Falconomics

[The CINC]

Here is the the policy I propose to get us out of this great recession

For staters, we need a new tax code. I propose the following

• A flat tax of 20% on individuals and corporations on all income earned beyond the first $20,000
• A Value Added Tax of 20% with a annual rebate of $2000 for every man, woman and child living in the USA
• A Land Value Tax with all proceeds going to fund a single-payer system of education from Preschool to Grad School
• Increasing alcohol and tobacco taxes as well as taxes on carbon, soda, caffine, "XXX" rated businesses, junk mail and transfats
• A 0.5% Securities Transaction Excise Tax
• Abolition of the payrol tax, AMT, and the capital gains tax rolled into the flat tax

I would allocate spending as shares of GDP

• 5% Social Security/Pensions
• 5% Health Care
• 5% Military
• 5% Education
• 5% Tax Credits
• 5% Rebuilding America's infrastructure
• 3% Paying the principle of the national debt
• 2% Intrest on the national debt
• 2% Criminal justice/homeland security
• 2% General Government
• 1% Research and Development

In addition to the above, we will implement the following

* Replace the Federal Reserve with a Third Bank of the USA that is government owned
* Revive the PWA and WPA of the FDR era as well as create a "Green Corps".
* Create a Portable Pension Plan for workers to carry their pensions with them
* Reform the Patent Office and implement a national innovation strategy

Under this plan, we will not only ballance the budget but begin to pay down the national debt. We will put 20 million people to work rebuilding our infrastructure and enable our economy to grow at an annual rate of 15%. Gradually, the percentage of GDP spent on intrest will diminish while the percentage spent on principle will increase until the national debt is retired which we will then save $400 billion a year on interest on the national debt.

[The CINC]

Between the new tax code, replacing the employer-based health care system with universal health vouchers, and the portable pension plan, we believe we will encourage businesses from all over the world to relocate their means of production as well as their corporate officies to the USA. We will also encourage savings and investment and encourage the flow of trillions of dollars from offshore financial centers back the USA to be put to work expanding our economy.

With the economy growing at a high rate, we may have labor shortages so the immigration system will be reformed to increase legal immigration and assimilation while cracking down on illegal entry. This will also increase the number of payers into social security to keep pace with beneficiaries.

We will also replace free trade with "Fair Trade". If nations don't play by our rules, we will play by theirs.

We will also implement an energy policy called BAMN By All Means Necessary. We will develop our domestic sources of fossil fuels in a safe and ecological manner while building new solar, nuclear, wind, geothermal, ocean thermal, and tidal power plants. We will rebuild our railway network and move more freight from trucks to trains. We will revive our space program so we can build ten-mile wide sattelite solar power stations in low-Earth orbit to capture the sun's solar energy and beam it to collectors on Earth in the form of microwaves.

[opebo]

Falco? Bist du es?

[ag]

And I propose a tax on frivolous tax reform proposals.  By charging USD$1,000,000,000 everytime one chooses to publicize a tax reform idea without doing numbers first, we'd be able to eliminate much of US budget deficit )

[opebo]

How about if we only offer proposals which increase taxes, ag.  No real need to 'do the numbers' in that case.

[ag]

How about if we only offer proposals which increase taxes, ag.  No real need to 'do the numbers' in that case.

Actually, in that case I would insist doing the number thrice

[ModerateCoward]

And I propose a tax on frivolous tax reform proposals.  By charging USD$1,000,000,000 everytime one chooses to publicize a tax reform idea without doing numbers first, we'd be able to eliminate much of US budget deficit )

You are a fan of the guillotine, eh?

[The CINC]

Now if we need to raise the flat tax rate and VAT to ballance the budget and raise an additional 3% of the GDP to pay down the debt, then we will do so. We will also consider making the first $30,000 or $40,000 earned tax free.

[ag]

Now if we need to raise the flat tax rate ...

If Your Imperial Majesty so order...

[ag]

And I propose a tax on frivolous tax reform proposals.  By charging USD$1,000,000,000 everytime one chooses to publicize a tax reform idea without doing numbers first, we'd be able to eliminate much of US budget deficit )

You are a fan of the guillotine, eh?

For certain types of crime, yes )

[The CINC]

I know raising taxes to match spending is not popular but we can't continue spending 26% of the GDP yet paying 21% of our income in taxes. That has resulted in a national debt that is 100% of our GDP. We have to reduce the amount we spend on entitlements, we have to invest in things that make our economy grow, we have to restructure the tax code to encourage production, savings and investment, and all of us are going to have to work longer and harde to build an economy that will run budget surpluses to pay down the national debt.

[opebo]

We have to reduce the amount we spend on entitlements

But increases in taxation are a reduction in the entitlements of the rich, Cinc.

[The CINC]

We have to reduce the amount we spend on entitlements

But increases in taxation are a reduction in the entitlements of the rich, Cinc.

I don't understand what you are saying, but in the 1990s and early 2000s, there were nations that had higher economic growth rates than we did yet boasted higher tax rates than we did. That is because they were smarter about taxation than us. Their national governments derrived less of a share from the taxation of income and more from the taxation of land and consumption. Even the Eastern European nations which all boast flat tax rates also have a VAT and a land value tax.
My proposed tax code is a modification of the systems used in Eastern Europe today.

Alot of people say high tax rates hamstring the Western European economies, but it is labor restrictions that hamstring them. We call for a more flexible labor market and transforming social security into a "Flexicurity" system where the unemployed are retrained at government expense and sent back into the work force.

[shua]

I know raising taxes to match spending is not popular but we can't continue spending 26% of the GDP yet paying 21% of our income in taxes. That has resulted in a national debt that is 100% of our GDP. We have to reduce the amount we spend on entitlements, we have to invest in things that make our economy grow, we have to restructure the tax code to encourage production, savings and investment, and all of us are going to have to work longer and harde to build an economy that will run budget surpluses to pay down the national debt.

so your solution is to spend 40% of GDP?