Perry Announces Flat Tax Plan - Page 10

On October 26 2011 17:42 PrideNeverDie wrote:
it doesn't help the super rich because they don't pay >20% in taxes anyways
it helps the people who came from middle class homes and with hard work and sacrifice became working professionals

the super rich pay themselves $1 and bypass taxes with loopholes and stock options remember?

On October 28 2011 01:50 RibsNGibs wrote:
I don't like it, though I personally would benefit. It's just a tax cut for the wealthy. Also, it fails to simplify doing your taxes because everybody is now just going to do their taxes both ways to see which saves them more money.

And elimination of capital gains tax? Are you frickin kidding me? Totally insane. I mean, I'm all for it personally and selfishly but wtf... A bit of $400 engine trouble drives my girlfriend to tears because she can't afford to pay that and her student loans and her rent and groceries, and you're giving ME more money?!

Incredible.


I really don't understand why they want to cut taxes for the rich so badly. You give more money to poor people, and they can buy what they need. Plus, Walmart's stock goes up, so I make more money, too, since all my money's invested. Win/win.

On October 26 2011 03:22 xDaunt wrote:


So raising taxes on the rich just to punish them more (even though it doesn't raise additional revenues) and "level the playing field" is good policy? That's news to me.

On October 26 2011 15:49 Fuhrmaaj wrote:
I can't speak for the US tax code, but typically you have a tiered system whereby the poorest people don't pay any tax (no or negative income); then you have some low percent for people scraping by and the tax rate ramps up as wealth increases. This means that people with higher income are still making more money than people with lower incomes, but paying significantly more taxes. This is justified because high income families will have their necessities covered and are able to make their payments, but people with lower incomes struggle to make ends meet.

Without doing extensive research into the US tax code and assuming it works like the Canadian one, it looks like it allows people with higher incomes to just opt to pay less taxes. If I'm facing a choice between paying 40% income tax and paying 20%, then I choose 20% every time. This won't be hard for most people to do because accountants will automatically file under the cheaper option.

The key concept to realize is that it allows you to choose the cheaper one. Higher rates of taxation are applied to higher incomes. Therefore, the benefit will be greater for people with higher incomes.

In my opinion, I would go the other way and apply greater taxes to wealthier people if you have debts to pay and you're still struggling from the recession.