2 ms·

> I’m afraid if you were to defund some of those, like the DEA and ATF, they would just come after small time, lowest fruit criminals. That's precisely what wo

> I’m afraid if you were to defund some of those, like the DEA and ATF, they would just come after small time, lowest fruit criminals. That's precisely what would happen. Look at what's become of the IRS. It's been systematically defunded, despite the fact that the government sees a huge return on investment when they spend dollars there. The IRS has stated publicly that they only go after middle and lower-class citizen offenders because they can't afford to investigate and prosecute the big corporations and oligarchs which are where the vast majority of tax fraud takes place (note: not avoidance, fraud). This is pretty clearly by design.

frellus 4y ago
"return on investment" ... you realize how that sounds, right? The good news is with the new "investment" of my tax dollars into the tax and audit arm of the government, they can no go after the top tax dollars AND middle and lower-class citizen "offenders"! Yea! Let's kill the income tax entirely, it's a completely unfair system. Middle and lower class would thrive, and the "big guys" would not notice because none of their real "income" is taxed, it's designed not to be taxed.
- jcadam 4y ago
  It looks like the government appropriates more wealth via inflation than the income tax nowadays, anyway.
- tkk23 4y ago
  Without an income tax, would the spending power remain at the lower and middle class? The housing market has shown that people are loose with their money and pay any price that they can finance. Likewise, all goods will become more expensive until people can only buy the same things as today. Income tax can be seen as a tax on companies that can't be embezzled. Most people are honest and want to see their full income on documents so a company has to pay the full amount of the taxes. This leaves the lower and middle classes with less money, but it also forces the market to offer the goods for less. The alternative would be taxing the companies directly. People would earn more, but companies would also request more for their goods because they have to pay more taxes. But would the tax payout be the same if companies have an even bigger incentive to hide their profits?

frellus 4y ago

"return on investment" ... you realize how that sounds, right? The good news is with the new "investment" of my tax dollars into the tax and audit arm of the government, they can no go after the top tax dollars AND middle and lower-class citizen "offenders"! Yea! Let's kill the income tax entirely, it's a completely unfair system. Middle and lower class would thrive, and the "big guys" would not notice because none of their real "income" is taxed, it's designed not to be taxed.

jcadam 4y ago
It looks like the government appropriates more wealth via inflation than the income tax nowadays, anyway.
tkk23 4y ago
Without an income tax, would the spending power remain at the lower and middle class? The housing market has shown that people are loose with their money and pay any price that they can finance. Likewise, all goods will become more expensive until people can only buy the same things as today. Income tax can be seen as a tax on companies that can't be embezzled. Most people are honest and want to see their full income on documents so a company has to pay the full amount of the taxes. This leaves the lower and middle classes with less money, but it also forces the market to offer the goods for less. The alternative would be taxing the companies directly. People would earn more, but companies would also request more for their goods because they have to pay more taxes. But would the tax payout be the same if companies have an even bigger incentive to hide their profits?