pull down to refresh
30 sats \ 18 replies \ @Undisciplined 10 Apr \ on: The IRS Isn’t Going Away, and This is How We Know Politics_And_Law
I don’t think the article is correct. I recall seeing the administration discussing replacing all of the IRS taxes with tariffs and a national sales tax.
They’re probably correct about that not happening, though.
I'd be really curious to see how that would work out.
But you're right, probably not happening. We already had this huge freakout over tariffs
reply
I am not too curious about that because I could probably not afford any imported goods, anymore after that implementation of tariffs. The state was very different before 1913 and afterword, making the two situations completely at odds.
reply
I’d certainly take that trade. We’ll probably just get tariffs and a sales tax on top of everything else, though.
reply
I don’t think there is any way to cut expenditures enough to make tariffs and sales taxes cover them without deficits. Well, maybe, but the sales taxes would be ridiculously high and tariffs prohibitive. I don’t think there is any way out of this conundrum but by reducing the size and span of the state. However, I don’t see that happening, either.
reply
I didn't check their work, but they were talking about something like 25% sales tax and 30% tariffs.
reply
Do you think either of them would go over on the domestic or international stages? I would only pay the 25% if there were no other taxes imposed upon me, like mileage taxes, property taxes and etc. I don’t think the WTO would go for 30% for everything, either. How much do you think they could get away with?
reply
It would only replace the current slate of federal taxes: income, payroll, inheritance, capital gains.
I'd still happily take that deal. I'm a net saver, so a quarter of my spending is much less than more than a quarter of my income.
reply
Do you really think any such thing would pass the Congress, half of which are raving progressive/lefty/collectivist/Marxist/socialist/communist/murderers? Something like that would, for sure, be blocked in the Senate. I would love to see it happen but hold out no hope. I could just imagine the myriad of new opportunities in the area of free-lance importations!!
reply
Here's how I thought it could work: after cranking up the tariffs, they stop collecting those other taxes and pressure Congress to pass the national sales tax (to be collected by the states) to start bringing revenue back in, and finally they abolish the IRS and repeal its taxes.
That step has to come at the end, when the politicians' choice is to reimplement a bunch of very unpopular taxes on their voters or repeal the very unpopular IRS that isn't even collecting any revenue.
However, to answer you question, I don't think it will pass Congress or the Senate for the reason you said.
Do you really think that tariffs and sales taxes could replace payroll taxes? Perhaps not, according to this author.
No, once that have us enslaved to the payroll taxes, I don’t think they would emancipate us from their thrall. After all, it seems that we are demanding the collar because we are demanding the goods and services that the collar buys.
reply
It certainly could replace the revenue. Perhaps not the other functions.
reply
It wouldn’t come close to replacing the control that the state and our overlords have on us. There would be too many ways to dodge those taxes. Smuggling would make a big comeback, much bigger than it is now.
reply
But, if you get a regime that doesn't understand or want those domestic control elements, it might get dumped.
reply
Where does such a regime exist? If the overlords are part of the regime, they will fight to keep the status quo. This is about like finding politicians that are not interested in power, pelf and lucre.
reply
I think we have such a regime right now. Trump doesn't have the same priorities and he's not aware of all the nefarious reasons certain institutions might exist/persist. He looks at them and thinks "Why am I the only one who sees how dumb this is?"
reply
He is not the only one to think this arrangement is dumb. There are a lot of people thinking it, but the ones doing the blocking have every reason to protect their grift! They are fighting back tooth and nail to keep those cushy grifts going, fortunately it seems they are losing.
reply
He is not the only one to think this arrangement is dumb.
I know that, but he doesn't.