Did you know that an astonishing 43.4 percent of the people in America do not pay any income taxes" (McCullagh 1)? This is roughly 65.6 million people that aren't paying taxes and this is putting our economy and country at its breaking point. Our current tax system penalizes those that work and save money. People that pay no taxes still get to enjoy the benefits. The United States needs to look at which tax is fairer to the people and easier to administer by the government. Although some may disagree, the Flat Tax should replace the income tax to simplify and bring fairness to the system, increase income, and create jobs. Currently, the United States has a federal income tax that is very difficult to understand, to comply with, …show more content…
"A revolutionary change in our tax system is fundamental to re-energizing the American economy and restoring the American dream" (Moore 1). Currently, there are two major plans being considered to try and fix the tax system in the United States. These two plans are the Flat Tax and the National Retail Sales Tax. "Both the Flat Tax and a National Sales Tax would replace today's discriminatory tax structure with a single low rate. Either plan would promote the kind of capital formation that America needs to boost workers' incomes and raise long-term economic growth" (Mitchell 1). This means that the flat tax would take away the savings from the government and pass them on to the citizens and businesses. By doing this, there would be a rise in long-term economic growth. The national sales tax would replace our current income tax system by taxing goods and services. Under this system of taxation, people would pay taxes on every item purchased and not on income. This would help the economy through sales. "There would no longer be an inheritance tax or a capital gains tax. The government would impose a 17.65 percent tax on the value of all final sales to consumers. To protect lower-income citizens, the government would send all households periodic rebate checks, the net effect of which would be to offset the tax burden on purchase up to the poverty level" (Mitchell 2). This national sales tax is a popular
Flat tax and progressive tax either can be considered fair or well put together for the American people since it has a rational approach towards taxation. However they do vary from each other when it comes to its treatment of the wealthy people, and each of this system is biased and discriminatory, but at least one good aspect of progressive tax is that people of lower income are still paying low and under flat tax they will end up paying same as a wealthy individual who is well. Only because the name of a policy sounds progressive does not mean its action has to be. Furthermore, the current progressive tax policy is only a few steps away from becoming the flat tax and there is no difference among these two. So if the flat tax is being implemented in the United States it will have validity to do more harm to the majority of the Americans then giving them any
The IRS argues against the flat income tax since it is regressive with all taxpayers paying the same tax rate. While it is true that the current federal income tax system is progressive, the primary argument for a flat or flatter tax is to simplify the tax system. A flat or flatter federal income tax system with a limited number of exclusions and deductions could accomplish the same goals in a much more expedient way.
As the United States enters another presidential election year in 2016, the subject of tax reform has taken central stage to many of the issues being discussed. Today, many Democratic lawmakers continue to support rising tax rates under the current progressive tax system, while Republican lawmakers are making a push for a flat-tax system. As concerns over slow economic growth, high unemployment rates, and large government spending deficits grow among millions of Americans, the idea of a Eastern European modeled flat-tax system has grown. Some presidents, including Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, have experimented with the flat-tax system, but Eastern Europe has provided the essential model of success for this type of
Less than fifty percent of Americans actually pay income tax. How can the economy bounce back with only the small middle and upper classes taxed? The nine percent tax on new goods will be implemented to everyone. Insuring that everyone does his or her part in correcting America. Nine percent business and individual taxes will also be apart of the plan. Since everyone in America will pay the same percentage, the progress on balancing
In America, we enjoy freedoms that we often take for granted. We have the power to decide things for ourselves, such as our leaders, our rights, and our liberties. We have the ability to debate and evaluate the effectiveness and the relevance of a law or bill, and we must use this power when it comes to the methods of taxation. Currently, the US uses a progressive income tax as its means to raise revenue. Deborah Lee and Richard A. Grant, in “Counterpoint: Expanding Sales Taxes Helps the Rich, Hurts the Poor,” believe that a progressive income tax is the fairest and most constructive ways to fund the government, and that such a tax benefits the poor more than a sales tax.
The United States Federal Government currently functions on a “progressive tax system”. A progressive tax system is based on ability to pay and therefor requires members of higher socioeconomic standing to pay higher federal income tax rates. The idea is that wealthy people, whether they are wealthy as a product of their own intelligence and labor or wealthy by inheritance, can afford to pay higher tax rates and still maintain a quality of life well beyond what is considered livable or even standard. This procedure understandably creates a lot of upset in the upper-class community. According to the IRS, in 2007, more that 44% of income tax revenues came from the top 5% of earners and more than 50% came from the top 10%. In the same year, the 400 wealthiest Americans, bringing in an average adjusted gross income of $345 million paid an average federal income tax rate of 17%, whereas the average tax payer during the same time period paid only 9.3% of their gross income to the federal taxes. In 2010, about 45% of all
One of the largest effects of a move to national sales tax system would have on us, is the change it would have on people’s working and consumption performance. Although, it is currently unclear to tell if replacing an income tax with a sales tax would cause consumption to rise or fall within the United States, it
There has always been a large amount of discussion on the topic of the federal income tax. Specifically, the discussions have revolved around how exactly the people should be taxed. There are several ways in which tax rates can be determined, and all of them have some form of a strong argument behind them. The flat tax is the best option as, by nature, it is the most fair. Tax rates are measured by percentages, and when taxes are collected by percentages, the wealthy are already paying more money than the poor. For example, if a flat tax rate of 20% is in place, and one person has an annual income of $150,000 while another person has an annual income of $40,000. The person who has the income of $150,000 is paying $30,000 in taxes while
With today’s tax system, Americans feel like they are constantly shoveling their money out the door. People who object the flat tax system argue that it isn’t going to be able to fund the government, but most of us know that our government has a spending problem…not a revenue problem. “In 1970, the federal tax revenue was $192 billion; in 2010, tax revenue was $2.1 trillion – and it still isn’t enough money to pay for all the programs that politicians want.” ("Creators") With this new system, every income group would gain. Through the earned income tax credit, most low income Americans would be eliminated, benefiting the majority. In another sight the gains of the highest income group would be third highest among the six income groups. The income in tax variation and change in incentives would end up resulting in an increase of 1.8 percentage points for the economy.
The push for a tax reform continues to be a popular topic. Many people see the current structure as inequitable and complex. The new proposed tax structure that has been gaining attention is called the Fair Tax Act. It would institute a “national sales tax at a rate of 23%”if it were enacted. The idea is to make the tax structure more simplistic and spread out the tax burden. Another interesting proposed change relates to tax brackets. These brackets would no longer be needed to decide rates on taxable income. Investments will also be much different and potentially have a greater economic impact because the tax on capital gains and property will no longer be in existence. These are just a few of the changes that could occur with
Our current tax system is outrageously unjust. Most working people pay too much in taxes compared to corporations, multi-millionaires, and billionaires. Many of our biggest and most profitable corporations pay little or no tax. Most investment income is taxed at less than the rate of workers. Income disparities have become so pronounced that America's top 10 percent now averages nearly nine times as much income as the bottom 90 percent. Wages in the United States have been stagnating for more than three decades. Typical American workers and the nation's lowest wage workers have seen little or no growth in their real weekly wages. Since the mid-1980’s there has been an enormous transfer of wealth from the middle class and the poor to the wealthiest
A flat income tax rate would make a big difference in the issues that society faces every day. When you receive your paycheck, you see how much is taken out, every payday. All of the money that is being taken out, is money that can’t be used for living. It can’t be used to help pay medical bills, nor can it help pay for food.
So imagine that you’re working really hard, and the glorious day has finally come. Pay day. Once you finally have that money and you have to pay taxes, you realize that you have to pay a lot more money towards taxes just because you work harder. This is why having a flat tax is necessary. Not only will it make taxing fair, but it will make it better for the economy. A recent poll in 2014 was asking whether Americans thought the government should switch to a flat tax. 62% of the people agreed to having a flat tax instead of a progressive, and only 33% do not want a flat tax (reason.com, 1). This clearly shows that the people want a flat tax because they know it will help the economy, be simpler than a progressive tax, and will be much more fair.
We have all heard the famous quote by Benjamin Franklin who stated, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” (“Benjamin Franklin Quotes”) We find this to be true as we begin working and feel the pain of money being taken from our paychecks. Then we face the chore of having to file income taxes yearly. Although there are many taxes we are subject to, most people are referring to federal income tax when they complain about taxes. There has been debate for decades about the current system but there has been no agreement on how to fix it. The United States currently has a progressive tax code which means people pay taxes according to their earnings. This has been in place since the time of Abraham Lincoln. An alternative
A flat tax is a single rate that covers all income brackets of taxpayers, rather than the current “progressive” system, in which taxes higher-income individuals at increased rates and includes numerous deductions and exemptions. Under A 9% plan, Americans would pay a flat 9 percent rate on their personal incomes, corporate incomes, and on sales. Another option would be a “Cut, Balance and Grow” system that would give taxpayers the choice to opt out of the current system and pay 20 percent on individual income and allow for a few of the deductions in the current code. Proponents of the flat tax argue that it would simplify the tax code while broadening the tax base. Opponents say the flat tax would shift much of the revenue burden to middle and low income Americans while lowering taxes on the wealthiest