The "O" Word
Conservative by Nature, Christian by Choice
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Taxes, Education, and Vicious Circles

April 24th, 2018 . by Cary

Here in Arizona, we are about to reap what we have sown. By not spending money where it needed to be spent, we have teachers walking out on Thursday for an indeterminate amount of time. They are walking out becuase they are not being paid enough, there are not enough resources for their classrooms, and the promised funding voted on by the people of this state has been misdirected.

I am not going to take a side on this one. Yes, the teachers need resources to do their job. No, I have not voted for any bonds, ever, because living within your budget is a need, not a want.

However: by walking out, and forcing the schools to close, there is a storm brewing. Nowadays, due to leftist economic policies, you will find most families are required to have both parents working outside the home (when there are two parents – that’s another post, for another day) which means that unless they have free daycare lined up, one of the parents may be forced to take time off, or, if they can find daycare on such short notice, they will be adding to their expenses for this time period.

One less person working, or more outgo than income budgeted, means less money in the hands of the consumers. Less money in the hands of the consumers means either increased credit card debt, or less purchasing. Less purchasing means less taxes being paid for goods purchased. Less taxes collected means less taxes going to the education programs in this state.

Less Money to the education programs means fewer resources to the classrooms. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Totally unrelated note – did you know that all those nifty, tax-free purchases made on line are supposed to be reported on your tax forms? That’s right, so you can pay the state sales tax when you file your state and federal taxes. It’s on the honor system. How does asking Amazon to collect the tax appeal to you now? You know, all those sales taxes that are supposed to benefit the state programs (like, say, education) that are not being collected because it would be too haaaaarrrrrdddd for the online retailers (who can store and lose your personal information so quickly and easily) to keep track of sales tax transactions for each state …

Totally unrelated note: the FAIRTax replaces the income tax, corporate tax, etc (penalties for working hard and doing well) with a consumption-based national sales tax, which means that you get all your income every payday and you only pay taxes on items that you buy – with a pre-set prebate for income up to the poverty level. Buying more/better/higher priced stuff means you pay more taxes (talk about making the rich pay their fair share!). Taxing consumption based purchases means that even those who have somehow evaded being tracked for their income, end up paying the tax. The plan is applied equally to all (please check out This Link for details) and needs to be passed sooner than later. Call your representatives and tell them to support H.R. 25, the FAIRTax initiative of 2017.

Fooled you. Those last two points are actually what are known as “solutions” for the current situation, where there is not enough revenue being generated or collected. Under the first step, getting on-line retailers to collect and pay taxes, the revenue stream will fill up again. The second step, taxing purchases instead of penalizing earnings, will get people interested in making money again – which leads to a more robust economy, which means that people will be making more income, which means that one of the parents can go back to being a house … spouse.

Chat ya later…

cary

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

Taxed Enough Already

September 29th, 2015 . by Cary

“Every Republican tax-reform plan should be rooted in this reality: If you are going to have federal spending that is 21 percent of GDP, then you can have a.) taxes that are 21 percent of GDP; b.) deficits. There is no c. If, on the other hand, you have a credible program for reducing spending to 17 or 18 percent of GDP, which is where taxes have been coming in, please do share it.” —National Review’s Kevin Williamson

I’ll go one step further – if your tax rate is 17 -18% of the GDP, it’s too high. You are strangling the flow of commerce and economics. If, however, a person could keep all that they earn, and only pay a consumption tax on durable goods, that would be the fairest way to collect taxes. If you don’t buy a lot of durable goods, you don’t pay a lot of taxes. If you buy a lot of durable goods, you pay more taxes. That would ensure everyone pays taxes, according to their income bracket, without a lot of complex forms and formulas, and very little need of an entire bureaucratic arm of the government to track, collect, and penalize.

There is actually a House resolution stuck in the House Committee on Ways and Means regarding this very idea, the FairTax Act of 2015. It was sponsored by Representative Rob Woodall, from Georgia. Why is stuck in committee? Because it calls for abolishing the IRS by 2019, and has a sunset clause that will cancel the FairTax if the 16th amendment is not repealed within seven years of H.R. 25 becoming law. It also only funds a very small portion of the government – as it should. A lot of the current activities of the government would, by necessity, need to be done away with. Naturally, because it strikes at so many sacred cows, the prostitutes – I mean, the Members of Congress most affect by this act are stalling it.

Calls to your representatives urging them to push for the passage of H.R. 25, the FairTax act of 2015, would be greatly helpful.

Chat ya later…

cary

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!

#FAIRTAX

July 29th, 2013 . by Cary

“Besides, to lay and collect internal taxes in this extensive country must require a great number of congressional ordinances, immediately operation upon the body of the people; these must continually interfere with the state laws and thereby produce disorder and general dissatisfaction till the one system of laws or the other, operating upon the same subjects, shall be abolished.”

–Federal Farmer, Antifederalist Letter, 1787

Founder’s Quote Daily

I have an idea – institute the Fair Tax and watch revenue climb – once capitalism isn’t fettered, it runs really well …

I am too much of a realist to think that this country could run on donations made out of the goodness of the citizen’s hearts, so tax is a necessary evil. Income tax slams those who can afford it the least, while those who CAN afford to pay the taxes can also afford to have lots of neat little deductions.

Chat ya later…

cary

Thanks for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, and Wear Red on Fridays!