I can understand all of that (mustang)
But if you think about it, that wouldn't be much different that what was determined Fair, with our progressive income tax structure....ya know?
True, and I for one accept a reasonable progressive INCOME Tax strucure. The FICA tax is not designed for the purpose of being an income tax, but an insurance policy dedicated to the individual payer.
And my second come back to what you said is a part, a very crucial part of the picture, which is not being discussed.
Each and every year for the past ....God knows how long, the Federal Government has included the Social Security payouts and taxes received in to the fiscal yearly budget.
This is true and it's how the politicians use the money paid in; by borrowing against it with US treasury bonds. Those represent the so-called "lock-box" we hear about, and seem to be a reasonable vehicle for the purpose. Those bonds are earning interest to keep their value current with inflation. Their use allows for spending, as we borrow from ourselves, without printing money but they do drive up interest rates because of demand for dollars.
And for the past 8 years we have been collecting much more in SS taxes than paying out in SS retirement Benefits....
Now, now... not just for the last 8-years. This has long been true, and is not a partisan issue and it is a spurrious effort to do so.
to the tune of $150 billion to $300 billion a year in SS surplus funds are being used to balance the budget. [we are balancint the budget by borrowing; how is that new] If we did not have these surplus funds in the National Budget to be used, then our income taxes would have to go up, or we would need to borrow more from China etc, to cover what our income taxes should have paid for....
So, essentially those paying SS up to the 100k who probably only pay 10% to 20% of our total income tax burden, are really paying for much much much more than that, because all of the SS surplus funds of theirs is being used for what the wealthiest should be paying, those that you all imply are paying 90% of our income taxes....
Not really, as I said above the money is being loaned, and will eventually have to be repaid when the demand comes due, and I am not among those who doubt that that will take place.
they might be paying that portion of the income taxes collected but that by NO MEANS, translates to them paying 90% of the country's total BILL/EXpenditures!!!
To the extent that inflation hurts the small income earner more than the high one, this is true. We should do as little as we can to distort the economy; To do that we need to be sure that people actually do pay according to tax rates, and not try to correct it with the Alternative Minimum Tax. there has to be a better way; maybe we need a new political party organised around this issue while the number of taxpayers is greater than the number of non taxpayers (or at least those who believe themselves to be taxpayers).
We are borrowing from China and the SS tax payers to pay the yearly bills.
That is so if we consider inflation to be a tax, and if so I agree with that, but the affects are different between the two: As an earner of modest income I'm sure that I benifit from the low cost of my consumer goods. I can buy a drill
* made in china for the same dollars a lesser drill cost me 30 years ago. This is the case for a whole "basket" of items I need for my quality of life and ability to earn an income to supplement my SS check which does little more than pay mine and my spous's health and life insurance costs. The SS lockbox as Treasury bond conversion/budget enabler, as I said becomes an inflation/taxation issue.
This gives a huge advantage to the wealthiest who are claiming to be paying about 90% of the bill, to put off actually paying for what we actually spend.
Right now, we are paying $300 billion a year on the interest alone, of this debt....taking away funds that were used at one time for other things, like the military etc... I heard that in 10 years from all of this recent spending BEFORE Obama, that interest payment will be $450 billion A YEAR, let alone all of the deficit spending the obama admin is talking about adding with their stimulus....this does not even reduce the debt any, just the interest payment to other countries loaning it to us... pretty frightening to me...
Anyway...the working class, is paying more than you'd think on the bills of this country and not just the SS retirement benefit bills...but this is never really discussed.
care
I'm wearying a little bit here Care, so I will stipulate that all is that is true, but all of these things need to be looked at incrementally, and adjusted to try to apply costs and benifits to their true benificiaries. The best two examples that first come to mind ar the
Federal/State gas tax paid at the pump, and the FICA. The perfect answer would supposedly be a "flat tax." That type tax could solve some problems if there were some efficient system of not taxing basic costs of living, like housing, medical care, energy, transportation, etc. The best thing that could come out of an effort like that would be that we could get a chance to throw out so much of the past, and modernize for the present.
IMHO You have a clear vision of the overall problem, as I hope do I. What's it going to take to get the politics out of the most important of issues? The goal should be to come up with a system that distorts the economy as little as possible. Thanks for the reasonable discussion.
Signed,
Mustang (thanks....I think)
*Edit:
1972 – Drill, 3/8 inch chuck, 2 speed, reversible $65.
2007 – Drill, 1/2 inch chuck, variable speed, reversible $20.
Current dollars, not adjusted for inflation