Tax everyone at 15%. The more you make the more you pay, but everyone pays 15%.

Posted by Tech-Tom@reddit | CrazyIdeas | View on Reddit | 43 comments

Every person and every company pays 15%, there are no loopholes or tax shelters.

Anyone with no income gets a tax refund equal to 6 months at minimum wage. This allows them to get on their feet, get a place to live and time to find a job. If they get this more than twice in a row, they must attend mandatory counseling and training in a list of career fields they show an aptitude for.

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TheSmartToasterUnion@reddit

Good idea.

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Tech-Tom@reddit (OP)

Thank you. I meant to add this to it also. What if we set a $30k threshold was per person. So if you're a single mom with 3 kids and make $50K, you don't pay taxes. Because $50k / 4 (mom and 3 kids) = $12.5k so she is under the threshold to pay taxes. And we eliminate all tax shelters. So if you borrow money against stock options it's still considered income.

I'm still not clear on why so many people down voted this idea. It seems like a no brainer.

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TheSmartToasterUnion@reddit

I agree. There should be no exception. And there would be more tax money too because the 15% of a million dollar is a lot.

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Tech-Tom@reddit (OP)

That is exactly what I and everyone else I know thinks, but the we are just the people paying the taxes, what do we know...

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3p1cw1n@reddit

Flat tax rates are terrible for poorer people

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AvailableAd6071@reddit

What if we had a lower income end? Like, less than 30 thousand or whatever is low income for that time. So, the lowest income people pay no tax.

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3p1cw1n@reddit

Sure, but now you're just creating tax brackets, which we already have

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AvailableAd6071@reddit

There would only be 2 tax brackets. Zero and the flate rate

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3p1cw1n@reddit

Well then that would suck, for whoever falls on the lowest end of the flat rate

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Tech-Tom@reddit (OP)

I like that idea, but lets take it further. How about that $30k threshold was per person. So if you're a single mom with 3 kids and make $50K, you still don't pay taxes. Because $50k / 4 (mom and 3 kids) = $12.5k so she is under the threshold to pay taxes.

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ChaseballBat@reddit

Which is why you pay more if you make more. It's only regressive IF there is NO bracketed system.

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not_notable@reddit

When the OP said, "The more you make the more you pay," they meant that 15% of 1000 is more than 15% of 100. They did not mean that the tax rate should be higher for higher incomes. This is a flat tax, and it is regressive.

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Tech-Tom@reddit (OP)

That is exactly how I meant it.

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Tech-Tom@reddit (OP)

That is exactly how I meant it.

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ChaseballBat@reddit

Oh I assumed he meant the more you make the more you pay over 15%, nvm.

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3p1cw1n@reddit

Everyone paying 15% IS a flat tax rate, and it's terrible for the poor.

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ChaseballBat@reddit

Which is it, a flat tax or not? Also you're wrong

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3p1cw1n@reddit

Wrong about what. Both of the things I said are facts

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meramec785@reddit

Then it’s a not a flat tax.

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ChaseballBat@reddit

Then it's a strawman argument since no one described a flat tax...

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meramec785@reddit

Are you….. there’s a literal definition. WTH. So you just comment on stuff you have no idea about.

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ChaseballBat@reddit

I interpreted his idea incorrectly, I read it as raising taxes if they made more money.

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Tech-Tom@reddit (OP)

That was how I meant it.

If you make $10k your tax is $1.5K.

If you make 100K your tax is $15k.

Everyone pays the same percentage.

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ChaseballBat@reddit

That's dumb

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TheGruenTransfer@reddit

That's a very regressive way to do it. We have tax buckets so we tax people in poverty less. No tax up to the standard deduction, then 10% on the next $10k of income, then $12% on the next $30k or whatever, etc.

The problem we have is Capital Gains are taxed lower than the above income rates for "reasons.". It's supposedly to offset the risk of investing, but we already have tax breaks for people who lose money on investments and we've enacted tons of policies that prop up the stock market (for example, 401ks were created to get more people to buy into the stock market, and those people become the bottom rung of a pyramid scheme who now need to sell their investments to a following larger generation)

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Tech-Tom@reddit (OP)

I like your idea, how about any material gain can be considered taxable income. So if you borrow $200K against your $500k in stock options, you still have to pay tax on the $200k? This is to ensure even the CEOs and VPs who are trying to avoid taxes with the "get, borrow, die" system still pay their share.

And we set a \~$30k threshold per person before taxes are incurred. So if you're single and make over $30k you pay taxes, but if you're a single mom with 3 kids and make $50K, you don't pay taxes. Because $50k / 4 (mom and 3 kids) = $12.5k so she is under the threshold to pay taxes.

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LegitSkin@reddit

The rich will figure out a way to get out of this

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]

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FoxWyrd@reddit

Yeah, politicians are surprisingly cheap.

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JakeDuck1@reddit

Yeah pretty easily too even though it says no loopholes. Not taking income isn’t really a loophole it’s just what some people already do.

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PsychologicalBee1801@reddit

Anytime I hear this - it reminds me that people without money don’t know what it’s like to be rich. Being worth 100k is much different than 1M then 10M let alone 100B.

Instead Why not start with fines. You get a speeding ticket it’s 0.01% of your net worth. Instead of being a rounding error if you are worth a few million.

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Tech-Tom@reddit (OP)

I like that idea

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LtHughMann@reddit

Sure thing, Bezos. We'll get right on it.

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HotCommission7325@reddit

We already tried this like 120 years ago.