free. You ever see a publicly traded partnership K-1?

 

[Chock Full o Nuts]

Sweet. My salary will be 199,999, and I dont want a penny more! It's just enough, but not excessive.

 

[TheDoctorWasIn]

Reading is for the mental.

Obviously the latter.

Apologies, you are correct. I misread the OP.

I retract that paragraph.

 

[Slartibartfast]

Sweet. My salary will be 199,999, and I dont want a penny more! It's just enough, but not excessive.

Under this plan, if your salary is $200,010, then you will pay $4 in taxes.

 

[SNOWFLAKE]

I just love the idea, it will help pay for the bloated military budget while taking away school lunches for poor kids.

 

[aociswundumho]

Under this plan, if your salary is $200,010, then you will pay $4 in taxes.

But if he makes 300k, then his tax bill is 40K.

 

[Mycroft]

His plan would generate about 1.4 trillion compared to current individual tax revenue of 2.2 trillion, but that assumes high income earners will not change their behavior under the new tax plan.

So...the OP's plan would supercharge our current deficit spending.

The federal government spends money on a variety of goods, programs, and services to support the American public and pay interest incurred from borrowing. In fiscal year (FY) 2024, the government spent $6.75 trillion, which was more than it collected (revenue), resulting in a deficit.

Fiscal Data Explains Federal Spending

Check out @FiscalService Fiscal Data’s new federal spending page! #FederalSpending

fiscaldata.treasury.gov

 

[Individual]

I propose a one line tax code:

All Income of individuals in excess of $200,000 shall be taxed at a rate of 40%. Income below the threshold is not taxed. There shall be no exemptions, deductions, loopholes, adjustments, or any other attempt to alter said tax. Congress shall adjust the threshold to keep pace with inflation every ten years.

Provide rational reasons to oppose this.

1. Each individual with a total income equal or greater than 1/4 the Federal minimum wage, ( $7.25 x 2085 / 4 ) should be required to file and pay Federal income tax.
2. Agreed, total gross income, regardless of source or form should be taxed with no allowed exemptions, deductions, loopholes, adjustments.
3. There should be 5 unchangeable progressive tax rates of 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 37%.
4. The 5 tax rates would be applied to income of up to 1, 2, 3, 4, and greater than 4 times the GNI per person, with tables adjusted each year as determined by the CBO.
5. Any projected deficit would be resolved, when possible, by a surtax multiplier applied to the tax owed, not to exceed a predetermined maximum.
6. Any revenue surplus would be left for Congress to decide if it should be used to reduce the debt, and/or be used by those with gross income in the lower 4 tax brackets as a surtax multiplier of less than 1.
7. FICA tax and associated Trust funds would be eliminated, and made part of the Public held debt allowing Social Security and Medicare to be administered and funded through the general revenue fund.
8. Social Security benefits would no longer be associated with FICA taxable income, but solely on age and citizenship.
9. There would be 11 annually inflation adjusted Social Security benefit amounts determined by the age one first begins receiving benefits. ( Haven't yet tried to determine what the amounts should be using a spreadsheet. )
10. Naturalized citizens, who were naturalized at age 45 or more would be ineligible for reduced benefits at an age less than 67.

 

[aociswundumho]

So...the OP's plan would supercharge our current deficit spending.

The problem with all of these plans is they loot the most productive people in society to bankroll idiot politicians who’ll burn the money on pet projects, vote-buying schemes, or outright stupidity. It comes down to capital allocation - and politicians are objectively awful at it. If they weren’t, central planning wouldn’t be the historical disaster that it is.

 

[Cosmo]

I propose a one line tax code:

All Income of individuals in excess of $200,000 shall be taxed at a rate of 40%. Income below the threshold is not taxed. There shall be no exemptions, deductions, loopholes, adjustments, or any other attempt to alter said tax. Congress shall adjust the threshold to keep pace with inflation every ten years.

Provide rational reasons to oppose this.

Even assuming we're just talking about the income tax side of things, people making in excess of $200k often end up paying more than 40% as it is between payroll taxes, state taxes, and federal taxes. So with the rich paying less and the <$200k earners paying $0, don't you think you'll run into a deficit? Musk is gonna have to do a lot more firings to make it work.

 

[Slartibartfast]

But if he makes 300k, then his tax bill is 40K.

Yup

 

[Uncensored2008]

Works for me. You should define income. Retirement, interest, dividends, etc. Municipal bonds help state and local governments by being tax free. You ever see a publicly traded partnership K-1?

No exemptions, no deductions. But money once taxed cannot be taxed again.

 

[Uncensored2008]

What will be the total tax revenue?

Will it be enough to pay for everything?

It will in fact increase revenue. Removing Net Loss Cary Forward, that exempts those with extremely high incomes in itself will massively increase revenue. Obviously no SALT to give massive welfare to California and New York.

 

[BirdinHand]

I don’t think one line policies are generally well thought out or effective.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Who cares about such ‘details’?

Murray Rothbard did a rigorous breakdown and conclusively demonstrated that revenue would increase, because those with high incomes at the time were averaging about a 10% tax rate.

Currently, less than half of income is taxed at all. The difference in a flat tax is that all income from all sources above the threshold is taxed.

 

[Uncensored2008]

I don’t think one line policies are generally well thought out or effective.

Besides, how will congress sell exemptions?

 

[BirdinHand]

Besides, how will congress sell exemptions?

No, as a pretty universal statement.

 

[Uncensored2008]

What about married couples that file jointly?

All Income of individuals in excess of $200,000 shall be taxed at a rate of 40%.

Does that 40% apply to all income, or just income above the 200,000 line? Will someone who makes $200,000.01 in a year pay no taxes, or $80,000?

All Income of individuals in excess of $200,000 shall be taxed at a rate of 40%.

What counts as "income?"

Income from any and all sources

Why are taxes indexed to inflation?

To keep democrats from using hyper-inflation as as means of thwarting income protections for the middle class.