Cruz tax plan

[KUSA]

Congress wouldn't give it to him.

To be fair, which I rarely am, one cannot blame the republicunts for that.  If the democrats could have gotten their shit together they could have passed it without worrying about them.  But there were a handful of blue-dog dems - essentially conservatives - who blocked it.

Thats because they planned it that way. The establishment wants to look out for the interest of big money.

[Jackalope]

If it were revenue neutral, it would be worth considering. I don't see any way it could be. Assuming exemptions and deductions remain the same, my tax burden would be almost half what it is now. Despite that, I am opposed.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

What do you think of the Cruz tax plan?
https://www.tedcruz.org/tax_plan_summary/


I do not support Cruz and am not interested in general opinion of him. I am simply interested in opinions of his tax plan. What do you think are the pros and cons?

It's a scam.  Since there's no limit on Item 6, Savings Plan Contributions, rich people could dump an unlimited amount of money into such plans and whittle down their gross taxable income to almost nothing.  It also exempts income earned aboard.

Theodore Roosevelt said in his State of the Union message on December 7, 1907 that the country needed a stiff inheritance tax.

"There is no reason why in the United States the National Government should not impose inheritance taxes in addition to those imposed by the States, and when we last had an inheritance tax about one-half of the States levied such taxes concurrently with the National Government, making a combined maximum rate, in some cases as high as 25 per cent. The French law has one feature which is to be heartily commended. The progressive principle is so applied that each higher rate is imposed only on the excess above the amount subject to the next lower rate; so that each increase of rate will apply only to a certain amount above a certain maximum. The tax should if possible be made to bear more heavily upon those residing without the country than within it. A heavy progressive tax upon a very large fortune is in no way such a tax upon thrift or industry as a like would be on a small fortune. No advantage comes either to the country as a whole or to the individuals inheriting the money by permitting the transmission in their entirety of the enormous fortunes which would be affected by such a tax; and as an incident to its function of revenue raising, such a tax would help to preserve a measurable equality of opportunity for the people of the generations growing to manhood. We have not the slightest sympathy with that socialistic idea which would try to put laziness, thriftlessness and inefficiency on a par with industry, thrift and efficiency; which would strive to break up not merely private property, but what is far more important, the home, the chief prop upon which our whole civilization stands. Such a theory, if ever adopted, would mean the ruin of the entire country--a ruin which would bear heaviest upon the weakest, upon those least able to shift for themselves. But proposals for legislation such as this herein advocated are directly opposed to this class of socialistic theories. Our aim is to recognize what Lincoln pointed out: The fact that there are some respects in which men are obviously not equal; but also to insist that there should be an equality of self-respect and of mutual respect, an equality of rights before the law, and at least an approximate equality in the conditions under which each man obtains the chance to show the stuff that is in him when compared to his fellows."
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index....e+tax&st1=

Where does the dummy think the money will come from to fund his war machine?  Guns and bombs are expensive.  Where will the money come from to rebuild and maintain the country's infrastructure?  Our roads and bridges are terrible.  Where will he get the money to give to Israel, which he loves more than he does America since he isn't an American?  He needs to stop listening to that foreign agent Norquist.

When a rich guy starts talking about reforming the tax system he's actually talking about a way the wealthy can avoid paying their fair share of taxes to support the country that enabled them to become wealthy.  Besides, America already has one of the lowest tax rates in the world.  How can the country ever be great if it only spends a nickel on itself?

[Minimalist]

To be fair, which I rarely am, one cannot blame the republicunts for that.  If the democrats could have gotten their shit together they could have passed it without worrying about them.  But there were a handful of blue-dog dems - essentially conservatives - who blocked it.

Thats because they planned it that way. The establishment wants to look out for the interest of big money.

I must reluctantly agree with you.  All conservatards suck balls.  They prefer money to people.  Fuck 'em.

[The Grand Nudger]

Now, Tibs...you know that no one actually pays a "death tax" here in the states, right?  99.8% of estates aren't subject in the first place, the remaining .2% can write off. Works up the plebs though, keeps em pulling the lever.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Now, Tibs...you know that no one actually pays a "death tax" here in the states, right?  99.8% of estates aren't subject in the first place, the remaining .2% can write off.  Works up the plebs though, keeps em pulling the lever.

In 2014 the government took in enough from the estate tax to pay for our latest aircraft carrier.

[Aractus]

2) Obamacare penalties should be abolished. Obamacare is good, but people shouldn't be forced to buy healthcare if they don't want it, or punished by the IRS if they don't have it.

Absolutely not. USA does not have universal healthcare, therefore people who get a chronic NCD that requires ongoing treatment such as cancer will need private health cover, and as there's no way to know in advance whether a person will get cancer or some other expensive health problem in the future, they need to be protected now in the present. The penalties could conceivably be abolished in the future at such time that universal healthcare does exist, however that's not going to happen any time soon.

It looks like the Obamacare benefits the insurance companies more than anything. It is not a single payer healthcare plan that was sold to the American people. It was Obama paying his rich pals in the insurance business.

You're a complete idiot if you actually believe that. The main thing Obamacare did that was of benefit for people was to ensure that insurance companies could not refuse cover. That has two effects: firstly, and most importantly, it means those previously denied cover because they were already sick or "high risk" patients are able to have the same access to healthcare as everyone else. Secondly, as a result of this it means there are now more healthcare consumers in a finite system putting greater pressure on hospitals and consequently making the service worse for everyone else. Both those things are true. But the goal is not to provide a better service for everyone, it's to ensure that everyone has access to an equitable service for expensive life-threatening illnesses.

As for your tax question.



The tax proposal is just about one of the most extremist policies I've seen anywhere. It'll widen the gap between rich and poor, create higher unemployment, higher crime, and for what? So the rich can stay rich.

[The Grand Nudger]

In 2014 the government took in enough from the estate tax to pay for our latest aircraft carrier.

How nice of those taxpayers not to do any of the hundreds of things they could have done to absolve themselves of the tax.  At least we got a carrier out of their laziness.  Perhaps they should rename the tax to "Lazy Tax" -  betcha everyone against "death taxes" would be for it all of a sudden.

[vorlon13]

I realize I am probably anomalous here, but I paid 3X the amount for local taxes than federal income tax.

And I realize this doesn't seem to make any sense, but the local taxes I pay are deductible on the federal return, and I think that is a little weird; like just make the rates allow for that.

Same for sales tax on deductible stuff, just adjust the rate for that.

As for macheteing the federal tax code, don't no one need to be holding their breath waiting for that to happen.

[The Grand Nudger]

I also pay more in local than federal taxes.  Strange that my city, county, and state is so poor. It was a huge shock moving here, coming from a state set up to benefit the elderly and the wealthy.