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Why would raising taxes be a bad thing? The highest US tax bracket in 2019 is 37% for income over $500,000. I don't see why a higher tax bracket, along the li

Why would raising taxes be a bad thing? The highest US tax bracket in 2019 is 37% for income over $500,000. I don't see why a higher tax bracket, along the lines of WWI or WWII would be untenable. Could you elucidate why you are so averse to raising taxes? I find it harder to accept that every person making income is subject to a 10% fed. income tax, in a country where the basics of survival are not even provided. Why shouldn't income over a million a year be taxed at a much higher rate?

smileysteve 8y ago
> The highest US tax bracket in 2019 is 37% for income over $500,00 + 13% state income tax = 50% (california) Add in 15% medicare and social security on earned income. Then add in in 10% sales taxes.
conanbatt 8y ago
I can tell you why I'm averse to raising taxes. Because the utlitity of government expenditures is really low: for each successful program it has failed programs that last decades and sometimes even have negative returns, let alone justify what private investment would have gotten. Because the person that advocates the most for the tax, the politician, gets to spend it, and has nothing to lose by doing so and plenty to win. Because the mechanism itself allows to get money from anything and put it into anything, and once in place its exceedingly difficult to take out, even if it has short term positive results. Because even today, the government as it is wastes money on a plethora of projects but instead of cleaning itself up, it demands more resources. Because the consolidated expenditures of the entire government is 23k/year/capita which means that if you just slashed government in half, you could give a thousand dollars to each american every month without raising a single tax.
- zip1234 8y ago
  The top 3 richest counties in America are actually surrounding Washington D.C. Money is extracted from everywhere else in the country via taxes and paid to people in that area.
  - jki275 8y ago
    That's not how taxation works... The rich counties around DC are for quite different reasons.
    - zip1234 8y ago
      If you mean that people that earn less pay less tax--what I am trying to say is that money is being taken via taxation across the entire country. However, that money is being spent by the Federal government in high concentrations in certain places. The DC area is one such place. Any military base or Federal government office is such a place. Money is being spent there that was earned elsewhere. Why do you think senators fight so hard to keep military bases in their states? It is because a military base is a firehose of Federal money going into their state from elsewhere.
      - jki275 8y ago
        My point is that the rich areas around DC are not rich because of tax money. Military bases are a boost to the economy in some places. They're a drain in others.
strikelaserclaw 8y ago
I'm not averse to raising taxes, i was commenting on the authors aversion to raising taxes, it was a question directed at him or anyone who might give a good answer to "how can we achieve a social safety net for the masses without taxing corps or people?"

smileysteve 8y ago

> The highest US tax bracket in 2019 is 37% for income over $500,00 + 13% state income tax = 50% (california) Add in 15% medicare and social security on earned income. Then add in in 10% sales taxes.

conanbatt 8y ago

I can tell you why I'm averse to raising taxes. Because the utlitity of government expenditures is really low: for each successful program it has failed programs that last decades and sometimes even have negative returns, let alone justify what private investment would have gotten. Because the person that advocates the most for the tax, the politician, gets to spend it, and has nothing to lose by doing so and plenty to win. Because the mechanism itself allows to get money from anything and put it into anything, and once in place its exceedingly difficult to take out, even if it has short term positive results. Because even today, the government as it is wastes money on a plethora of projects but instead of cleaning itself up, it demands more resources. Because the consolidated expenditures of the entire government is 23k/year/capita which means that if you just slashed government in half, you could give a thousand dollars to each american every month without raising a single tax.

zip1234 8y ago
The top 3 richest counties in America are actually surrounding Washington D.C. Money is extracted from everywhere else in the country via taxes and paid to people in that area.
- jki275 8y ago
  That's not how taxation works... The rich counties around DC are for quite different reasons.
  - zip1234 8y ago
    If you mean that people that earn less pay less tax--what I am trying to say is that money is being taken via taxation across the entire country. However, that money is being spent by the Federal government in high concentrations in certain places. The DC area is one such place. Any military base or Federal government office is such a place. Money is being spent there that was earned elsewhere. Why do you think senators fight so hard to keep military bases in their states? It is because a military base is a firehose of Federal money going into their state from elsewhere.
    - jki275 8y ago
      My point is that the rich areas around DC are not rich because of tax money. Military bases are a boost to the economy in some places. They're a drain in others.

strikelaserclaw 8y ago

I'm not averse to raising taxes, i was commenting on the authors aversion to raising taxes, it was a question directed at him or anyone who might give a good answer to "how can we achieve a social safety net for the masses without taxing corps or people?"