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Income Tax follow up to Smarty's Wealth question
Income Tax follow up to Smarty's Wealth question Smartasswoman asked what we considered wealthy What do you consider wealthy. Rather than hijack her post, I thought that I would list a few ideas here. This is a short clip of my one comment there The tax system that I would like see would be absolutely no deductions or exemptions, then a progressive percentage (as we have now) on incomes at 2 times the poverty level. Note that the poverty level increases with number of dependents, so that takes care of the exemptions. The tax rates could be much lower raise the necessary federal needs. In a brief back and forth, Smarty voiced concern about charitable giving and the housing market if there are not deductions. Yes, there are advantages allowing a deduction for charitable giving. It leverages the contribution against the tax advantage, i.e. if you were in a 35 percent tax bracket, you can give $,000 charity and only have a net expense of $6,500. And yes, the AP reports that 2018 charitable contributions were down about 1.1 percent from 20. Religious institutions saw a 1.5 percent drop, but has been seeing steady drops for several years prior the change. I would contend that giving is instilled in as they see that behavior in their parents. While such a deduction in the tax code might encourage those that did not have that example, those that did will likely give regardless of the tax code. And if the tax code is simplified, but collects the same simple percentage (above 2 times the poverty level), people will still have the same amount give. For example, I about percent of my gross income in federal taxes in those years, regardless of having itemized or the standard deduction. As housing (the mortgage deduction), there has been speculation that the deduction raised the price of housing, or allowed people purchase a home that was slightly more expensive than without the deduction. The NY Times reported in April 2018 that home selling prices did not fall as expected. Granted, this was a short time after the changes. What do you think? |
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Just so that all the words are present Smartasswoman asked what we considered wealthy What do you consider wealthy. Rather than hijack her post, I thought that I would list a few ideas here. This is a short clip of my one comment there The tax system that I would like to see would be absolutely no deductions or exemptions, then a progressive percentage (as we have now) on incomes at 2 times the poverty level. Note that the poverty level increases with number of dependents, so that takes care of the exemptions. The tax rates could be much lower to raise the necessary federal needs. In a brief back and forth, Smarty voiced concern about charitable giving and the housing market if there are not deductions. Yes, there are advantages to allowing a deduction for charitable giving. It leverages the contribution against the tax advantage, i.e. if you were in a 35 percent tax bracket, you can give $10,000 to charity and only have a net expense of $6,500. And yes, the AP reports that 2018 charitable contributions were down about 1.1 percent from 2017. Religious institutions saw a 1.5 percent drop, but has been seeing steady drops for several years prior to the change. I would contend that giving is instilled in children as they see that behavior in their parents. While such a deduction in the tax code might encourage those that did not have that example, those that did will likely give regardless of the tax code. And if the tax code is simplified, but collects the same simple percentage (above 2 times the poverty level), people will still have the same amount to give. For example, I paid about 10 percent of my gross income in federal taxes in those years, regardless of having itemized or the standard deduction. As to housing (the mortgage deduction), there has been speculation that the deduction raised the price of housing, or allowed people to purchase a home that was slightly more expensive than without the deduction. The NY Times reported in April 2018 that home selling prices did not fall as expected. Granted, this was a short time after the changes.
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I'd say that you've given this some thought. As a person who's spent half his business life measuring the debits and credits, you make a lot of sense. True about instilling a pattern in your kids. So... ya do taxes do ya? My investment strategy these days is focused on the Lotto and that one in 14 million chance 🤞 for salvation. Yep... ❗😮 ... is there another way to look at it Going Too Fucking Far NEW Blog Features RevealeD O O A Foolproof Method Posted Over on that NEW site O O
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Giving is instilled in children. I raised my kids to give and to volunteer. Taxes are so confusing now. I wish we could simplify somehow. Toss out the reams of rules, laws and such BS. Write something simple and fair. To me, a peon, it is unfair to tax my money when I earn it. Then tax it again when I spend it. So I save. And they tax that. It's wrong. Wealthy is a state of mind. It's not having to ask how much something costs. It's not worrying f you have enough money to cover the purchase.
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I am so sick of being the bank for others. I do not aspire to be "wealthy" in terms of money but it would be nice to have more than I need to I can help someone else a bit. I am part of middle America that is getting taxed up the wazzoo and the tax rules now are too convoluted for me so I have to get an "expert" and pay- yet again (Virtual Symposium Group) use Virtual Symposium Group
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7/2/2021 6:13 am |
All taxes are collected by force, literally extortion, theft. All tax money is stolen, then run through a wasteful and incompetne bureaucracy. If you want or need something you can and should pay for it yourself, and you are free to voluntarily pool your money with others to buy things. But no one owes you anything you did not earn. You don't owe taxes to feed, educate and house lazy people. Your money is literally your life, and only YOU should decide how it is spent. Who is John Galt?
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