I know a lot of people like the idea of abolishing all taxes but if you really think about it, it just isn’t feasible. Those in governmental positions need to be paid too, from the lowest to the highest positions.
Replace all taxes (income, sales, property, capital gains, corporate, etc) with a flat 10% income tax on any and all net income. No additional deductions. No incentives. No complicated rules. Make it so simple a high schooler can figure it out with no knowledge of tax law can figure it out in 10 minutes or less.
In addition to this. Make the tax optional. Why would any one pay taxes? That brings me to my next point.
Every tax form should give the people the choice of what they wish to fund. Yes. True taxation through representation. Every policy, department, whatever. Those being taxed should have the explicit choice of where their tax dollars go (or maybe like… half of it? Debatable).
Why would anyone want to be taxed? Access to government services. Why pay taxes. Governmental services should be “free”. Those opting to pay taxes benefit from non-emergency governmental services. Those who have no need of any non-emergency governmental services should not be strong-armed into paying taxes for a system they do not participate in.
This probably needs work. But I believe this strikes a pretty good balance of fairness.
The problem is that we already tried an “optional taxation” under the Articles of Confederation. Turns out, if given the option to not pay taxes, people will gladly let the federal government crumble to dust before giving them their money. So, I don’t see that being feasible if we’re to guarantee certain services. The people who work those services will want money for their service.
That said, I’ve always liked the idea of deciding how to allocate my tax money. Maybe not all of it (again, can’t guarantee services without guaranteeing they have operating cash), but perhaps half or even two-thirds. You designate half or two-thirds of where your money goes, and then the govt allocates the rest. This means that less flashy, indirect services like food safety inspection don’t have to resort to sensationalism in order to get a budget. Otherwise, they’d probably pay people to get “busted” every year in order to pretend like they’re crusading against unseen evil, just so taxpayers remember to allocate some moolah for them.
Most people don’t. It’s why I always try to bring it up.
Granted, the STATES had mandatory taxation, which is why the Shays’s Rebellion in 1786 was put down by the Massachusetts State Militia and private troops. This is also why the states were minting their own money: the feds literally could not afford to stop them, as the only way the feds could pay for stuff was by hyperinflating the Continental Dollar until it was completely worthless.
The USA under the Articles is worth looking up, if for no other reason than because a LOT of mistakes were made that the Constitution was specifically designed to correct.
In addition to the 10%, add the option to ‘contribute’ additional taxes over your 10%, and designate where you want it spent. Politicians can appeal to us which policy is good and warrants funding (example: Student loan forgiveness), and we essentially ‘vote’ for or against with our dollars. If nobody funds it-the policy is simply not funded.
I say we must have a plan to reduce the tax. Right now our household income tax is 27%. I say raise it to 28% for one year. We need to spend most of our income tax on the national debt. Every year we pay off some of our debt. We bring strength back to the dollar. Every year we lower the tax rate by 2%. So 2025 the tax rate is 28%, 2026 the tax rate is 26%, 2027 the tax rate is 24%. If we just out right gut our government in a day we will cause a lot of disorder and chaos. We have to slowly tear down the machine and pay our debt off. I would propose settling with a 2-3% flat income tax, with the option to protest my tax if i feel that my.government is not doing its job properly. And i should be heard in a court of law before a jury to present my case.
A 10% flat tax for all across the board would be good. That way everyone pays in and government can learn to budget like everyone else has to do. For way too long now the American tax payer has been used for a credit card with no limit.