A couple years ago I put up a poll asking what pct of GDP would constitute a "fair" tax. The replies clustered at 10 - 20%. But that was a couple years ago and the national mood has shifted. This poll looks at the sheer concept of taxation. The poll permits multiple answers; to discourage too much frivolity I made respondents public (and threw in some slices of pie for the pie impoverished).
I don't see a poll yet. Are you in the process of putting it up? Or are you asking for suggestions? edit: Ah, there it is. Sorry to be impatient.
"Based on demand for government services" Do you mean on an individual basis? Would that mean pay-as-you-go medical care?
i think we should eliminate taxes and spending, then start from square one with new programs and budgets. lay them all out and see what congress will support. there are too many existing programs that are useless and wastefull and we just keep adding more on top of them. like microsoft windows.
You did say "eliminate all taxes and spending", which I assume would include congress. And the military, and border security, and..... Whatever the solution, a complete reboot isn't really feasible.
Just identifying the programs that are out there would likely take years of intense research. I am sure it would be impossible to come to a consensus on what would consist of "core" programs but it sure would be an interesting project.
or, we could do what the pres said during his campaign and look at each program to see if it is effective. but without some incentive, like cutting off the flow, it's probably not gonna happen. setting taxes at some arbitrary number instead of the amount of spending the country is willing to do seems backward to me. and it wouldn't solve the deficit problem unless we mad deficit spending illegal.
Something that would help, regardless of program, is to base each budget on specific needs and plans, not just last year's budget plus an increase. Departments tend to spend money towards the end of the fiscal year to justify their funding, in fear of losing next year's money because they 'didn't need it all' the previous year.
Too bad this was not one of the possibilities. From Oliver Wendell Holmes I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilizations.
Taxes are necessary--obviously. To protect the country and its citizens, and to pay for the infrastructure.Beyond that, you can argue about whether people should be subsidized after retirement. Most retired people who depend on subsidies would agree. And then there's health care. It's interesting that most democratic countries feel that health care and retirement should be subsidized with taxes. You would think that mainly rich people would be the against such subsidies, but that doesn't seem to be the case in the USA. One of the gross misrepresentations by our media is the anti-tax sentiment of the so-called "Tea Party". The idea is that this hearkens back to the original 1773 Tea Party revolt against the tea tax. Not so. The original Tea Party was against taxation without representation. The British were taxing the colonialists without their having any representation in the British parliament. The current "Tea Party" is against taxes imposed by their own government. In fact, they are against government, period. They are Libertarians--reactionaries--and have been mainstreamed in the media by way of the Republican party. What's disturbing is their opposites on the far left--the Nader-type socialists--are not getting the same media attention. Not much balance since the Fairness Doctrine was dropped by the FCC in the Reagan era.
I'd add another option: Tax is okay, the country needs it to survive, but it has to be progressive, i.e., the more you make, the more percentage you pay.
