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"The problem is that no tax code can close all loop holes because you just can't foresee the creative ways people will out maneuver the tax code." What if this
by wedowhatwedo 10y ago
"The problem is that no tax code can close all loop holes because you just can't foresee the creative ways people will out maneuver the tax code."
What if this is the entire tax code:
All US citizens must pay a tax of 40% of all the money they receive from any other entity for any reason.
I haven't thought through the wording completely, but if we replace the convoluted tax code with a MUCH much simpler one, lots of these problems would go away.
- mikeash 10y agoThen they'll arrange to be paid in mansions and private jets and yachts.
- ricksplat 10y agoThat kind of thing is already taxed as "benefit in kind"
- mikeash 10y agoSure, but the proposed simplification eliminated that.
- ricksplat 10y agoI think it could be generalised in this way without undermining the central principle.
- mikeash 10y agoPerhaps, but I bet other problems could be found. My general point is that while I'm sure a lot of the complexity is unnecessary, a decent amount of it is there for a good reason.
- ricksplat 10y agoI know, but playing along with the thought experiment, how do you account for things like VAT and service-specific levies? Property, income, inheritance, capital gains - all relate to the acquisition of value, so they fit the model in a distal sense.
- gadders 10y agoFlat Tax: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_tax
- rqebmm 10y agoThis concept already exists, and is called a Flat Tax. The problem is it's regressive, which is the opposite of what the current tax code is attempting to do.
- subway 10y agoA flat tax rate, in its most basic form is neither progressive nor regressive, but simply proportional. I'd take that over the currently implemented progressive* tax. *Progressive as long as you ignore the primary sources of income for the wealthy.
- markvdb 10y agoA flat tax is socially regressive, even if it is mathematically proportional. The marginal utility of 100€ is totally different at 370€/month compared to 10000€/month.
- superuser2 10y agoLive on 60% of minimum wage with 2 children for a while and then get back to us.