Post Your Economic Platform Here

[Kingpoleon]

- Consumption/sales tax of 2.5%, with an exception for those at or below 150% of the poverty line
- Taxes: 25.4(+7.0) cents per gallon and 30.4(+6.0) cents per gallon for diesel fuel
- Raising federal minimum wage to $10.10
- Healthy Americans Act
- Negotiate sanctions on China until they put pressure on North Korea to release political prisoners and liberalize, presenting a united front with Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, India, Russia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union
- https://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/wydenryan.pdf
- Support further foreign aid to Rojava, Peshmerga, and the Syrian National Council, as well as consider temporary aid to Tahrir al-Sham to weaken Assad
- Free trade agreement with the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany, Israel, Ireland, Argentina, and (hopefully) all of the European Union

Current tax brackets:
1: 5%
2: 20%
3: 29.5%
4: 33.3%
5: 37.5%
6: 44.5%
(All hikes equal on the respective and corresponding brackets of married couples, single people, etc.)
- Cut all welfare besides food stamps
- Guarantee basic income of up to $20,000, as a supplement for other income(if there is any), and for those who make below that and work above it, they will continue to receive $5,000->$3,000->$1,000 in a three year period after they cross the line of $20,000 per year; states are encouraged to give further funding of a basic income
- Increase NASA budget to $184,000,000,000


I believe this covers most things, except for the military and the Federal Reserve. I'm not completely sure, but I believe this also gives a balanced budget.

[Beet]

https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/an-economy-that-works-for-everyone/

Add single payer health insurance.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

- push for a Land Value Tax and other related charges for use of commons (e.g. Resource extraction, the radio spectrum etc). Try and use this to lower (but broaden) VAT, and to completely replace all other taxes pertaining to property.

- push for a multilateral treaty to impose some form of wealth tax and a FTT amongst the major economies that would automatically kick in when every country ratifies.

- impose a negative income tax to be paid for all those working under a living wage plus those in education or training. Have an upper 50 percent band on high incomes

- nationalise railways, and place buses under local control.

- break up energy firms, and try to encourage as much energy as possible (being produced and with advances in technology, stored) at a micro-level by local communities and organisations. Mandate that all large renewable projects be half-owned by local communities. Institute a carbon tax that will steadily rise.

- use tax incentives to encourage and coerce companies to become cooperative in nature. At a minimum all large and medium companies should have co-determined boardrooms. Tax excessive bonuses, ban golden parachutes and the like, make all executive pay subject to employee scrutiny and veto. Perhaps push for Sweden's old law designed to force companies to distribute ownership to their employees.

- cut down on managers and the like in the NHS. stop underfunding the Service to an austere degree not seen in another country.

- allow free schools, academies etc to a certain degree, but ban private school fees.

- create a nationalised infrastructure bank(s) dedicated to ensuring public investment is maintained in all conditions. Their first duties would be a national building/rebuilding scheme of social infrastructure.

- push for a national plan to eliminate child poverty.

[mvd10]

In my own country (ORANJE BOVEN!!!!!):

- Significantly deregulate the labour market and reduce the power of labour unions
- Tax reform. Harmonize VAT rates, get rid of most deductions (especially the monstrosity that is the mortgage interest deduction) and use the revenue to slash income tax rates and raise the "arbeidskorting" (basically a tax credit for labour income). Cutting taxes for lower income workers should be a priority, though not by raising taxes on high incomes since they are already overtaxed in the Netherlands and most of Europe. Replacing property taxes and stamp duty by something like a land value tax also is an interesting idea.
- Invest more in R&D. Private investment usually is more efficient than public R&D investment so the money should go to a R&D tax credit for businesses.
- Cut corporate income taxes. Ellminating/limiting the corporate interest deduction and using the revenue to further cut corporate tax rates also should be on the table. Or you could push for an equity deduction like in Belgium but that would cost extra revenue. Anyway, reducing the tax system's bias for debt over equity should be a priority.
- Deregulate most of the rental housing market
- Luckily there is some budgetary room for tax cuts/investments but we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves (like most political parties...) so some spending cuts probably will be necessary to keep it fiscally responsible. And I guess some cuts to the safety net could be helpful to increase work incentives, but doesn't mean that we should tear it apart like FvD/VNL are suggesting.
- FREE TRADE. Get the EU to pass TTIP and similar trade deals ASAP.

I know this most of this neoliberal™ wishlist won't happen in the next coalition (or ever) but I hope the VVD atleast tries to show why I voted for them.

My wishlist for the US probably isn't much different
- Reform social security and medicare to reduce long term deficits
- Move to a more consumption-based tax system like the Bradford X tax (it should be revenue neutral)
- Massively expand the R&D tax credit (could be paid for by a carbon tax)
- Massively invest in infrastructure (American infrastructure sucks)
- Reform Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank, but I doubt you can find much useless regulations there.

Anyway, the X Tax would basically be a consumption tax. Corporate taxes would be border-adjusted (NO THIS ISN'T PROTECTIONIST), the corporate interest deduction would be eliminated (but interest income also wouldn't be taxed) and capital investments can be fully expensed instead of depreciated over multiple years. This basically would change the corporate tax in a VAT with a wage deduction, which is much more efficient than the current corporate income tax.

For the invididual side normal income would be taxed progressively (like today), but capital gains, dividends and interest would be exempt from taxation. I guess you could recoup any lost revenue with a VAT. The problem is that it would be a fairly regressive tax plan, but that can be solved by further raising the VAT and using the revenue for tax cuts for lower and middle-class households (like cutting regressive payroll taxes or providing rebates).

[parochial boy]

Basically exactly what CrabCake said, except for the negative income tax, which I fear would in substance act as a subsidiary to employer's paying low wages. As an alternative, I would push for a citizen's dividend, funded by a government owned stake in private companies (either by taxing IPO's or by the government infrastructre bank extending it's scope to SME's and providing finance in return for an equity stake).

I would also push for OECD or EU wide minimum labour standards in areas such as waged, working hours, worker protections, paid holiday etc...

[Kingpoleon]

- Reform Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank, but I doubt you can find much useless regulations there.

I should point out that the U. S. has a similar problem to many European countries: our regulations that everyone proposes keep being written and edited by the very big businesses they are supposed to be regulating. Therefore, these regulations can be handled by big business easily and end up just hurting small businesses.

[parochial boy]

- Reform Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank, but I doubt you can find much useless regulations there.

I should point out that the U. S. has a similar problem to many European countries: our regulations that everyone proposes keep being written and edited by the very big businesses they are supposed to be regulating. Therefore, these regulations can be handled by big business easily and end up just hurting small businesses.

You only need to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley if you are publically listed; and from personal experience, while it is not perfect, it is a very necessary piece off legislation that most European countries would do very well to emulate.

*cough tesco cough"

[Kingpoleon]

- Consumption/sales tax of 9.9%, with an exception for those making below $25,000 a year
- Taxes: 28.4(+10.0) cents per gallon and 39.4(+15.0) cents per gallon for diesel fuel
- Raising federal minimum wage to $10.10
- Hickenlooper-Kasich for two years, then Healthy Americans Act
- Negotiate sanctions on China until they put pressure on North Korea to release political prisoners and liberalize, presenting a united front with Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, India, Russia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union
- https://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/wydenryan.pdf
- Support further foreign aid to Rojava, Peshmerga, and the Syrian National Council, as well as consider temporary aid to Tahrir al-Sham to weaken Assad($20 billion)
- Free trade agreement with the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany, Israel, Ireland, Argentina, and (hopefully) all of the European Union

Income Taxes:
1: 0%
2: 5%
3.0: 27%
3.5: 30%
4: 33%
5: 35%
6: 37.5%
7.0: 39.5%
7.25: 42.5%
7.5+: 44.5%
(All hikes equal on the respective and corresponding brackets of married couples, single people, etc.)
- Cut all welfare besides food stamps and HUD funding
- Guarantee basic income of up to $20,000, as a supplement for other income(if there is any), and for those who make below that and work above it, they will continue to receive $5,000->$3,000->$1,000 in a three year period after they cross the line of $20,000 per year; states are encouraged to give further funding of a basic income
- Increase NASA budget to $184,000,000,000
- Carbon tax on companies and company/business transportation

What do you guys think of these modifications? I'm thinking of adding suggested reforms for education...

[Gustaf]

So if I make below $20 000 I have no incentive to increase my wage? That doesn't sound great.

[Kingpoleon]

So if I make below $20 000 I have no incentive to increase my wage? That doesn't sound great.

Um... Yes, you do. Anyone who makes >$15,000 a year will receive more benefits than otherwise for the first year. Anyone who makes >$17,000 a year will receive more benefits than otherwise for two years. Anyone who makes >$19,000 a year will receive more benefits than otherwise for three years. In the short term, which is how benefits should be seen, making more money always profits you under this system.

[Shadows]

- Consumption/sales tax of 9.9%, with an exception for those making below $25,000 a year
- Taxes: 28.4(+10.0) cents per gallon and 39.4(+15.0) cents per gallon for diesel fuel
- Raising federal minimum wage to $10.10
- Hickenlooper-Kasich for two years, then Healthy Americans Act
- Negotiate sanctions on China until they put pressure on North Korea to release political prisoners and liberalize, presenting a united front with Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, India, Russia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union
- https://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/wydenryan.pdf
- Support further foreign aid to Rojava, Peshmerga, and the Syrian National Council, as well as consider temporary aid to Tahrir al-Sham to weaken Assad($20 billion)
- Free trade agreement with the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany, Israel, Ireland, Argentina, and (hopefully) all of the European Union

Income Taxes:
1: 0%
2: 5%
3.0: 27%
3.5: 30%
4: 33%
5: 35%
6: 37.5%
7.0: 39.5%
7.25: 42.5%
7.5+: 44.5%
(All hikes equal on the respective and corresponding brackets of married couples, single people, etc.)
- Cut all welfare besides food stamps and HUD funding
- Guarantee basic income of up to $20,000, as a supplement for other income(if there is any), and for those who make below that and work above it, they will continue to receive $5,000->$3,000->$1,000 in a three year period after they cross the line of $20,000 per year; states are encouraged to give further funding of a basic income
- Increase NASA budget to $184,000,000,000
- Carbon tax on companies and company/business transportation

What do you guys think of these modifications? I'm thinking of adding suggested reforms for education...

It is unworkable. The consumption tax is just crazy to implement. How the hell do you waive off the tax for some low income people? Are they supposed to be 2 prices? How do they check every sale & ensure that person deserves the tax waive off?

Also, there will be  huge leakages with this kind of thing. Indirect taxes are easy to collect & a small tax can net huge revenue & are almost impossible to avoid - Which is why govt all over the world like it. But this kind of thing has probably not been done & is likely impossible to implement.

[Kingpoleon]

- Consumption/sales tax of 9.9%, with an exception for those making below $25,000 a year
- Taxes: 28.4(+10.0) cents per gallon and 39.4(+15.0) cents per gallon for diesel fuel
- Raising federal minimum wage to $10.10
- Hickenlooper-Kasich for two years, then Healthy Americans Act
- Negotiate sanctions on China until they put pressure on North Korea to release political prisoners and liberalize, presenting a united front with Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, India, Russia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union
- https://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/wydenryan.pdf
- Support further foreign aid to Rojava, Peshmerga, and the Syrian National Council, as well as consider temporary aid to Tahrir al-Sham to weaken Assad($20 billion)
- Free trade agreement with the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany, Israel, Ireland, Argentina, and (hopefully) all of the European Union

Income Taxes:
1: 0%
2: 5%
3.0: 27%
3.5: 30%
4: 33%
5: 35%
6: 37.5%
7.0: 39.5%
7.25: 42.5%
7.5+: 44.5%
(All hikes equal on the respective and corresponding brackets of married couples, single people, etc.)
- Cut all welfare besides food stamps and HUD funding
- Guarantee basic income of up to $20,000, as a supplement for other income(if there is any), and for those who make below that and work above it, they will continue to receive $5,000->$3,000->$1,000 in a three year period after they cross the line of $20,000 per year; states are encouraged to give further funding of a basic income
- Increase NASA budget to $184,000,000,000
- Carbon tax on companies and company/business transportation

What do you guys think of these modifications? I'm thinking of adding suggested reforms for education...

It is unworkable. The consumption tax is just crazy to implement. How the hell do you waive off the tax for some low income people? Are they supposed to be 2 prices? How do they check every sale & ensure that person deserves the tax waive off?

Also, there will be  huge leakages with this kind of thing. Indirect taxes are easy to collect & a small tax can net huge revenue & are almost impossible to avoid - Which is why govt all over the world like it. But this kind of thing has probably not been done & is likely impossible to implement.

Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark(which has a 25% sales tax rate), Finland(which has a 24% sales tax rate on most things), France(20% mostly), Germany(non-food 19%), India, Indonesia, the Netherlands(21% mostly), Norway(25% mostly), Palestine(14.5%), Russia(mostly 18%), and Sweden(mostly? 25%), as well as others, for a total of 160 countries. It is not impossible by any means, and the same we give food stamps based on income we could give out tax exemptions. In fact, I wouldn't necessarily oppose an increase to that of democratic socialist countries - 20-25% - with the same exemptions(meaning none that I know of) for those making below a certain income, if it was necessary to balance the budget.

Your claim is deeply untrue.

[pikachu]

A lot of countries have nationwide consumption taxes, but I'm not sure of any which adjust them by income? Take India for example. It does have a nationwide consumption tax with different rates, but those different rates apply to different goods and services, not to different income brackets.

Also, the North Korea plan would likely fail, considering the regime has very good reasons to liberalize, and China will still most likely not choose to drop the hammer on NK.

[mvd10]

Technically you could implement a progressive consumption tax, which basically is an income tax with a deduction for savings and loan repayments (income + loaned money in said year - savings - loan repayments basically is consumption). Then you could apply a two rate structure. But a progressive consumption tax would be quite hard to implement as nobody has ever done it before AFAIK, and we'd have to track all our financial transactions.

European countries don't really have a sales tax btw, they have a VAT which different (though in the end it also taxes consumption). A VAT is a lot harder to avoid than a sales tax.

You do know you can't do FTA's with individual EU countries like France or Ireland right? It's either the whole EU or nothing.

The basic income doesn't look like a good idea with the sudden phaseout. It probably would be better to settle for something lower than doesn't phaseout or phases out more slowly.

[Shadows]

- Consumption/sales tax of 9.9%, with an exception for those making below $25,000 a year
- Taxes: 28.4(+10.0) cents per gallon and 39.4(+15.0) cents per gallon for diesel fuel
- Raising federal minimum wage to $10.10
- Hickenlooper-Kasich for two years, then Healthy Americans Act
- Negotiate sanctions on China until they put pressure on North Korea to release political prisoners and liberalize, presenting a united front with Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, India, Russia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union
- https://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/wydenryan.pdf
- Support further foreign aid to Rojava, Peshmerga, and the Syrian National Council, as well as consider temporary aid to Tahrir al-Sham to weaken Assad($20 billion)
- Free trade agreement with the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany, Israel, Ireland, Argentina, and (hopefully) all of the European Union

Income Taxes:
1: 0%
2: 5%
3.0: 27%
3.5: 30%
4: 33%
5: 35%
6: 37.5%
7.0: 39.5%
7.25: 42.5%
7.5+: 44.5%
(All hikes equal on the respective and corresponding brackets of married couples, single people, etc.)
- Cut all welfare besides food stamps and HUD funding
- Guarantee basic income of up to $20,000, as a supplement for other income(if there is any), and for those who make below that and work above it, they will continue to receive $5,000->$3,000->$1,000 in a three year period after they cross the line of $20,000 per year; states are encouraged to give further funding of a basic income
- Increase NASA budget to $184,000,000,000
- Carbon tax on companies and company/business transportation

What do you guys think of these modifications? I'm thinking of adding suggested reforms for education...

It is unworkable. The consumption tax is just crazy to implement. How the hell do you waive off the tax for some low income people? Are they supposed to be 2 prices? How do they check every sale & ensure that person deserves the tax waive off?

Also, there will be  huge leakages with this kind of thing. Indirect taxes are easy to collect & a small tax can net huge revenue & are almost impossible to avoid - Which is why govt all over the world like it. But this kind of thing has probably not been done & is likely impossible to implement.

Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark(which has a 25% sales tax rate), Finland(which has a 24% sales tax rate on most things), France(20% mostly), Germany(non-food 19%), India, Indonesia, the Netherlands(21% mostly), Norway(25% mostly), Palestine(14.5%), Russia(mostly 18%), and Sweden(mostly? 25%), as well as others, for a total of 160 countries. It is not impossible by any means, and the same we give food stamps based on income we could give out tax exemptions. In fact, I wouldn't necessarily oppose an increase to that of democratic socialist countries - 20-25% - with the same exemptions(meaning none that I know of) for those making below a certain income, if it was necessary to balance the budget.

Your claim is deeply untrue.

None of those countries have it. You seem to have little idea about Indirect taxes or consumption taxes in general. Having different tax slabs for different items is a different thing to having different taxes for the same thing.

Very few countries (likely none) in the world has a different Consumption rate for the same damn good based on income level are on a mass level for the entire economy (maybe they are small pilot projects that I am not aware of). You don't put Taxes @ 5% for phone X to someone & then you don't put 15% taxes for the same phone X to someone else. You can for example, put different tax rates for luxury cars vs normal cars (as luxury cars would be bought by rich people) by having different tax rates based on engine capacity of the car etc. That would make a certain type of car be taxed at say 5% rate & others would be taxed at 15%. But the same car wouldn't be taxed at 2 different rates.

I don't see any country trying it either. Apart from being unworkable, both left & right wing economists consider maxing indirect taxes complex a terrible idea which increases compliance costs, harms businesses & creates a 100 different loopholes while failing to even achieve the objective

[Shadows]

Technically you could implement a progressive consumption tax, which basically is an income tax with a deduction for savings and loan repayments (income + loaned money in said year - savings - loan repayments basically is consumption). Then you could apply a two rate structure. But a progressive consumption tax would be quite hard to implement as nobody has ever done it before AFAIK, and we'd have to track all our financial transactions.

European countries don't really have a sales tax btw, they have a VAT which different (though in the end it also taxes consumption). A VAT is a lot harder to avoid than a sales tax.

You do know you can't do FTA's with individual EU countries like France or Ireland right? It's either the whole EU or nothing.

The basic income doesn't look like a good idea with the sudden phaseout. It probably would be better to settle for something lower than doesn't phaseout or phases out more slowly.

VAT & Sales are kind of similar. Maybe we should have this discussion later Progressive income taxes have been implemented in terms of different goods being taxed at different rates. Like say Luxury Cars at rate X, soaps & all other items at rate Y. Farm & food products have been taxed at 0% at multiple countries.

But AFAIK, it has nothing to do with the income level. You are talking about say income tax credits for consumption which people will get? But do you keep track of everything, all transactions, show proof & get a rebate? Who verifies this? How many people do you need to monitor this? There is also a gigantic scope for loopholes, corruption & individual discretion. What about those who are not paying any income taxes or children & their consumption? Tax payers will be sometimes at the mercy of accountants & lawyers.

There will be mass fraud in items sold. People will sell & get return illegally maybe to take advantage of the loopholes & what not. This is like opening a hornet's nest & is a crazy idea which rightfully hasn't been done.

[mvd10]

Technically you could implement a progressive consumption tax, which basically is an income tax with a deduction for savings and loan repayments (income + loaned money in said year - savings - loan repayments basically is consumption). Then you could apply a two rate structure. But a progressive consumption tax would be quite hard to implement as nobody has ever done it before AFAIK, and we'd have to track all our financial transactions.

European countries don't really have a sales tax btw, they have a VAT which different (though in the end it also taxes consumption). A VAT is a lot harder to avoid than a sales tax.

You do know you can't do FTA's with individual EU countries like France or Ireland right? It's either the whole EU or nothing.

The basic income doesn't look like a good idea with the sudden phaseout. It probably would be better to settle for something lower than doesn't phaseout or phases out more slowly.

VAT & Sales are kind of similar. Maybe we should have this discussion later Progressive income taxes have been implemented in terms of different goods being taxed at different rates. Like say Luxury Cars at rate X, soaps & all other items at rate Y. Farm & food products have been taxed at 0% at multiple countries.

But AFAIK, it has nothing to do with the income level. You are talking about say income tax credits for consumption which people will get? But do you keep track of everything, all transactions, show proof & get a rebate? Who verifies this? How many people do you need to monitor this? There is also a gigantic scope for loopholes, corruption & individual discretion. What about those who are not paying any income taxes or children & their consumption? Tax payers will be sometimes at the mercy of accountants & lawyers.

There will be mass fraud in items sold. People will sell & get return illegally maybe to take advantage of the loopholes & what not. This is like opening a hornet's nest & is a crazy idea which rightfully hasn't been done.

Are you talking about the progressive consumption tax? People basically would report their income and deduct their net savings. What's left is consumption. So if you earn 75k and your net savings are 10k (I'm dropping some very random numbers) your taxable income is 65k, but there could be a 0% rate for example. I think this is the only possible consumption tax where you can exempt poor people. But like I said, nobody has ever tried this before, and keeping track of savings/stock market investments will probably be confusing (but then again, America's current tax code also is confusing...).

[parochial boy]

Technically you could implement a progressive consumption tax, which basically is an income tax with a deduction for savings and loan repayments (income + loaned money in said year - savings - loan repayments basically is consumption). Then you could apply a two rate structure. But a progressive consumption tax would be quite hard to implement as nobody has ever done it before AFAIK, and we'd have to track all our financial transactions.

European countries don't really have a sales tax btw, they have a VAT which different (though in the end it also taxes consumption). A VAT is a lot harder to avoid than a sales tax.

You do know you can't do FTA's with individual EU countries like France or Ireland right? It's either the whole EU or nothing.

The basic income doesn't look like a good idea with the sudden phaseout. It probably would be better to settle for something lower than doesn't phaseout or phases out more slowly.

VAT & Sales are kind of similar. Maybe we should have this discussion later Progressive income taxes have been implemented in terms of different goods being taxed at different rates. Like say Luxury Cars at rate X, soaps & all other items at rate Y. Farm & food products have been taxed at 0% at multiple countries.

But AFAIK, it has nothing to do with the income level. You are talking about say income tax credits for consumption which people will get? But do you keep track of everything, all transactions, show proof & get a rebate? Who verifies this? How many people do you need to monitor this? There is also a gigantic scope for loopholes, corruption & individual discretion. What about those who are not paying any income taxes or children & their consumption? Tax payers will be sometimes at the mercy of accountants & lawyers.

There will be mass fraud in items sold. People will sell & get return illegally maybe to take advantage of the loopholes & what not. This is like opening a hornet's nest & is a crazy idea which rightfully hasn't been done.

Are you talking about the progressive consumption tax? People basically would report their income and deduct their net savings. What's left is consumption. So if you earn 75k and your net savings are 10k (I'm dropping some very random numbers) your taxable income is 65k, but there could be a 0% rate for example. I think this is the only possible consumption tax where you can exempt poor people. But like I said, nobody has ever tried this before, and keeping track of savings/stock market investments will probably be confusing (but then again, America's current tax code also is confusing...).

That wouldn't be really "progressive" though, would it?

I mean, yes it would in so far as the more you spend the more you are taxed - but it would still be quite regressive when related to income, as people on higher incomes save a much higher proportion of their income, meaning that a lower proportion of their income would be liable to the consumption tax.

In any case, I think lots of countries have somewhat similar mechanisms already existing in the income tax code - in deductions for mortgage interest, or pensions or whatever.

[mvd10]

Technically you could implement a progressive consumption tax, which basically is an income tax with a deduction for savings and loan repayments (income + loaned money in said year - savings - loan repayments basically is consumption). Then you could apply a two rate structure. But a progressive consumption tax would be quite hard to implement as nobody has ever done it before AFAIK, and we'd have to track all our financial transactions.

European countries don't really have a sales tax btw, they have a VAT which different (though in the end it also taxes consumption). A VAT is a lot harder to avoid than a sales tax.

You do know you can't do FTA's with individual EU countries like France or Ireland right? It's either the whole EU or nothing.

The basic income doesn't look like a good idea with the sudden phaseout. It probably would be better to settle for something lower than doesn't phaseout or phases out more slowly.

VAT & Sales are kind of similar. Maybe we should have this discussion later Progressive income taxes have been implemented in terms of different goods being taxed at different rates. Like say Luxury Cars at rate X, soaps & all other items at rate Y. Farm & food products have been taxed at 0% at multiple countries.

But AFAIK, it has nothing to do with the income level. You are talking about say income tax credits for consumption which people will get? But do you keep track of everything, all transactions, show proof & get a rebate? Who verifies this? How many people do you need to monitor this? There is also a gigantic scope for loopholes, corruption & individual discretion. What about those who are not paying any income taxes or children & their consumption? Tax payers will be sometimes at the mercy of accountants & lawyers.

There will be mass fraud in items sold. People will sell & get return illegally maybe to take advantage of the loopholes & what not. This is like opening a hornet's nest & is a crazy idea which rightfully hasn't been done.

Are you talking about the progressive consumption tax? People basically would report their income and deduct their net savings. What's left is consumption. So if you earn 75k and your net savings are 10k (I'm dropping some very random numbers) your taxable income is 65k, but there could be a 0% rate for example. I think this is the only possible consumption tax where you can exempt poor people. But like I said, nobody has ever tried this before, and keeping track of savings/stock market investments will probably be confusing (but then again, America's current tax code also is confusing...).

That wouldn't be really "progressive" though, would it?

I mean, yes it would in so far as the more you spend the more you are taxed - but it would still be quite regressive when related to income, as people on higher incomes save a much higher proportion of their income, meaning that a lower proportion of their income would be liable to the consumption tax.

In any case, I think lots of countries have somewhat similar mechanisms already existing in the income tax code - in deductions for mortgage interest, or pensions or whatever.

You could raise rates for the very wealthy to 80% or higher if you want (and capital gains would be taxed as normal income because it would be a giant subsidy for wealthy people otherwise), and you could also implement rebates. And it's quite different from gimmicks as the mortgage interest deduction. Under a progressive conumption tax you would be able to deduct all savings, investments in stocks and loan repayments. Meanwhile you would add loans to your taxable income (though I guess there will be exceptions for things like mortgages because it would be a complete political non-starter otherwise). It basically would be an income tax with a 401K deduction for all savings. But I do think nobody will ever implement it. The thing most people like about it that you can make it as progressive as you want while not taxing savings and investments, but to make it progressive you would need to raise rates to 80% or higher for wealthy people. Their taxes might not be any higher than before and economically it would be very efficient despite the high rate (according to the economists who think that consumption taxes are more efficient that other taxes atleast, I guess it's valid to think that's not the case), but try to explain an 80% tax rate to Americans. And you would need to keep track of a lot of financial transactions. The transition issues would be huge too.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

It would probably be easier to have a portion of GST revenue supplied as rebates for lower income people, as is done in Canada iirc.

[mileslunn]

For Canada mine are

Taxation

- Raise the GST back to 7%
- Introduce a revenue neutral carbon tax
- Bring in an AMT whereby those making over 100K must pay minimum 25% tax, 30% tax for over 200K and 35% for over 500K and this would be for the combined federal + Provincial, not federal alone.
- Maintain our corporate tax rate as long as it is not in the top 10 highest in the OECD, but lower if the combined federal + Provincial puts us in the top 10
- Reduce the number of brackets to 3 with the following rates: Lowest at 13%, Middle at 20% and highest at 29%.  These would be federal only but essentially those in the lowest if you include provincial would pay between 18.05% to 24% depending on province and highest would pay between 43.7% to 50% depending on province.
-  Introduce a lower corporate tax rate of 10% in economically depressed areas such as Atlantic Canada to encourage more firms to open there.
-  Put a 49.9% cap on the top rate so if provinces raise rates enough it pushes the combined rate over 50%, a lower federal rate would be paid.  Otherwise no person would ever pay over 50% in taxes.
-  Raise the minimum threshold for taxation gradually until it hits 20K so the first 20K is tax free
-  Do a trial on GAI in a few communities and implement nation wide if it works.

Spending

- Maintain spending increases at or below Inflation + economic growth + population growth
-  For every new program implemented, axe one existing one.
- Focus spending on priorities such as infrastructure, health care, military, and poverty reduction while cut spending elsewhere.
-  Regular audits of all departments and automatic pay deductions for any cabinet minister who spends above allotted budget.
-  In Union negotiations, any savings the unions can find, they will get a raise at half that.  So if they find 5% savings, they get an additional 2.5% bonus in raises.
-  No deficits except during recessions and once recession ends, develop a scheduled plan to return the budget to balance.
-  All surpluses will be split 1/3 for new spending, 1/3 for tax cuts, and 1/3 for debt reduction.
- Reduce overlap by staying out of spending in areas of provincial jurisdiction or municipal and instead transfer tax points.

Economic Growth

- Ensure the Canada's tax levels remain competitive with both G7 and OECD levels.
- Reduce red tape to make Canada an attractive place to do business.
- Sell government assets that serve no purpose and encourage pensions to invest or be part owners in infrastructure including P3's
- End Canada Post monopoly and privatize before it becomes redundant
- Work with Atlantic provinces to expand universities and have them specialize in areas.
- Create clusters of excellence and specialization in different areas similar to Silicon Valley
- Reduce regulatory regime for resource extraction and pipelines so as to encourage growth in the resource sector.
- Give bonus points under the immigration points system for immigrants who wish to settle outside the large cities like Australia does to encourage more development in underdeveloped areas while reduce strain on real estate market in large centres.
- Increase immigration in the economic class while cut immigration levels under the family class.
- Make it easier for immigrants to come who wish to start their own business.
- Make it mandatory to show proficiency in either English or French to get citizenship so as to encourage immigrants to learn one of the official languages.
-  Repeal or revise the Canada Health act to allow a parallel private system to ease the burden on the public system.
-  Study the feasibility of high speed rail in the Quebec-Windsor corridor and if economic benefits exceed costs than proceed in building.  Also try to use a P3 BOOT model (Build own operate and transfer) so as to racking up debt and transferring costs to private sector.
- Privatize Airports
-  Gradually raise the retirement age to 70 so as to keep OAS costs under control and allow for enhanced CPP payouts without raising premiums (No premium rises in CPP).  Make an exemption for those in manual labour and who are physically unable to work to 70 to retire earlier.
-  Expand free trade agreements including implementing CETA, trying to restart the TPP and failing that open free trade talks with Japan.  Start free trade talks with both Mercosur, Andean Community, ASEAN Countries (if TPP cannot be resurrected) and India.  Free trade talks with China but use extreme caution.  Begin Free trade talks with the UK once it leaves the EU unless it remains part of the customs union and try and have the free trade agreement as close as possible to CETA.

[mileslunn]

- Consumption/sales tax of 9.9%, with an exception for those making below $25,000 a year
- Taxes: 28.4(+10.0) cents per gallon and 39.4(+15.0) cents per gallon for diesel fuel
- Raising federal minimum wage to $10.10
- Hickenlooper-Kasich for two years, then Healthy Americans Act
- Negotiate sanctions on China until they put pressure on North Korea to release political prisoners and liberalize, presenting a united front with Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, India, Russia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union
- https://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/wydenryan.pdf
- Support further foreign aid to Rojava, Peshmerga, and the Syrian National Council, as well as consider temporary aid to Tahrir al-Sham to weaken Assad($20 billion)
- Free trade agreement with the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany, Israel, Ireland, Argentina, and (hopefully) all of the European Union

Income Taxes:
1: 0%
2: 5%
3.0: 27%
3.5: 30%
4: 33%
5: 35%
6: 37.5%
7.0: 39.5%
7.25: 42.5%
7.5+: 44.5%
(All hikes equal on the respective and corresponding brackets of married couples, single people, etc.)
- Cut all welfare besides food stamps and HUD funding
- Guarantee basic income of up to $20,000, as a supplement for other income(if there is any), and for those who make below that and work above it, they will continue to receive $5,000->$3,000->$1,000 in a three year period after they cross the line of $20,000 per year; states are encouraged to give further funding of a basic income
- Increase NASA budget to $184,000,000,000
- Carbon tax on companies and company/business transportation

What do you guys think of these modifications? I'm thinking of adding suggested reforms for education...

Agree with most except income taxes.  Also would add cut corporate taxes to 25% (US has highest corporate tax rate in OECD) while get rid of the loopholes as some corporations pay nothing and others the high rate, so tax everyone at 25%.  Income taxes I would reduce to three brackets and a fourth temporary high bracket until the budget is balanced and would be lowered until it disappears.  Also state and municipal income tax deductions from federal taxes would end so total taxation would not change that much.

Bottom at 10%
Middle at 25%
Top at 35%

For the top it would go down in low taxed states, but would be up in high taxed states.  In California the top rate is now 47.6% whereas under this it would be 48.3%.  The reason is the top rate is 13.3% but is tax deductible so it is not now 39.6% + 13.3% but rather (100 - 13.3)*.396 = federal rate + state rate.

[mileslunn]

It is unworkable. The consumption tax is just crazy to implement. How the hell do you waive off the tax for some low income people? Are they supposed to be 2 prices? How do they check every sale & ensure that person deserves the tax waive off?

Also, there will be  huge leakages with this kind of thing. Indirect taxes are easy to collect & a small tax can net huge revenue & are almost impossible to avoid - Which is why govt all over the world like it. But this kind of thing has probably not been done & is likely impossible to implement.

That is easy to do, you have a sales tax rebate for low income individuals.  You estimate how much a typical low household would pay a year in sales tax and send a rebate cheque at the end of every year.  In Canada we have a GST rebate for low income individuals so that would achieve the same goal at a much lower cost.  It might not bring it to exactly zero, but would average out close to it.

[Dr. MB]

<$25,000 0%
$25,000–$40,000 7%
$40,000–$65,000 15%
$65,000–$120,000 25%
$120,000–$250,000 35%
$250,000–$500,000 45%
$500,000–$1,000,000 55%
$1,000,000–$5,000,000 65%
>$5,000,000 75%


I'm fine with a low sales tax AS LONG AS THE TAX IS INCLUDED WITH THE DISPLAYED PRICE

[OSR stands with Israel]

Tax Policy:


- Cut the top Business tax rate to 25%(this rate applies to any business which have 3 or more employees outside the owners family).

Make these as the rates:

0%: $0-$100,000
10%: $100,000- $500,000
15%: $500,000-$ 2,500,000
20%: $2,500,000-$ 5,000,000
22.5%: $5,000,000- $10,000,000
25%: $10,000,000- $20,000,000

Over 20,000,000 (a flat rate of 22.5%)

- Have the Income rates be(for Joint ):

0% : $0 -$30,000
15% : $30,000-$75,000
20% : $75,000 - $150,000
25% : $150,000 - $ 300,000
30% : $ 300,000- $600,000
35%:  $ 600,000- $1,000,000
39.6%: More than a million


-Keep the itemized deductions


How to pay for tax cut :
- Remove Carried Interest Loophole
- Put a 25% wealth tax on off shore tax havens in the first year you collect taxes from those havens
- Make Companies who outsource jobs pay a higher tax then those who dont


Budget Policy:


- Cut Military Spending by 15% over the next 10 years

- end  all Pork Barell Spending

- Give the President a Line Item Review Power(Which means after the president uses this new line item power the revised bill goes back to congress for an up and down vote , and if the revised bill fails the original bill goes back to the President where he must sign it or veto it fully)




How to reduce healthcare costs: Allow Prescription Drugs to be imported from Canada , and use that to lower drug prices in the US. Also open up state lines to lower cost of insurance.


Social Security: Raise retirement age to 68, raise the cap for the payroll tax , and lower benefit to rich retirees .

Infrastructure:

- Invest between 500 billion - 1 trillion in Infrastructure over next 10 years (Use tax money you got from the offshore havens to pay for this , and some of the cuts in military spending)


Education Cost Reform:

- Limit the amount of student loans to cover the cost of an instate college(So around 20k-25k a year per student).

- Give companies tax breaks who pay for part or all of the cost of college for a student.


Reduce the costs of Welfare:

- Raise Min Wage to 10.50 (Inflation adjusted)

- Hire people who are on welfare to work on an infrastructure project(this should reduce unemployment rate)