Do you support a 1% Federal Wealth Tax to pay down the $39T National Debt? (Poll)

[BlindBoo]

If not then it's just old people welfare (which is what it actually is anyway)

It's an entitlement program, not welfare.

 

[Couchpotato]

That you paid into SS means only means you are eligible to receive whatever SS benefit the government says you can have.
Said benefit can be increased or reduced any time the government wants to change it.

That's what I said.

 

[Couchpotato]

It's an entitlement program, not welfare.

what do you think welfare is?

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

A Federal Wealth Tax on financial assets might be one way to pay down the $39T National Debt.
Another would be to eliminate all "tax deductions".
A "sweetener" could be to couple the increase in "wealth" taxes with a "Balanced Budget" Law to forbid future Federal borrowing.

Wealth Tax 2025 Debate: U.S. Legal and Constitutional Challenges

Wealth Tax 2025 debate in the U.S. explores constitutional limits, federal authority, and potential court challenges.

lawdropusa.com

Q: What is a wealth tax?
A: A levy on net assets such as stocks, and cash holdings, rather than annual income.

Q: Is a wealth tax constitutional?
A: Opponents argue it violates apportionment rules; supporters claim the Sixteenth Amendment provides sufficient authority.

Q: Has the U.S. ever had a wealth tax?
A: No comprehensive federal wealth tax has been enacted, though estate and property taxes function similarly in scope.

Q: Why is the wealth tax 2025 debate significant?
A: It tests the balance between government taxing power and constitutional limits, with potential Supreme Court involvement.

Just doing some simple math.
If there is approximately $269T of "financial" wealth in the US, and the current Debt is $40T, and we want to pay that debt off in 8-years, that means a $5T tax or a ~2% wealth tax on all financial assets, but only for 8-years.
(it could be 1% over 16-years, if that is easier to sell)

View attachment 1228771

Problem solved. No debt, and no more borrowing.

It isnt the taxes coming in, but the spending that is going out. More money is spent on the war on poverty and the poor are still in poverty.
Per Year U.S. National Debt Clock 2008
George Bush tax revenues - 2.5 trillion income.
tax spending - 2.8 trillion going out George Bush was complained about for adding 5 trillion dollars of debt.

U.S. National Debt Clock 2008
Autopen Biden tax revenues - 1.9 trillion income
tax spending - 5.6 trillion going out. Where was the left complaining about autopen spending 15 trillion dollars in just 4 years? Notice how raising more taxes lessens the revenue income ?

Now - https://www.usdebtclock.org/index.html
Tax Revenues - 5.4 trillion income.
tax spending - 7 trillion out going
Notice how tax revenues increased when taxes were lowered?
If we were spending like we did back under George Bush 43, there would be a net surplus of 4.2 trillion dollars, which in 9 years would completely eliminate the national debt, then the rebates or lower taxes could kick in, but democrats hate happy people which is why they have so much Fraud, Waste and Abuse when they are in power.

 

[kyzr]

Your yelling and screaming does not change the fact:
This means people will pay into SS beyond the cap, but their benefit will not increase past the cap.
This, necessarily, means some people will get SS benefits they did not pay for, and some people will not get SS benefits they did pay for.
That's welfare. You can yell and scream, but this fact will not change.

I don't care how SS is "fixed".
Removing the cap is the simplest.
If you have a better way to get us the benefits we earned, we paid for, and we are promised, fine.

Welfare is charity, its "something for nothing". SS is earned and paid for.

 

[M14 Shooter]

I don't care how SS is "fixed".
Removing the cap is the simplest.

Removing the contributions cap and keeping the benefits cap turns SS into a welfare program.

If you have a better way to get us the benefits we earned, we paid for, and we are promised, fine.

You are only owed the benefits the government decides you are owed.

Welfare is charity, its "something for nothing".

And that's what you want to turn SS into, where people receive benefits paid for by someone else.

 

[kyzr]

Then it's welfare.

Its not welfare, its making SS recipients whole. That cap is arbitrary. If the government didn't steal the SS surplus, or invest some of the surplus in the stock market, SS would not need to be "fixed".

People on welfare did too.

Liar. Welfare is charity its not an earned benefit.

Sure it is. SS is just another tax. It all goes into the same bin and is then doled out to the recipients. They aren't putting it into a savings account for you and then giving you your money back.

We get annual reports from SS on how much we put in and what our benefits would be if we worked to age 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67.... Current workers pay for current retirees, plus any needed from the SS surplus.

The Government has been spending the SS money since it's inception. It's just another tax. The "we paid in" is just a myth always has been.

Not true. SS is "revenue", but specifically allocated to the SS Trust Fund.
SS was "fixed" in 1983 and got 50-years of benefits, it needs to be fixed again to carry it forward with guaranteed benefits.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/understanding-the-social-security-trust-funds-0

Following the bipartisan Social Security financing deal in 1983, Social Security ran a surplus every year until 2021. Starting in 2021, Social Security’s total cost exceeded its total income. However, the trust funds’ reserves supplement the program’s income — from payroll taxes, income taxes on benefits paid to higher-income beneficiaries, and interest earned on the trust funds’ bonds — to enable Social Security to keep paying full benefits until 2034.

 

[kyzr]

That you paid into SS means only means you are eligible to receive whatever SS benefit the government says you can have.
Said benefit can be increased or reduced any time the government wants to change it.

Ok, tell me what happens to the party that wants to cut SS or Medicare benefits.

I think its called "the 3rd rail" for a reason.

 

[kyzr]

Removing the contributions cap and keeping the benefits cap turns SS into a welfare program.

The government decides where the SS cap is.
SS recipients still earn their benefits.
Welfare recipients get charity, money for nothing.

You are only owed the benefits the government decides you are owed.

True. The pols write the laws.

And that's what you want to turn SS into, where people receive benefits paid for by someone else.

A "progressive" SS scale is no different that the "progressive" income tax scale. High earners pay a little more.
High earners should be thankful they are successful.

 

[BlindBoo]

what do you think welfare is?

A safety net for very low income folks. SS is not that.

 

[The Irish Ram]

A flat tax would be fair to all...

 

[citygator]

The spending is THE problem. We dont have a revenue problem. If we rolled back spending levels to the dark ages of 2020 we would be running a surplus.

Cool story. I own and run my business. More than one actually. I'll keep all the money I earn.

When is the last time you paid more in taxes than you were required? Nothing is stopping you from adding up the value of all your assets and cutting a check to the IRS for whatever % of that number you think is fair. They will gladly cash it. Meanwhile get your hand out of my pocket and stop spending my money.

I hope you aren't the CFO of this company you work for....

You are wrong. I am right. I said both are a problem. Let me show you.

As you can see Revenues used to be 19.5% when we were making it. Now we arent making it running 16% under Trump. Revenues have been the major contributor to the deficit short fall all the way until COVID. Ignore 2021-2022 as GDP was affected by covid.

The problem has been all tax revenue until 2020 since 2001 BUT SINCE covid spending has been too high as well recently. I'll address that in the next section below.

Spending in 2024 vs 2001 (the last surplus year) is all healthcare. Everything else is DOWN.

Problem #1 Boomers social security is unfunded. They claim its funded but they ran up a huge debt they didnt pay.

Problem #2 Boomers Medicare is unfunded. They claim its funded but the ran up a huge debt they didnt pay.

Problem #3 Since we UNDER COLLECTED taxes for 20 years below 19.5% of GDP we rand up interest payments.

Problem #4: We have not healthcare solution.

That is the budget issue in a simple way to understand. We arent seeing more fraud or more poor people suck money out. We are seeing people pay LESS TAXES and BOOMER HEALTHCARE/RETIREMENT is breaking us.

 

[M14 Shooter]

Its not welfare, its making SS recipients whole.

They will receive benefits paid for by someone else.
That's welfare.

That cap is arbitrary. If the government didn't steal the SS surplus, or invest some of the surplus in the stock market, SS would not need to be "fixed".

Why do you believe the people who earn above the cap are responsible for making SS 'whole'?

Liar. Welfare is charity its not an earned benefit.

You want people to receive benefits paid for by someone else.
You want welfare.

 

[Couchpotato]

A safety net for very low income folks. SS is not that.

Welfare is an entitlement program. Just like SS is. We all pay in and if and when we need the social safety net it's there, paid for by people currently working, just like SS. If you die at 63 you don't get any of the money you paid in and neither do your descendants. It's welfare, the only difference between what we call welfare and SS is the criteria required to receive it. So call it whatever you want I guess but it functions exactly like welfare. Walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.

 

[M14 Shooter]

Ok, tell me what happens to the party that wants to cut SS..

Why? Its completely irrelevant to what I said.
Your "promised" SS benefit is what the government says it is.

 

[Couchpotato]

You are wrong. I am right. I said both are a problem. Let me show you.

As you can see Revenues used to be 19.5% when we were making it. Now we arent making it running 16% under Trump. Revenues have been the major contributor to the deficit short fall all the way until COVID. Ignore 2021-2022 as GDP was affected by covid.

The problem has been all tax revenue until 2020 since 2001 BUT SINCE covid spending has been too high as well recently. I'll address that in the next section below.

View attachment 1229069


Spending in 2024 vs 2001 (the last surplus year) is all healthcare. Everything else is DOWN.

Problem #1 Boomers social security is unfunded. They claim its funded but they ran up a huge debt they didnt pay.

Problem #2 Boomers Medicare is unfunded. They claim its funded but the ran up a huge debt they didnt pay.

Problem #3 Since we UNDER COLLECTED taxes for 20 years below 19.5% of GDP we rand up interest payments.

Problem #4: We have not healthcare solution.


View attachment 1229071

That is the budget issue in a simple way to understand. We arent seeing more fraud or more poor people suck money out. We are seeing people pay LESS TAXES and BOOMER HEALTHCARE/RETIREMENT is breaking us.

Do you believe the costs to run the country have doubled since 2020?

 

[M14 Shooter]

The government decides where the SS cap is.
SS recipients still earn their benefits.
Welfare recipients get charity, money for nothing.

Removing the contributions cap and keeping the benefits cap turns SS into a welfare program - people pay into the system and receive no benefit from it, because their contribution goes to other people.

A "progressive" SS scale is no different that the "progressive" income tax scale. High earners pay a little more.

Look at you, supporting the redistribution of wealth out one side of your mouth and refusing to believe doing so is welfare out the other.

 

[citygator]

Do you believe the costs to run the country have doubled since 2020?

Do you understand how the percent to GDP metric works? Expenses have gone up from 21.0% to 23.4% Here is what has happened since 2020 in expenses:

Its half interest expense increases and half Boomer retirement and medical.

The spending on running the government didn't go up until the BBB takes hold next year. Trump is spending more on defense and homeland. For now. Its been going down.

 

[BlindBoo]

Welfare is an entitlement program. Just like SS is. We all pay in and if and when we need the social safety net it's there, paid for by people currently working, just like SS. If you die at 63 you don't get any of the money you paid in and neither do your descendants. It's welfare, the only difference between what we call welfare and SS is the criteria required to receive it. So call it whatever you want I guess but it functions exactly like welfare. Walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.

Welfare programs (e.g., TANF, SNAP) are means-tested, temporary assistance for low-income individuals, whereas entitlement programs (e.g., Social Security, Medicare) guarantee benefits based on age or contributions. While entitlement programs are legally required, many welfare programs are discretionary, restricted by funding, or have time limits.

{Damn you can get so-called AI to give any answer you want. Hahahaha....]

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

Its not welfare, its making SS recipients whole. That cap is arbitrary. If the government didn't steal the SS surplus, or invest some of the surplus in the stock market, SS would not need to be "fixed".

Liar. Welfare is charity its not an earned benefit.

We get annual reports from SS on how much we put in and what our benefits would be if we worked to age 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67.... Current workers pay for current retirees, plus any needed from the SS surplus.

Not true. SS is "revenue", but specifically allocated to the SS Trust Fund.
SS was "fixed" in 1983 and got 50-years of benefits, it needs to be fixed again to carry it forward with guaranteed benefits.

https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/understanding-the-social-security-trust-funds-0

Following the bipartisan Social Security financing deal in 1983, Social Security ran a surplus every year until 2021. Starting in 2021, Social Security’s total cost exceeded its total income. However, the trust funds’ reserves supplement the program’s income — from payroll taxes, income taxes on benefits paid to higher-income beneficiaries, and interest earned on the trust funds’ bonds — to enable Social Security to keep paying full benefits until 2034.

Do you think that MILF (Mentally Ill Liberal Females) who murdered their babies in the millions could be one reason why SS is having a hard to fulfilling the need for more income, because the workers just arent there like they used to be?