many Americans are the worst with money...this is a crisis in the US

Capital gains should be taxed at the nominal rate and savings should be tax free. I'm all for bringing the nominal rate down. But flipping and market speculation don't bring growth to the economy.

 

I guess where I disagree with this is in the situation where people like my dad worked all his life, invested in a business and when it sold he had to give the government 2/3rd of his life time of work, which should have been his retirement.

Capital Gains needs to be tax free on inheritance/sales, and business sales. There should be exceptions and one time exemptions on income and capital gains taxes in these circumstances.

 

I'm all about lowering the capital gains tax.

 

Capital gains are a farce in highly inflationary economy.

Why aren't capital gains restructured to include REAL value changes, instead of using nominal changes?

Theoretically, if someone owned a capital good worth $1 in 1910, and sold it today for $28, they would pay capital gains on $27, even though they did not realize a REAL capital gain.

The system is totally tipped against us.

 

i agree, but that still wont help most americans since much of the ppl in need dont know what capital gain is

 

Correct, most don't.. But when the find out, OUCH.. Does it hurt!

 

The capital gains needs to be indexed for inflation.

 

I'm gonna change my mind. I agree with Guerilla, I think it just needs to go. Lets just get rid of it!

 

If we do that, many business will just re-organize their employee compensation plans so that wages look like capital gains.

If I pay you to build a web site for me, your salary is taxed as income. If I tell you that I will pay you to build the site for me and then I buy the web site when you are finished, your profit is taxed as a capital gain.

Accounting is fun.

 

I forgot all about that living in a country where businesses making less than 80k a year do not get taxed.

 

It is a silly tax, however it is refreshing to see Bogart agree that as a bare minimum, capital gains should be indexed for inflation. So silly that you should have to pay tax on a nominal gain, which becomes a REAL loss.

Almost sounds good. Many wages do not rise except for cost of living anyways. Why should people pay higher marginal rates for what is merely a cost of living adjustment reflected in their wage?

Great point. Let's abolish the income tax too.

 

Income taxes and capital gains taxes really are the same thing -- and both are pretty lousy ideas. They both discourage hard work and innovation.

A national sales tax would discourage spending (i.e. would encourage saving). That's really what we need.

 

A libertarian might say, we don't need any taxes on income, savings, consumption or profit. We need less government spending, and more decisions being made by individuals with their money. We need more charity and less welfare. We need more self-defense/security, and less war.

What concerns me, is that some people are willing to meet me halfway, they even "get it" ideologically, but they still insist that government needs funding.

Let's argue that a small government is more desirable than no government. That small government, should have a very small income. And there are a lot of ways to achieve that, while wiping out nearly all taxes, and ushering in (what I believe would be) an age of unbelievable prosperity.

But trading one national tax scheme for another, is really just tinkering around the edges. There is no meaningful change in direction or attitude.

 

The really kick in head is paying income tax on health insurance, but then not being able to deduct it as an expense... Its not F'ing INCOME when I pay it out of my pocket...

But, according to the IRS , it is.. argh...

I like the national sales tax, and zero income tax, zero death tax, zero capital gains tax.

In fact, lets eliminate corporate tax too... All those ever do is get passed onto the workforce anyway.

 

Yes. Government needs funding. Duh.

GET OFF THE WEED MAN.

 

A national sales tax is way better than an income tax. You always have the option not to buy. The imcome tax is a killer because there is no upper limit. Theoritically the government could tax you 100% plus add payroll tax to it.

 

I don't think vacations are unnecessary. I agree that people tend to buy more car than they need or can really afford. But traveling and learning about new people and places is a good thing!

-Raymond

 

Americans take their inherited lifestyles for granted. Most think "my parents lived at such and such a level, I should be able to live at a higher level than my parents because we're better off now than we were!" Many people don't consider the fact that standards of living can fluctuate and that today's Americans may very well sit at a lower standard of living than their parents and grandparents. Yes, we have more accessible "luxuries" now, but can we really afford them without cranking up huge debt? My friends who are "living the dream" (house, kids, cars, toys, vacations) have 5 or 6 figure debt. They live on a string. By contrast, my parents did most of that on 1 income only. My father worked, my mother didn't. She raised the kids. With one 1 income we still took vacations every year, had a house, spoiled kids, and leisure time. I don't know anyone who does that now unless one of the earners makes well over $100,000 but often works 70 hour weeks. In the face of our economic crash, we should start thinking about being happier with less rather than more.

 

Why does it need funding? And if so, how much?

Btw, it is very sad that the best you can do, is reduce my 140+ word post to a 4 word clip to fashion a response.

 

The Founding Fathers realized that there were legitimate roles for government. I'm surprised and saddened that you do not.

Instead of, once again, trying to teach you something here I instead commend you to read Thomas Jefferson.

Your 140 words had no value.