Instead of Cutting Services, How about we just ask Corporations to pay their US taxes

[ClosedCaption]

...Is that so hard to do?

All the loopholes allow some Corporations to avoid paying any taxes. While not illegal, certainly not cool. Why? Because when they dont pay...someone (me and you) have to pick up the slack (taxes).

I know, I know...taxes to help the US endure is seen as bad by some. Others have to realize that the burden is being shifted onto Americans. If this transfer pricing (tax dodging) continues...Sure Companies will be super profitable but at the cost of the US suffering more.

We can eliminate the entire US debt (remember debt? It's bad) if the loop holes were closed, not only that but if the tax laws were simplified that would end the entire loop hole lawyer industry. Win-Win

Thoughts?

 

[martybegan]

...Is that so hard to do?

All the loopholes allow some Corporations to avoid paying any taxes. While not illegal, certainly not cool. Why? Because when they dont pay...someone (me and you) have to pick up the slack (taxes).

I know, I know...taxes to help the US endure is seen as bad by some. Others have to realize that the burden is being shifted onto Americans. If this transfer pricing (tax dodging) continues...Sure Companies will be super profitable but at the cost of the US suffering more.

We can eliminate the entire US debt (remember debt? It's bad) if the loop holes were closed, not only that but if the tax laws were simplified that would end the entire loop hole lawyer industry. Win-Win

Thoughts?

They are not loopholes, they are deductions.

How about you stop taking your income tax deductions as well and help out?

 

[Claudette]

I agree all those tax loopholes, tax breaks and subsidies should be eleminated.

Loads of revenue just by doing that.

 

[Billo_Really]

We need to raise the tax rate on capital gains and dividends to 25%.

This 15% they pay now is bullshit!

 

[Ame®icano]

...Is that so hard to do?

All the loopholes allow some Corporations to avoid paying any taxes. While not illegal, certainly not cool. Why? Because when they dont pay...someone (me and you) have to pick up the slack (taxes).

I know, I know...taxes to help the US endure is seen as bad by some. Others have to realize that the burden is being shifted onto Americans. If this transfer pricing (tax dodging) continues...Sure Companies will be super profitable but at the cost of the US suffering more.

We can eliminate the entire US debt (remember debt? It's bad) if the loop holes were closed, not only that but if the tax laws were simplified that would end the entire loop hole lawyer industry. Win-Win

Thoughts?

They are not loopholes, they are deductions.

How about you stop taking your income tax deductions as well and help out?

I agree completely. Lets get rid of all loopholes including mortgage interest deduction, charitable contributions, personal casualty and theft losses, student loan interest, child tax credits etc...

You see, when government wants to push businesses to do something, they give them incentives, and once they start using incentives, government blame them and calling them tax loopholes. I'm for closing all deductions/incentives/loopholes, for businesses and personal income, all of them. Some people and some businesses would finally start paying taxes.

 

[martybegan]

...Is that so hard to do?

All the loopholes allow some Corporations to avoid paying any taxes. While not illegal, certainly not cool. Why? Because when they dont pay...someone (me and you) have to pick up the slack (taxes).

I know, I know...taxes to help the US endure is seen as bad by some. Others have to realize that the burden is being shifted onto Americans. If this transfer pricing (tax dodging) continues...Sure Companies will be super profitable but at the cost of the US suffering more.

We can eliminate the entire US debt (remember debt? It's bad) if the loop holes were closed, not only that but if the tax laws were simplified that would end the entire loop hole lawyer industry. Win-Win

Thoughts?

They are not loopholes, they are deductions.

How about you stop taking your income tax deductions as well and help out?

I agree completely. Lets get rid of all loopholes including mortgage interest deduction, charitable contributions, personal casualty and theft losses, student loan interest, child tax credits etc...

You see, when government wants to push businesses to do something, they give them incentives, and once they start using incentives, government blame them and calling them tax loopholes. I'm for closing all deductions/incentives/loopholes, for businesses and personal income, all of them. Some people and some businesses would finally start paying taxes.

What you are proposing is a form of flat tax, where the number given is the % the government takes. Naturally for it to work the rates would have to be lowered, as no one really has to or wants to pay 30% of thier income in federal income taxes.

 

[editec]

My thoughts?

Everybody talk about cutting loopholes but seldom does anyone tell us what "loopholes" are to be cut.

Loopholes has become a BUZZWORD with absolutely no meaning behind it.

The biggest loopholes in our tax structure are the CAPITAL GAINS loophole and the regressive social security tax laws.

Close those and this so called economic debt problem evaporates entirely

 

[bucs90]

True. Im sick of all the buzzwords:

"Makers"
"Takers"
"Loopholes"
"Spending"
"Fair share"
"Personal responsibility"
"Fairness"

Both sides have their share of stupid catch-all phrases, but neither seems to want to discuss the details of what they mean. Like "Spending". Ok, fair enough. Stop WHAT spending? Military? Medical? Welfare? Ok, slash welfare. And you create a class of poor people who are angry and desperate. SURE, they SHOULD take responsibility and get a job. But if they had that drive in them, they never would've been on welfare to begin with. So, crime will spike and we'll take what we save in welfare reform to build more jails and hire more cops.

Or "fair share". What is a fair share? Give me an exact number.
Makers vs Takers. What is the cutoff number to go from Taker to Maker??? What do I have to "make"? What must I avoid "taking" to avoid the dreaded "Taker" label? Its ridiculous.

Enough buzzwords. But, they wont stop........because most people in general are fucking morons outside of their chosen day to day tasks in life, and respond far more to bumper stickers and 30 second commercials than long discussions. The "McDonaldization" of America has created extremely short attention spans, so catch phrases draw votes...not lectures.

 

[Missourian]

We see this game played all the time at the local level...whenever the mayor and the city council want to raise taxes, they always cut funding to the cops, the library, and the city pool...never the mayor's taxpayer provided vehicle, the code enforcer, the councils catered meeting meals or their pet projects.

Here we see the same tactic writ large...

 

[ClosedCaption]

...Is that so hard to do?

All the loopholes allow some Corporations to avoid paying any taxes. While not illegal, certainly not cool. Why? Because when they dont pay...someone (me and you) have to pick up the slack (taxes).

I know, I know...taxes to help the US endure is seen as bad by some. Others have to realize that the burden is being shifted onto Americans. If this transfer pricing (tax dodging) continues...Sure Companies will be super profitable but at the cost of the US suffering more.

We can eliminate the entire US debt (remember debt? It's bad) if the loop holes were closed, not only that but if the tax laws were simplified that would end the entire loop hole lawyer industry. Win-Win

Thoughts?

They are not loopholes, they are deductions.

How about you stop taking your income tax deductions as well and help out?

a rose by any other name...

Call it apple pie if it makes you feel better. What are your thoughts on Apple Pie?

 

[TakeAStepBack]

A lot of lil dictators in here deciding how much of other people's money should be stolen and squandered by the government. How hard is it to realize that no matter how much the government steals and no matter from whom, it will never be enough. Ever.

Lots of if this, if that and if onlys in here.

 

[ClosedCaption]

Ok, after reading some posts let me be clear. I'm talking about Transfer Pricing: Transfer pricing is a profit allocation method used to attribute a corporation's net profit or loss before tax to tax jurisdictions.

Which allows a company like Google to pay itself rent...then get deductions for that rent paid to themselves. Or take profits send them to another country and claim they made no money and pay zero taxes on that money.

Thoughts?

 

[ClosedCaption]

A lot of lil dictators in here deciding how much of other people's money should be stolen and squandered by the government. How hard is it to realize that no matter how much the government steals and no matter from whom, it will never be enough. Ever.

Lots of if this, if that and if onlys in here.

Taxes isnt stealing. Can we be honest and admit that taxes are used for services in and for America / Americans? If you cant be honest then there is no honest debate here.

 

[TakeAStepBack]

Taxation is theft. That is as honest as it gets. So called "services" that I do not receive but pay into because if i do not, then the"official" selected by my psycotic neighbors will show up with a gun and either take my property or my freedom. Perhaps even my life.

If you want to be honest and have an honest discussion, then you have to start by admitting what we're talking about here.

Theft with legal authority/impunity.

 

[g5000]

Wow! A topic with a bunch of people after my own heart. I'm getting emotionally...erect.

The phrase you are looking for is "tax expenditure". Your mortgage interest deduction is a tax expenditure. A "corporate loophole" is a tax expenditure.

When you pay less in taxes because of a deduction, that is a cost the government has to offset by taking more money from someone else, or by borrowing more money from China.

If tax expenditures were banned, tax rates could be considerably lowered, and everyone could be absolutely, positively assured that they are paying the same amount in taxes as everyone else in their income group.

It does not get more fair than that.

It brings the added benefit of taking away the incentive for special interests to donate campaign cash to our politicians in order to get a tax expenditure given to them.


But if you really want to be extreme, then we should do all we can to eliminate taxes on production, which is what corporate and income taxes are, and start to tax consumption more.

The more you tax something the less of it you get. Tax production, you get less production. Tax consumption, you get less consumption.

Yeah, sales taxes. That's right.

The thing with sales taxes is they are just as prone to corruption as income taxes are. Special interests will demand sales tax breaks for their products. Milk, wheat, beef, solar panels, electric cars, books, sugar, minority business products, and we are off to the races all over again.

Instead, something like the Fair Tax is the way to go. No sales tax exemptions, but everyone gets a prebate which offsets the sales tax on items you buy for your survival needs.

Another great thing about a sales tax is that you cannot hide a tax hike, and everyone is subjected to it. No one escapes.

Most people would be totally stumped if you asked them how much they paid in federal income tax last year. They could tell you how much they got in their refund, probably. But no clue how much their income tax was. How stupid is that?

But everyone would know what the sales tax was. And they would factor it into every purchase they make.

So you want free puppies from the government, fine. But your sales tax just went up to pay for it.

 

[TakeAStepBack]

The thought of stealing makes you erect? Or is it the counting of the different ways in which to exact that theft?

Don't answer that.

Alright, I'm outta here...

 

[g5000]

The thought of stealing makes you erect? Or is it the counting of the different ways in which to exact that theft?

Don't answer that.

Alright, I'm outta here...

Death and taxes are unavoidable. If you want to talk about spending, that's a different subject, and I think you would be surprised at how much I would agree with your position on government spending.

Since taxes are unavoidable, we should have the most efficient, honest, and equitable tax structure. Our current tax system is completely corrupted. We need to ban tax expenditures, and we need to move away from taxes on production and toward taxes on consumption.

 

[wihosa]

Taxation is theft. That is as honest as it gets. So called "services" that I do not receive but pay into because if i do not, then the"official" selected by my psycotic neighbors will show up with a gun and either take my property or my freedom. Perhaps even my life.

If you want to be honest and have an honest discussion, then you have to start by admitting what we're talking about here.

Theft with legal authority/impunity.

So the "Framers" wrote into the Constitution a system to steal the citizens money?
Or was it the the "People" decided to tax themselves for the benefit of the "people"?
The right wing has gone so far to the right that they hate the idea of America. Every man for himself if antithetical to the idea of "we the people".

 

[Avatar4321]

True. Im sick of all the buzzwords:

"Makers"
"Takers"
"Loopholes"
"Spending"
"Fair share"
"Personal responsibility"
"Fairness"

Both sides have their share of stupid catch-all phrases, but neither seems to want to discuss the details of what they mean. Like "Spending". Ok, fair enough. Stop WHAT spending? Military? Medical? Welfare? Ok, slash welfare. And you create a class of poor people who are angry and desperate. SURE, they SHOULD take responsibility and get a job. But if they had that drive in them, they never would've been on welfare to begin with. So, crime will spike and we'll take what we save in welfare reform to build more jails and hire more cops.

Or "fair share". What is a fair share? Give me an exact number.
Makers vs Takers. What is the cutoff number to go from Taker to Maker??? What do I have to "make"? What must I avoid "taking" to avoid the dreaded "Taker" label? Its ridiculous.

Enough buzzwords. But, they wont stop........because most people in general are fucking morons outside of their chosen day to day tasks in life, and respond far more to bumper stickers and 30 second commercials than long discussions. The "McDonaldization" of America has created extremely short attention spans, so catch phrases draw votes...not lectures.

Lets make Federal income tax 5% across the board. Let it effect everyone including those who earn their money in ways so they aren't treated as earned income. That way, we have lowered the tax burden and spread it around to everyone. It's at a reasonable amount. We don't have to worry about loopholes. Anyone from a financial genius down to the mathmatically challenged will have an easy time figuring out their tax burdens. We will cut the government costs of collection significantly, see more people able to accurately pay. and everyone will be fulfilling their obligation to their nation. When everyone has a hand in things, everyone will participate more.

We end up eliminating most of the waste and corruption involved in collection. We will see significant economic growth because people's energies will be focused on wealth creation and they wont have to worry about wealth protection as much.

Then we can focus on our spending problems. As people will be keeping more of their money, they will have a significantly lesser need on government. We can encourage charity for charities sake, and not just as loophole in taxes. We wouldn't have to worry about people paying their fair share.

You cannot argue that everyone paying the same rate, regardless of how they earn their income is unfair.

 

[g5000]

You cannot argue that everyone paying the same rate, regardless of how they earn their income is unfair.

Actually you can.

Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise. Whenever there is in any country, uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right.

Thomas Jefferson.