Comments on: Transfer Machine

By: Dr Y

Dr Y — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:38:38 +0000

Common sense would require that no one be allowed to vote largesse to themselves from the public treasury, not only because of the obvious conflict of interests, but even more because of ratchet effect such an arrangement is bound to have on government spending. In other words it’s not enough to have “no taxation without representation,” but we must also have “no representation without taxation.” Thus, to eliminate the ratchet, no one on a government payroll (including the welfare recipients) should be allowed to vote in the elections for that government.

In the United States, this ratchet came into being gradually, between 1939 and 1964, and it became a permanent fixture once enshrined in the Constitution by the 24th Amendment. In my opinion, that Amendment should be repealed and replaced by an Amendment that suspends the right to vote of people on the government payroll or exempt from taxation.

By: Steve Hankin

Steve Hankin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:51:17 +0000

Mr. Stossel, great article, but what I find even more alarming is the fact that most people in US are completely convinced that the wealthier taxpayers are not paying their “fair share” of the income tax burden.

The source of this misconception is probably because the upper 20 percent of income earners, who pay 91 percent of all incomes tax, paid, have disproportionately been able to take advantage of many offsetting income tax benefits, including deductions, credits and sophisticated tax planning, in order to reduce substantially their income tax burdens. So, consider how much much more disproportionate the tax burden on the upper 20 percent would be if they had not been able to avail themselves of these tax benefits and were simply “at the mercy” of the current progressive income tax rates.

Note, that these tax benefits that inur to the benefit of the wealthy from availing themselves of all those deductions, credits and tax planning come at a cost to them. That cost is the fees that they pay to lawyers and accountants to find these deductions and credits and to advise them on how to lower their taxes with a myriad of proper tax planning schemes. To the individual taxpayer, these fees represent another tax cost to them that go along with their payments of income taxes to the IRS. So, if we view the cost of income tax from the viewpoint of the taxpayer, instead of from the viewpoint of the revenue raised by the government, the top 20 percent of income tax will have incurred even more than 96 percent of the total income tax cost that is borne by taxpayers, as a group.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:55:29 +0000

Interesting post, and certainly a concern. I’d be interested to see, however, whether the 40 percent of earners who don’t owe income tax stay the same over the years, or fluctuate, like people who do not have health insurance.

If a significant amount of non tax-payers go on to pay taxes in the following years, or have spent years and years paying taxes before they retired, this statistic may not be as alarming as it sounds.

Another interesting thing would be to compare the sizes of the households. A poor household that pays no tax in year one, and then in year two divorces and has their 18 year old underemployed or under-the-table employed son move out, turns into three households that do not pay taxes, even though no net change of tax payers occurred.

By: Getting in Deeper | The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty

Getting in Deeper | The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:02:43 +0000

[...] keep him up at night. Stephen Davies demonstrates the power of historical myth. John Stossel looks at the tax system and doesn’t like what he sees. David Henderson says don’t fear the trade deficit. And Theodore [...]

By: Laverne Kilner

Laverne Kilner — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:59:45 +0000

Obama has it all figured out!- if the top 20% earn 53% of the income, but pay 91% of the taxes- why wouldn’t the 80% who pay less than 3% of the income taxes vote for him ? This is how socialism is elected and stay in government-until the country finally breaks down , as what has happened in so many Socialist countries .
All I can say is “Wake up America” ,and listen to some smart Black politicians (Larry Elder,J.C.watts, Thomas Sowell; Clarence Thomas, Condy Rice, Michael Williams, Alan Keyes(ran for GOP leaderin Presidential race) . And many more – that are NOT SOCIALISTS !!!

By: Pearl

Pearl — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:11:42 +0000

Love those quotes. We truly are pygmies on the shoulders of giants. If we could just be blessed with a few brilliant minds such as those whom you quoted, we could yet be led to embrace the proper role of government

By: Randal Birkey

Randal Birkey — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:00:13 +0000

John,

Thanks for writing this insightful article. Here I thought WE WERE the government!… but as you point out, things have radically changed! I couldn’t agree with your assessment more.