[Am-info] Off Topic Question

[Paul Rickard]

========== On 2002.07.20 08:04 PM, Mark Hinds typed: ============

>1. Social Security Tax.
>    It seems clear to me that we pay 12%, not 6% since the employer's 
>contribution
>    is simply a way of hiding part of this tax. Why do WE allow this? 
>Salaries
>    should merely be adjusted up 6% and 12% should be deducted for SSI. 
>People
>    should see what they pay.

    I think I should be able to invest my own retirement money - I might 
blow it, and I might start the next eBay with it. Either way, I should 
have control over it. Even putting it in the bank at 1% interest over 50 
years would give a greater return than what the average person will get 
back in SS payments from the government. That said, if it has to exist, 
I'd rather see it listed what we pay outright instead of having it hidden 
in an accounting shell game.

>2. Social Security is simply a tax, not a market competive pension plan. I'm
>    not certain of this and will investigate further, but assuming it is 
>true,
>    then SSI is really a tax and should NOT be capped
>    ie 12% * 1.0e+6 = 120,000, not 8,800.

    I'm not sure what you're saying here.

>3. Corporate Taxes
>    Since all for profit Corps pay these (to varying degrees :-) it can be 
>assumed
>    that Corporate Taxes are merely passed along all the way down to the 
>consumer.
>    So, I conclude that Corporate Taxes are merely a highly disguised 
>sales tax on
>    ALL goods and services. Shouldn't we get rid of these things? This 
>would increase
>    the competiveness of US business in the world market, as well as lower 
>the cost
>    of good and services.

    Not all companies provide goods and services that are included under 
sales taxes. Corprate taxes are indeed passed on to consumers one way or 
another, but I'm not against them - I'd rather see coporations pay the 
taxes and consumers be free of that burden. It's more than some people 
can figure out, and it would be more efficient to have several hundred 
thousand companies send their taxes in to the government than have to 
process some half-billion personal income tax claims. No, i'm not 
anti-business - if the consumers had less taxes, the businesses would get 
more money from consumer spending. (I'd also like to see the federal tax 
phased out in favor of a state-based taxation system, but thats off the 
topic and I'll save it for another time.)

>4. Should not the personal FIT rate simply be a linear function of income 
>capped
>    at say 70%? That would bring the top tax rate from about %38 to 70 + 
>12 = 82%.

    Too high... I'm not exactly sure how you arrived at the end figure, 
but that's at least twice the level that I'd tax anyone at.


======== Paul Rickard, Editor of The Microsoft Boycott Campaign =======
--------------------------------[ Http://www.msboycott.com ]-----------

  "It's possible, you can never know, that the universe exists only for
   me. If so, it's going quite well I must admit." -Bill Gates