taxes

[Shadowdust]

I really don't have a problem with most of the taxes except the manner in which one tax is executed. This would be those who are independent contractors. FICA tax is 15.3%. Normally, half of that is paid by the employer and the other half by the employee. As an independent contractor, you're stuck paying the full 15.3%.

I would like to see at least the Social Security (6.2%/12.4%) portion of FICA to be done away with so that we can make our own decisions of how to use the money. I guarantee you that I and most others would benefit more from depositing that 6.2% to an IRA that we do from Social Security. Not to mention, by the time people that are my age reach retirment age, Social Security is projecting that we will be receiving 26% less in payments than our current payees. I don't know much about Medicare (1.45/3.9%) so I can't really comment on that part. Overall, I think social security is a crock and we should have the freedom to build our own retirement funds that will actually benefit us in our old age.

[Cloud No.9]

it is also untrue that government funded education and health care is poor quality. look at cuba. the best education system. the best doctors. all publicly funded by a communist government.

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

I'm not even going to TOUCH the Cuba comment.

In any event, I recognize taxes as a necessary evil, but I also feel they could be easily mitigated if there were some sort of auditing system in place where the government is audited by outside, private companies reasonably often so as to eliminate waste. I think that'd solve a lot of the tax problems right there.

Controlling business is asinine and damaging. A free market is successful because it is a free market, government regulations stifle business. True, certain regulations might be agreed upon as necessary (generally involving ethics and worker treatment and wages) but most can easily be done away with. Everyone likes to bemoan the rich, but they conveniently ignore the investments of great capital that were required for the rich to build their fortunes into what they are. They made the investment, they made it work, give them their damn money and stop complaining.

Although inheritance caps would be a good idea, a single heir getting the entire estate without having to work for it is a wee bit unfair.

[Madame Adequate]

Generally, I agree with what Raistlin said. I don't have aversion to public services in principle, but they have to actually work - the UK's current public education system is such a joke I abhor the fact I am forced to support it. If it was a good system, I'd be fine with it. But it's a joke, so I'm not.

Also, our socialist measures are wrecking our economy. I know several businesspeople who are reducing their company sizes, or even closing up shop altogether, because taxes are so high that enterprise in Britain is prohibitively expensive.

To everyone who claims people would be neglected educationally in an entirely free market; Would you support private programs to ensure education for as many as possible? Would you help out teachers in their educating of children? Would you donate resources such as textbooks? I daresay your answers are mostly yesses; I know I would. It's an irony that Libertarianism actually encourages far more sharing and co-operation than most other systems, but when people can directly observe where their donations go, it's strange to suppose you would be the only person who would support public works. The fact they are overseen by a body which formed for the specific reason of overseeing that public work would to me suggest efficiency and dedication, but hey. Whatever.

[JaytodaP]

Hilary Clinton uses the money to investigate video games. What a douchebag

[Cloud No.9]

why was my comment on cuba having on of the world's finest education systems and the world's best doctors ignored and refused to comment upon?

[Teek]

why was my comment on cuba having on of the world's finest education systems and the world's best doctors ignored and refused to comment upon?

Because it's wrong, really.

[Cloud No.9]

look at their literacy rate. look at the doctors they send out to disaster zones. the vaccines they have created or help create. it's hardly a failed system.

[Teek]

Give me proof, then.

p.s. income tax sucks.

[Cloud No.9]

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...k/geos/cu.html

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...k/geos/us.html

cuba's literacy rate equals that of america. it's infant mortality rate is lower. it's rate of aids lower. lower unemployment.

not doing bad considering it's got a US trade embargo. and is communist.

[herbie08]

"illicit migration is a continuing problem; Cubans attempt to depart the island and enter the US using homemade rafts, alien smugglers, direct flights, or falsified visas; Cubans also use non-maritime routes to enter the US including direct flights to Miami and overland via the southwest border"

Just a quote from that url posted above. Cuba may have good doctors, and they may have plenty of little kids that can read, but here's the thing: 1.) not all doctors get the same amount of money from the government. The Cuban government, which is more of a dictatorship than a communism, will pay good money for doctors that cater to high officials within the government. This means that the public does not always see these excellent doctors. So it's not really the system that works in that case, just the greed of those in charge. 2.) the literacy rate is not a good indicator of intelligence. All the literacy rate looks at is if they can read. Not the level they can read at, or what they read. If they can read Cat in the Hat, they're literate by those standards.

Tax History lesson: The American Revolution was in part started because of a 7% income tax imposed upon them by the British Government. Today American income tax is roughly 30% depending on benefits, dependents, etc. What's the main difference? In the early 20th century Americans asked the government to create an income tax in order to help pay for social services such as transportation, development, etc. They let themselves be taxed because they benefited from it. The point I'm trying to make is this, if the tax money is put to good use, then taxes are good. When the taxes are used to pay $200 for a hammer or $100,000 just so a cruiser can go out on a Sunday instead of a Monday, then taxes are bad.