Is a flat income tax fair?

Question

Why or why not? Are there any countries with a flat income tax currently in place?

Answer 1

Flat tax is not fair at all.Graduated income tax means the strongest shoulders carry the heaviest burden.If i have a thousand dollar and i have to pay hundred dollar,it means something.If i have a ten thousand dollars and have to pay a hundred dollars it's absurd and I don't contribute to society in a fair way.Don't forget rich people and companies also benefit most from good roads,public safety and so on

Answer 2

While a flat tax does help, I would prefer the fair tax.

For those folks that think you should tax the crap out of the rich, think about this. Since President Bush's tax cut, tax revenue has INCREASED. Also, the top 10% earn just over $100,000.00 a year and the top 5% earn about $160,000.00.

Our main problem is that the current tax code has become SO complex, that H&R Block (nations largest tax preparer) can't get it right. Even the IRS can't properly file a return without mistakes. We need to scrap the entire thing and have ONE tax. Be that Flat or Fair I don't care.

Businesses are supposed to pay 35% tax, yet take a look at some of the balance sheets out there and you'll find out that most corporations pay less than they are supposed to.

Hundreads of Billions of dollars are wasted in filing tax returns, and more billions could be gained by taxing folks that currently don't pay any tax.

Remember the government doesn't create jobs, people do. The folks that DO create jobs are the ones making up to $100,000.00 per year and more. The less tax you put on the rich, the more revenew you get. The more folks get a job and more jobs mean more tax money.

Answer 3

Depends upon whether or not you think taxes are fair in the first place. To believe in taxation is to believe that the government has an implied ownership of a portion of your means of production. In other words, the State thinks it owns you. In many ways, it does.

I believe that taxation is theft, no matter how you sugarcoat it, no matter how noble the intent of the funds.

Taxes are not voluntary; they are collected by coercive means. Don't pay your taxes, you go to jail! That is force.

Forcible confiscation of property against one's will is theft. At least it is in the private sector. Why should it be any different in the public sector?

There was no federal income tax until 1913 - how did we ever survive all those years without it? Very well, thank you. Incidentally, the politicians who supported the establishment of a federal income tax claimed that it would ONLY apply to the 'rich' and it would NEVER exceed 3% of one's income! My, how things have changed.

Today, the politicians have the American sheeple conditioned into thinking that there is nothing wrong with the government confiscating 30-40% of your annual income - as long as someone else is getting taxed more than you are.

So, keep paying your taxes, slaves, so that the almighty State can wage its endless wars, fund its wasteful, inefficient cradle-to-grave welfare programs, and run up excessive amounts of government debt that will be passed on to your kids and grandkids.

You reap what you sow.

Answer 4

It's the ONLY fair form of taxation. Why should the wealthy be punished for success? Isn't this country based upon the notion of the ability to succeed? And also, when my family with only one working spouse who happens to be a US Soldier is classified by the government as "wealthy", there's a real problem! Let us pay a fair percentage of our income to taxes, and let the percentage be the same for everybody. Those who make less pay much less. Those who make more pay more, but it's all equal and relative to the amount of income. Let's do away with deductions and corporate welfare, and tax shelters, etc. Let it be what it is, and everybody pays the same percentage.

Answer 5

No. A flat tax would lower tax revenue and America would have to downsize our military and other useful entitlements. First, the rich are now paying a smaller percentage of their income in taxes than at any time in the last seventy-five years. That they pay a lot of taxes nonetheless is a by-product of the mind-boggling increase in their income and wealth relative to most other Americans. Second, if you consider not just income and capital-gains taxes but all the taxes people pay -- including payroll taxes and sales taxes -- you find that middle-income workers are now paying a larger share of their incomes than people at or near the top. We have turned the principle of a graduated, progressive tax on its head.

Answer 6

Flat income tax is fair depending upon your income. Say you make 100K a year and the flat tax is 10%. You are left with 90K. However, if you make 20K a year and the tax is 2K you are left with 18K. I would suggest that the lower incomes get screwed. While it looks equal in reality it isn't. If it was graduated or was able to set a threshold, then it might work.

Answer 7

A flat income tax is fair and workable... but not with a government as bloated and overreaching as the one we have.

If the government only concerned itself with the basic functions it was charged with in the constitution it could jettison much of the undo costs. Reducing the scope of government would also reduce the size of government. A flat tax of around 5% or even less would be all that was necessary.

Of course this would mean taking a hard look at all programs, domestic and foreign. But with the advent of the welfare state came a sense of entitlement and a dissolution of personal responsibility.

Basically while the idea of a flat tax is theoretically possible the special interests who rely on big government, and big government itself, would preclude it from ever being a workable prospect.

Answer 8

Income tax is not fair. It makes people who work pay for those who don't. I beleive in the Fair Tax act.

Answer 9

Income tax is ILLEGAL people!!! The amendment was NOT ratified in 1913. There is NO written law stating you MUST pay income tax(it asks you to 'volunteer' to pay it). You only pay it through force. So, why is it the government can make you abide by a law that isn't even on ANY books?? Try looking up the 861 tax code.
Try calling the IRS and asking them to show you the law that states you MUST pay it. They won't...cause they can't...it's not there. Most people who are tax preparers are truly ignorant(lack of knowledge) of the tax codes they use.

Answer 10

How could everyone paying the same percentage of their income not be the most fair system of taxation?