5 ms·

How exactly does eliminating all income tax help the poor? They pay little to no tax as it is.

fit2rule 13y ago
It motivates people to work for themselves if they get to keep more of the reward, plain and simple. Also, taxing spending means more saving - which is what the poor need to do (save) in order to get themselves out of their situation. It's expensive being poor.
- jcalvinowens 13y ago
  > It motivates people to work for themselves if they get to keep more of the reward, plain and simple. The amount of money you keep after income tax still scales linearly with the aggregate amount you make... are you really arguing that people are lazier because a portion of their income goes to public interests? I have great difficulty imagining how that could be true. > Also, taxing spending means more saving - which is what the poor need to do (save) in order to get themselves out of their situation. The poor don't need to save, they need to find a job that pays them enough that they can save. The very definition of poverty is not or barely having enough to get by. Also, you have it backwards: sales taxes are unfair to the poor because they are _regressive_. The poor spend every dollar they make, and, in general, the wealthier you are the less of your income you spend. A sales tax takes the highest percentage of income from the poor and the smallest from the mega-rich. (Not to mention that sales tax adds a lot of unpleasant administrative overhead for businesses) EDIT: Also, the idea that sales tax encourages saving is a fallacy. A portion of tax cuts go to savings, but raising sales tax just means people get less goods/services for their money; they're not going to start spending less.
  - fit2rule 13y ago
    Yes, with income tax rates approaching 50% around a great deal of the world, I do think that income tax demotes the idea of working hard for a viable living, and income tax in general suppresses productivity. Why bother working hard if half of it goes to the State? The same mechanic that you say is at play with Sales Tax - i.e. you have to spend more to get more - is also at play with EARNING. Why bother working to earn more - or, indeed, at all - if you are required to share the fruits of your labor with strangers? Sales Tax improves this by making the choice where to spend your taxes available to the individual.
    - jcalvinowens 13y ago
      > I do think that income tax demotes the idea of working hard for a viable living, and income tax in general suppresses productivity. I hate to break it to you, but this is just entitled libertarian whining: the majority of the workforce does not see it this way.
      - fit2rule 13y ago
        Sorry to break it to you, but you're not looking at a big enough dataset. "Entitled libertarian whining"? Please, spare me your stupid insult. Fact: unemployment rates go down when income tax rates go down.
  - deleted 13y ago
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- mcv 13y ago
  > It motivates people to work for themselves if they get to keep more of the reward, plain and simple That's a myth. Tax has very little to do with that.

It motivates people to work for themselves if they get to keep more of the reward, plain and simple. Also, taxing spending means more saving - which is what the poor need to do (save) in order to get themselves out of their situation. It's expensive being poor.

jcalvinowens 13y ago
> It motivates people to work for themselves if they get to keep more of the reward, plain and simple. The amount of money you keep after income tax still scales linearly with the aggregate amount you make... are you really arguing that people are lazier because a portion of their income goes to public interests? I have great difficulty imagining how that could be true. > Also, taxing spending means more saving - which is what the poor need to do (save) in order to get themselves out of their situation. The poor don't need to save, they need to find a job that pays them enough that they can save. The very definition of poverty is not or barely having enough to get by. Also, you have it backwards: sales taxes are unfair to the poor because they are _regressive_. The poor spend every dollar they make, and, in general, the wealthier you are the less of your income you spend. A sales tax takes the highest percentage of income from the poor and the smallest from the mega-rich. (Not to mention that sales tax adds a lot of unpleasant administrative overhead for businesses) EDIT: Also, the idea that sales tax encourages saving is a fallacy. A portion of tax cuts go to savings, but raising sales tax just means people get less goods/services for their money; they're not going to start spending less.
- fit2rule 13y ago
  Yes, with income tax rates approaching 50% around a great deal of the world, I do think that income tax demotes the idea of working hard for a viable living, and income tax in general suppresses productivity. Why bother working hard if half of it goes to the State? The same mechanic that you say is at play with Sales Tax - i.e. you have to spend more to get more - is also at play with EARNING. Why bother working to earn more - or, indeed, at all - if you are required to share the fruits of your labor with strangers? Sales Tax improves this by making the choice where to spend your taxes available to the individual.
  - jcalvinowens 13y ago
    > I do think that income tax demotes the idea of working hard for a viable living, and income tax in general suppresses productivity. I hate to break it to you, but this is just entitled libertarian whining: the majority of the workforce does not see it this way.
    - fit2rule 13y ago
      Sorry to break it to you, but you're not looking at a big enough dataset. "Entitled libertarian whining"? Please, spare me your stupid insult. Fact: unemployment rates go down when income tax rates go down.
- deleted 13y ago
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mcv 13y ago
> It motivates people to work for themselves if they get to keep more of the reward, plain and simple That's a myth. Tax has very little to do with that.