US Taxes are too low compared to the rest of the world

[Oddball]

I don't believe a gold backed currency is the answer, because then you're limited on how much currency you can legitimately have in circulation. Take all the precious metal on earth and you're still under the annual GDP if you want cash backed on a tangible metal. (I think).


.

Then prices would adjust accordingly.....And silver coin, which is far more available, would be available for small transactions, like it did before.

 

[Flash]

"Taxes are too low" said nobody ever.

"Spending is too high" says everybody with a brain.

The filthy ass US government spends more money on the cost of government than the GDP of all but a few countries on earth. If you include state and local spending the number is the GDP of all but about three other countries.

The cost of combined government both direct and indirect is usually the largest family expenditure, regardless of income.

One of the reasons the US has the largest economy in the world is because we are so far down that list. The best way to be less prosperous is to move further up that list. The best way to be even more prosperous is to move farther down the list.

Government spending sucks. There are a few necessary governments functions like defense, police, courts etc but we sure as hell don't need more entitlements, bailouts, grants, subsidies and other stupid stupid redistribution of income and wealth.

 

[imawhosure]

"Taxes are too low" said nobody ever.

"Spending is too high" says everybody with a brain.

The filthy ass US government spends more money on the cost of government than the GDP of all but a few countries on earth. If you include state and local spending the number is the GDP of all but about three other countries.

The cost of combined government both direct and indirect is usually the largest family expenditure, regardless of income.

One of the reasons the US has the largest economy in the world is because we are so far down that list. The best way to be less prosperous is to move further up that list. The best way to be even more prosperous is to move farther down the list.

Government spending sucks. There are a few necessary governments functions like defense, police, courts etc but we sure as hell don't need more entitlements, bailouts, grants, subsidies and other stupid stupid redistribution of income and wealth.

Geeze, anyone ask the Leftists where the 60 to 90 Tril over the next 10yrs is coming from to pay for their new programs?

Most of America isn't going to go for that, so to bolster support, what do they call it...…………………..why a CRISIS of course!

Look, there is no doubt that the GOP is NOT the end all, be all, of anything. But when you consider the craziness of what the Socialist Left wants to do, the GOP sounds downright rational, lol.

 

[Flash]

"Taxes are too low" said nobody ever.

"Spending is too high" says everybody with a brain.

The filthy ass US government spends more money on the cost of government than the GDP of all but a few countries on earth. If you include state and local spending the number is the GDP of all but about three other countries.

The cost of combined government both direct and indirect is usually the largest family expenditure, regardless of income.

One of the reasons the US has the largest economy in the world is because we are so far down that list. The best way to be less prosperous is to move further up that list. The best way to be even more prosperous is to move farther down the list.

Government spending sucks. There are a few necessary governments functions like defense, police, courts etc but we sure as hell don't need more entitlements, bailouts, grants, subsidies and other stupid stupid redistribution of income and wealth.

Geeze, anyone ask the Leftists where the 60 to 90 Tril over the next 10yrs is coming from to pay for their new programs?

Most of America isn't going to go for that, so to bolster support, what do they call it...…………………..why a CRISIS of course!

Look, there is no doubt that the GOP is NOT the end all, be all, of anything. But when you consider the craziness of what the Socialist Left wants to do, the GOP sounds downright rational, lol.

We don't need more government programs. We need less government programs.

Ron Paul's plan that he had in 2012 to cut the Federal government spending a trillion a year would be a good start.

 

[Gdjjr]

When havoc is created, chaos ensues and catastrophe is inevitable- Historians (if they are around) will assign the time lines.
A ship cannot turn on a dime.
It's taken over 200 years to get to where we are - it's easier and takes less time to tear down than to build or rebuild.

In failure analysis ALL the evidence has to be considered starting with the initial manufacturing process all the way to the part that broke and points between.
It could be argued our origin/establishing a gov't to protect Liberty created havoc- we are living in chaos- it's pretty obvious rules will be broken, so what is the alternative? It requires way more band width than available to lay out a plan- any book has to have a beginning to lay out context then move onto the context then offer an ending- succinctly: we were established by federalist and anti-federalist- the federalist won- they believed a fed gov't HAD to have power over people- the anti-federalist didn't believe that it should be powerful, but subservient- the answer: Liberty. Not rationed freedom. Pay for play is the result of rationing freedom.

The "idea" behind the constitution was a grand idea explained in the preamble- it started crumbling as soon as there were no teeth applied to the less than virtuous who are elected- it accelerated with excuses used to justify restricting Liberty (laws) whose fed numbers are so high they can't be counted- Davy Crockett made a great speech to congress “Money with [Congressmen] is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it.”
Truth or fiction in its origin is immaterial- it speaks the truth about the less than virtuous.

 

[Gdjjr]

Geeze, anyone ask the Leftists where the 60 to 90 Tril over the next 10yrs is coming from to pay for their new programs?

They know that as well as you- however, I suspect the money men (TPTB) have told them in no uncertain terms that it's time for a Republican doctrine and they are merely ensuring it. They "save face" by protesting everything including the head Republican and it wouldn't matter if his name was Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren or was an avowed Democrat in a Republican suit. This shit show will continue until it can't. Period.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

I'm not going to pretend to understand all the nuances of economic philosophy, but when your country's currency is based on FAITH, rather than actually having any tangible value, it makes no difference what your debt is. We owe $23T in "promissory notes" to all sorts of people. The people who print the promissory notes and own the bank that functions as our treasury prints them and hold a lot of that debt to itself.

It allows smaller countries to exist printing monopoly money to maintain a banking industry and economy in the same manner as long as they continue to cooperate. Then they can buy food, fuel, consumer and industrial supplies with monopoly money. If they revolt and oppose the globalist agenda, their credit rating suffers.

I don't believe a gold backed currency is the answer, because then you're limited on how much currency you can legitimately have in circulation. Take all the precious metal on earth and you're still under the annual GDP if you want cash backed on a tangible metal. (I think).

The debt certainly is an issue and I do hope Trump will be making an effort to restrain spending and start paying down that debt in the next 5 years. That said I also believe that money itself is a "bugaboo of small minds" to lift a quote from Robert Heinlein.


.

Even the gold backed currency depended upon faith as it was the same people telling us how much the gold was worth. Gold has no intrinsic value, it is pricey because we choose it to be so. I often laugh at all the people that stockpile gold for after the "collapse", like gold will somehow still have its value.

 

[miketx]

Since you can't believe anything the media reports, don't worry about it.

 

[francoHFW]

"Taxes are too low" said nobody ever.

"Spending is too high" says everybody with a brain.

The filthy ass US government spends more money on the cost of government than the GDP of all but a few countries on earth. If you include state and local spending the number is the GDP of all but about three other countries.

The cost of combined government both direct and indirect is usually the largest family expenditure, regardless of income.

One of the reasons the US has the largest economy in the world is because we are so far down that list. The best way to be less prosperous is to move further up that list. The best way to be even more prosperous is to move farther down the list.

Government spending sucks. There are a few necessary governments functions like defense, police, courts etc but we sure as hell don't need more entitlements, bailouts, grants, subsidies and other stupid stupid redistribution of income and wealth.

Geeze, anyone ask the Leftists where the 60 to 90 Tril over the next 10yrs is coming from to pay for their new programs?

Most of America isn't going to go for that, so to bolster support, what do they call it...…………………..why a CRISIS of course!

Look, there is no doubt that the GOP is NOT the end all, be all, of anything. But when you consider the craziness of what the Socialist Left wants to do, the GOP sounds downright rational, lol.

Whatever those costs are in trillions, they are less than what we are spending now. The United States's problem is we are not taxing the rich enough and everyone else too much. Google the only tax graph you need to know. We have a flat tax system if you count all taxes not enough to invest in America and Americans. Every other rich country manages it and we are the richest.

 

[Pete7469]

I don't believe a gold backed currency is the answer, because then you're limited on how much currency you can legitimately have in circulation. Take all the precious metal on earth and you're still under the annual GDP if you want cash backed on a tangible metal. (I think).


.

Then prices would adjust accordingly.....And silver coin, which is far more available, would be available for small transactions, like it did before.

Assuming there is an adequate supply of silver...

I'm no Keynesian, and I tend to view the Mises as superior, but I haven't taken the time to truly study all this shit.

Plus I'm just ready to watch this shit collapse like the Cloward-Piven minions are trying to accomplish so they're the ones cannibalized by hordes of unwashed starving city dwellers who haven't eaten McNuggets in 24 hours post economic apocalypse.

 

[Flash]

[The United States's problem is we are not taxing the rich enough

You are confused once again Moon Bat.

The problem is that we have too much government spending and everybody is getting taxed too much.

Too much money is being taken out of the productive economy and put into the hands of stupid bureaucrats, whose bosses are corrupt politicians elected by special interest groups.

You stupid Moon Bats never understand that it is better for you to spend the money that you earn rather than it going to the filthy government for somebody else to spend for you.

You immoral sonofabitches also want the government to steal money from other people to pay your bills and that is not only morally wrong but it is wrong from an Economics standpoint.

You idiot Moon bats don't know any more about Economics than you do History, Biology, Climate Science, Ethics or the Constitutions.

 

[Seawytch]

So this is why we can't have nice things?

 

[Norman]

We were at 5 % back in 1900.

We need a lot less taxes and a lot smaller government. That is the true moral of the story.

 

[francoHFW]

[The United States's problem is we are not taxing the rich enough

You are confused once again Moon Bat.

The problem is that we have too much government spending and everybody is getting taxed too much.

Too much money is being taken out of the productive economy and put into the hands of stupid bureaucrats, whose bosses are corrupt politicians elected by special interest groups.

You stupid Moon Bats never understand that it is better for you to spend the money that you earn rather than it going to the filthy government for somebody else to spend for you.

You immoral sonofabitches also want the government to steal money from other people to pay your bills and that is not only morally wrong but it is wrong from an Economics standpoint.

You idiot Moon bats don't know any more about Economics than you do History, Biology, Climate Science, Ethics or the Constitutions.

we need to invest in infrastructure and education and training for our people again for the first time in 35 years thanks to the GOP and dupes like you. We have the worst inequality and upward mobility ever and in the modern world. Wake up sleeping beauty

 

[kyzr]

We were at 5 % back in 1900.

We need a lot less taxes and a lot smaller government. That is the true moral of the story.

I'm not sure if many of the younger posters ever heard of the Grace Commission?
I hope Trump authorizes a new "bi-partisan" commission to get us out of the fiscal mess.
Back in 1982 Reagan hired the Grace Commission to study the Federal government and make recommendations how to save money:
The Grace Commission - Wikipedia
The Grace Commission Report[4] was presented to Congress in January 1984. The report was in depth and showed that if its recommendations were followed, $424 billion could be saved in three years, rising to $1.9 trillion per year by the year 2000. It estimated that the national debt, without these reforms, would rise to $13 trillion by the year 2000, while with the reforms they projected it would rise to only $2.5 trillion.[5] The report's recommendations that intruded into policy were ignored by Congress, but many other efficiency recommendations were considered and some were implemented.[6]

The US national debt reached $5.6 trillion in the year 2000[7][8] and reached 13 trillion in 2010 after the subprime mortgage-collateralized debt obligation crisis in 2008.
The report said that one-third of all income taxes are consumed by waste and inefficiency in the federal government, and another one-third escapes collection owing to the underground economy. "With two thirds of everyone's personal income taxes wasted or not collected, 100 percent of what is collected is absorbed solely by interest on the federal debt and by federal government contributions to transfer payments. In other words, all individual income tax revenues are gone before one nickel is spent on the services that taxpayers expect from their government."[5]

 

[imawhosure]

We were at 5 % back in 1900.

We need a lot less taxes and a lot smaller government. That is the true moral of the story.

Problem is, we are NOT going to get rid of SS or Medicare, the American people will not allow it unless we go bankrupt!

So, the best thing to do is to accept the deal with the devil, and raise those inputs from payroll taxes, but not allow them to be used in the general fund, period! That is one of the ways politicians got us into this mess, by raiding the inputs for these programs to lower yearly deficits to look good.

If we must keep them, then they need to stand alone and their tax stream be earmarked for just them!

 

[imawhosure]

We were at 5 % back in 1900.

We need a lot less taxes and a lot smaller government. That is the true moral of the story.

I'm not sure if many of the younger posters ever head of the Grace Commission?
I hope Trump authorizes a new "bi-partisan" commission to get us out of the fiscal mess.
Back in 1982 Reagan hired the Grace Commission to study the Federal government and make recommendations how to save money:
The Grace Commission - Wikipedia
The Grace Commission Report[4] was presented to Congress in January 1984. The report was in depth and showed that if its recommendations were followed, $424 billion could be saved in three years, rising to $1.9 trillion per year by the year 2000. It estimated that the national debt, without these reforms, would rise to $13 trillion by the year 2000, while with the reforms they projected it would rise to only $2.5 trillion.[5] The report's recommendations that intruded into policy were ignored by Congress, but many other efficiency recommendations were considered and some were implemented.[6]

The US national debt reached $5.6 trillion in the year 2000[7][8] and reached 13 trillion in 2010 after the subprime mortgage-collateralized debt obligation crisis in 2008.
The report said that one-third of all income taxes are consumed by waste and inefficiency in the federal government, and another one-third escapes collection owing to the underground economy. "With two thirds of everyone's personal income taxes wasted or not collected, 100 percent of what is collected is absorbed solely by interest on the federal debt and by federal government contributions to transfer payments. In other words, all individual income tax revenues are gone before one nickel is spent on the services that taxpayers expect from their government."[5]

We must all remember; and lets be real here----------->every time we try to LOCK the SS or Medicare box from politicians, they scream! We can have a conversation on those programs as adults, but we can NOT allow the tax stream to be diverted from them once we fix it, to the general fund.

BOTH of these entitlements were raided by politicians for their grand schemes, and now they threaten everyone that there is not enough money, so pony up again.

Fine!

But you want us to pony up again? We want a law that the NEW money can ONLY go towards these programs, and just like it shows on paychecks and quarterly taxes, the amount is TRANSFERRED INTO A LOCK BOX, that you politicians can NOT get your hands on to spend!

 

[Brain357]

We were much less bad off before trump. His tax cuts flattened revenue and he lead the way with increased military spending.

 

[Crixus]

The US keeps borrowing money, $23T and counting, and that is "unsustainable" as reported by the GAO.
National debt of the United States - Wikipedia

The rest of the world appears to be more responsible.
How do US taxes compare internationally?
View attachment 304081

So to Balance the Budget and start paying down the Debt the US needs to seriously revamp the tax code. Here are my recommendations for a return to fiscal sanity:
A. Hire another "Grace Commission" to audit and fix the Federal budget deficit

B. Cut Spending $625b a year
1. Cut defense to 2017 levels of $600b until the Debt is reduced, saving $150b
2. Cut foreign aid $55b (until Debt is paid we can't borrow to give money away)
3. Cut Welfare $200b & Medicaid $200b (about half)
4. Cut education $20b (state responsibility)

US Government Defense Spending History with Charts - a www.usgovernmentspending.com briefing
Current US Defense Spending:
Year Military Veterans Foreign Aid Total Defense
2017 $598.70 billion $178.00 billion $46.30 billion $823.00 billion
2018 $631.20 billion $180.40 billion $49.00 billion $860.50 billion
2019 $684.60 billion $202.10 billion $54.30 billion $941.00 billion
2020 $737.90 billion $219.20 billion $53.10 billion $1.00 trillion

C. To cover the $900b budget deficit the following taxes need to be raised:
1. Raise the top tax rate about 7% above 2016 levels +$400b
2. Implement a new 3% Fed sales tax +$400b (aka VAT)
3. Implement a new transaction tax on all stocks & bonds Impose a Tax on Financial Transactions | Congressional Budget Office +$100b (stops hi-frequency traders)
4. Implement a new remittances tax/fee on all money sent out of the US https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/05/tax_remittances_can_build_the_wall.html 2% of $140b is +$3b a year


D. Reform entitlements, Medicare & Social Security, currently projected to be insolvent:

Social Security will be unable to meet obligations (not technically "bankrupt") in 2034, paying only 79% of owed benefits, while it will be actually bankrupt around 2090.
Social Security fixes:
https://www.fool.com/retirement/2018/05/21/how-warren-buffett-thinks-we-should-fix-social-sec.aspx
https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/planning-to-retire/2014/11/14/5-potential-social-security-fixes
https://www.aarp.org/work/social-security/info-05-2012/future-of-social-security-proposals.html

Medicare will be insolvent in 2026
Medicare Fixes:
https://www.fool.com/retirement/general/2016/03/27/7-ways-to-fix-medicare.aspx
https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/369151-fix-what-weve-got-and-make-medicare-right-this-year
https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/how-to-save-and-fix-medicare
https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/health/medicare-and-medicaid/2012-05/The-Future-Of-Medicare.pdf

Na, just dump Medicaid and food stamps. Budget fixed.

 

[eagle1462010]

When havoc is created, chaos ensues and catastrophe is inevitable- Historians (if they are around) will assign the time lines.
A ship cannot turn on a dime.
It's taken over 200 years to get to where we are - it's easier and takes less time to tear down than to build or rebuild.

In failure analysis ALL the evidence has to be considered starting with the initial manufacturing process all the way to the part that broke and points between.
It could be argued our origin/establishing a gov't to protect Liberty created havoc- we are living in chaos- it's pretty obvious rules will be broken, so what is the alternative? It requires way more band width than available to lay out a plan- any book has to have a beginning to lay out context then move onto the context then offer an ending- succinctly: we were established by federalist and anti-federalist- the federalist won- they believed a fed gov't HAD to have power over people- the anti-federalist didn't believe that it should be powerful, but subservient- the answer: Liberty. Not rationed freedom. Pay for play is the result of rationing freedom.

The "idea" behind the constitution was a grand idea explained in the preamble- it started crumbling as soon as there were no teeth applied to the less than virtuous who are elected- it accelerated with excuses used to justify restricting Liberty (laws) whose fed numbers are so high they can't be counted- Davy Crockett made a great speech to congress “Money with [Congressmen] is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it.”
Truth or fiction in its origin is immaterial- it speaks the truth about the less than virtuous.

He understood what the Constitution meant.............Long lost on this nation.