Shouldn't taxes be obsolete or shouldn't they work differently?

Question

Why do taxes come out of my pay checks and I have to pay taxes on anything I buy?

It's like, some guy on a farm sells his goods to / for a store, he gets taxed on what he sells, the store gets taxed for it, and I pay tax on it with money from a check I get taxed on....

So let's say we're talking about a tomatoe is one of the goods in the aforementioned statement.... It's like taxes are payed on it 3 times over.... Am I right or not?

Also, shouldn't I be able to write off food? I mean, we all need food to have energy and LIVE to do our jobs, shouldn't we be able to write off the clothing we buy? Not all of us want to wear clothes but it's against the law to be nude in public, so shouldn't we be able to write stuff off that we NEED to buy to function in society?

What are your thoughts on this? Feel free to call me a dumb*ss or agree with me...

JWilridge - Yes we have to pay taxes on food in Chicago...

Answer 1

Well it's not entirely accurate as most states don't charge sales tax on groceries. Also, for clothes or something that is taxed, only the final consumer pays the sales tax. This means that the store doesn't pay sales tax when they buy the goods to put on their shelves. Only us consumers pay the sales tax. So goods are only taxed once.

This actually makes alot of sence. After all if a store pays $10 in sales tax on a product all they will do is raise the price of that product by $10. This means that the price you pay goes up by the $10 + the sales tax on that $10.

Income, on the other hand, is taxed repeatedly. If I make $1000 I get taxed on it. When I buy a month's groceries the grocer pays taxes on the same $1000 (2 kids eat a lot of groceries) When the grocer buys inventory, the wholesaler pays taxes on the same $1000 of income. When the wholesaler puts gas in the delivery trucks, the gas company pays taxes on the $1000. And when the gas company pays dividends the investors pay taxes on the same $1000.

This is why a national sales tax makes a lot more sence than the income tax. In fact it took a constitutional amendment (16th) for income tax to even be legal.

You may want to look in to the Fair Tax. This is a tax plan that would do away with all double taxation, removes all loopholes for the wealthy, repeals the 16th amendment, puts more money in your pocket, encourages saving, includes prebate adding cash flow to the poor, lowers prices, abolishes the IRS, encourages exporting, adds transparency and understanding to the tax code, and even taxes the illegals.

Answer 2

I agree. Try to calculate, how much tax is payed on any goods. Most likely you end up with 30% or more. Everything is taxed at least 5 times or more. And lets see where the taxes go. 3 Trillion Dollar a year, that's 10,000 a year per citizen. The average income is 40,000. From the 3 Trillion, 1 Trillion goes into military related adventures, more then all other 180 nations on earth together. 1 trillion pays the Government and related servants of the public. The rest goes back to the people, who paid the taxes in form of services, mostly to lobbiests. Only the Vatican has a better scam going on.

Answer 3

You aren't quite right on your tomato example. The farmer pays tax on what he sells the tomato for, less his expenses. Then if the store sells in for more than they paid the farmer, they pay tax on the extra amount (and that wasn't taxed to the farmer). When you buy it though, yes, if you live somewhere that taxes the tomato, you are paying sales tax on the tomato with money you've already paid income tax on. That's kind of how things work.

Should a person be able to write off t-bone steaks every night? And mink coats? If your plan was followed, who would decide what was "necessary" and what wasn't?

Taxes are a necessary evil - the only real way around to fund government services.

Answer 4

you have a point-- except in the store you don't pay tax on food, if all you buy is food then you check out tax free, at least that's how it works in Nebraska.
It is crazy how much we are taxed on everything, but without being taxed the government wouldn't have any money (well I guess they could spend the money they have more wisely).
I agree we should be able to right off all living expenses.

Answer 5

We need to re-examine our tax structure as citizens, for compliance as well as continued objectives. Certainly in the past, our corporations provided the catalyst for continued growth in the development of our social infrastructure and equally towards our economic advancements.

Nowadays, due partly to the resurgence of outsourced capital and labor, we as taxpayers need to stabilize the imbalances created by the tax advantages afforded corporate executives, and the psychological and economic benefiting, that disadvantages ordinary taxpayer expenditures at large.

Executive compensation, clearly if examined from the basis of earnings, differs grossly from the vast tax contributions of the average middle class American. The capital gains application, versus ordinary income tax contributions suffered by the majority of US taxpayers is a gross miscarriage to the founding principles of justice for all.

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Answer 6

If you can figure out a better way to fund government than taxes, I'm all ears. You'd be a hero on a global scale.