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Florida is a model democracy that all states should look up to.

• k33n 13d ago
  Yes, it really is. Florida is a cultural punching bag, and we take that in stride too. We have a balanced budget, no state income tax, and no flock cameras. We are close to abolishing property taxes as well. Our natural disaster response is some of the most robust anywhere in the world as well.
  • rwj 13d ago
    This is misleading. I'm not sure replacing income tax with sales tax is a positive change. The state is still collecting taxes, but the tools are pretty regressive.
    • johnnyanmac 12d ago
      Sales taxes are fundamentally a tax on the poor. Someone making 20x the median income is not spending 20x more on groceries and other goods. It doesn't scale well at all, especially when a lot of net worth goes into housing. And the GP was arguing about ending property tax... I don't think we're in a good enough economic situation as of now to eliminate sales tax. But an ideal model is a strong progressive income tax model (I'm talking "0% tax under 40k" levels of progressive) with sales tax only employed in bad economic states. In general, taxes should be heavier in good economic times to allow bad economic situations to relax them.
      • k33n 12d ago
        I’m glad that that my state isn’t run that way. Your assumptions about consumption taxes across income brackets not scaling is factually inaccurate. If sales tax is fundamentally a tax on the poor, then so is an income tax. Florida is one of the lowest taxed states across all income brackets, and even provides good social programs. I’m glad that people who want to tax the rich to death for the sake of a crusade that isn’t even needed don’t have much of a voice in my state.
        • johnnyanmac 12d ago
          >consumption taxes across income brackets not scaling is factually inaccurate I'd love to hear a proper counter-argument. Maybe Florida works different, but sales taxes tend to be constant (i.e. scaling linearly with consumption), and individual consumption does not scale linearly with income. Someone making 200k may buy more luxury food, but not necessarily 10x as much as someone making 20k. And someone making 2 million a year does not consume 10x as much as the 200k person. >If sales tax is fundamentally a tax on the poor, then so is an income tax. If income tax wasn't progressive it would be. But it is. Not progressive enough, but the idea is there. Higher brackets get taxed more percentage wise, not in a simple linear fashion. >and even provides good social programs. Sure. Give your money to insurance premiums that run away when it's time to do their job instead of government program. Sounds much better. >I’m glad that people who want to tax the rich to death for the sake of a crusade Always nice to have people be honest with themselves. I'm just being honest with math. We call a 10 millionaire being taxed 90% a millionaire. We call someone making 30k being taxed 10% on the verge of homelessness (likely on government assistance despite working). As long as such inequality exists, we can and should be aggressively taxing the most privileged to build a society that prevents that reality. >don’t have much of a voice in my state. We are both under the same federal government. Most of these large scale issues are federal anyway. The winds are changing slowly and I won't pity those who baron robbed the country one bit (many of whom tried to flee to your state) when it's time to pay the piper.
          • k33n 12d ago
            A counter-argument to what? That if you take 90% of someone’s wealth that has $10,000,000 they’re still a millionaire? Yeah, they’d still be a millionaire. I didn’t bring up federal tax policy but since you did, I’ll point out that what you think is happening is not happening. The winds aren’t going quite where you think they’re going. The “steal other people’s money” coalition has virtually no power or relevance federally. They have no power or relevance in Florida. No one is going to be fleeing. There isn’t even going to be a fight, because that fight already happened. Tariffs are in full swing. The left tried to stop it. Consumption taxes are the future. The good guys won.
  • well_ackshually 13d ago
    "We replaced a somewhat fair income tax with the most unfair tax of all, VAT!"
    • k33n 13d ago
      Florida state sales taxes aren’t a VAT, and Florida is consistently in the top 5 for lowest taxed states in the country.