Just completed my taxes and I paid $1900. less in Fed taxes against a bit higher taxable income. Took the 2400. My wife and I also got less per check taken out too from SS & Pensions. oh, Last year I had to pay fed taxes we are getting about $900. back this year.
Bush came into office and passed 2 HUGE tax breaks in the wealthy. How come 50K factories closed and went overseas? Low taxes has nothing to do with companies leaving or staying.I They literally pay no tax.
We are retired both collecting ss and both had pension plans with a few other investments. We dropped form 25-28% tax bracket down to 12% which was significant. We would be considered middle class living modestly.
No. I agree with you about many things. That doesn't make the answer "simple, just raise taxes to 70-80-90" You said Bush lowered taxes on the rich and they still sent jobs out of the country. Waddya think would have happened if he raised taxes instead?
I don't know. Maybe. Haven't we recently had record numbers of Americans renouncing their citizenship?
We would be back to where we were before the modern era where we had high taxes on the wealthy and they all stayed home with the notable exception of Charlie Chaplin.
At worst - same with a much smaller deficit (better). We already know that Bush's combination of 2 wars + big tax break brought this country on the brink of a 2nd depression. On the other hand, Clinton inherited a small recession from H.W Bush, increased taxes and the country's economy grew like gangbusters and we actually had a surplus. Now, the 70% top tax rate is idiotic imho, because history has shown us that it did not work with the modern global economy (see the 70s), but we have also seen that the 33 % top tax rate failed with the last year or Reagan, H.W Bush as well as W. Bush. The magic number seems to be around 39% to 50%. We are currently at 37% but corporations tax has been cut dramatically which is, to be fair, the same as giving a top-end tax rate (it is not the middle class and the poor that own these corporations). So - like everything in the world, some kind of in-between thing should probably be right. We have seen that the 39%-50% range brings growth to the modern American economy - early years under Reagan, Clinton and Obama. I honestly believe that this is likely the magic range.
I think you're closest to the target. My only point is that saying "it's simple" is idiotic at best. Even in times of growth how much is new tech going to be a part of it? Going forward I bet quite a bit.
