Reforming the US tax code
- Thread starter J-Law
- Start date
I have an investment opportunity
put in 500 a month now and get back 1000 a month later on
it won't go broke until 2034
what about the people who get in after I do?
That's why you need to get in now
try selling that and see if your name doesn't get mentioned on the news with the word "ponzi"
I don't have the inclination to repeat details in this thread. It's been done elsewhere. But your social security contributions earn interest. Your payout is based on your most recent 35 years of contributions. You can get the formula used from the .gov web site. Those who die younger than their actuarial lifetime subsidize those who die older than their actuarial lifetime. It is not true that those contributing today are paying the retirement benefits of those already retired.
well, you know more about it than I do, but why is it whenever anyone talks about the deficit, including Alan Simpson always says we won't get anywhere controlling it without reforming social security?
I never hear anybody say, "We have a lot of problems but at least the social security system is still sound and needs no attention."
no, but medicare and social security taxes are paid by even the working poor, and eliminating just that tax on the weekly paycheck would be an immediate stimulus. Then once the economy gets rolling again, raise income taxes high enough to cover all the spending and I think all citizens would start taking an interest in just how much spending do we really need?
I don't know about Simpson's knowledge of Social Security. Some congressmen and senators obviously have only cursory knowledge of how the system is designed to work. But Simpson may be talking about future obligations of the Treasury to the Trust. The Treasury will have to borrow the money it will owe to the Social Security Trust when the Trust begins to redeem its special Treasury bonds. The Treasury sold bonds to the Trust and spent the money raised elsewhere. Currently there is an approximate 3 trillion surplus in the Trust.
The retirement benefit Trust needs a two cent increase in contribution rate per dollar of earned income, as of 2010, to adjust for changing demographics and to keep the system sound for the foreseeable future. That's one cent per employee and one cent per employer. (It is a 16% increase in contribution rate relative to the current contribution which is 12.5 cents. The contribution rate was recently adjusted downward, supposedly temporarily, to put more money in workers pockets. )
But Congress has so far refused to act and the longer they delay this needed adjustment the greater the adjustment needed. Needless to say there are those who are philosophically opposed to the very idea of social security and they are one source of misinformation, but the real origin of much of the misinformation is Wall Street which has been trying to kill social security for years.
at anyrate, in my perfect world, the tax code should be used in a Kenyesian way instead of government spending. When times is good we should raise taxes very high and pay down the debt. When times is bad we should lower taxes even if we have to borrow to make up the revenue shortfall.
So the big three taxes that 47% who don't pay income taxes pay are social security, medicare and fuel taxes. I believe in trickle up and that's where we should start. Then eliminate employers payroll tax, then eliminate corporate taxes and repatriation taxes and lower personal rates.
When times get good again start closing loopholes and exemptions then gradually raise rates.
This idea that the government needs to tax and spend to stimulate the economy is misguided. Corporations will start spending again when they have customers. And the easiest way to create customers is to give them all their tax money back.
We're going to have to borrow anyway. I would rather borrow it because people are not paying enough taxes than to borrow it for one more government program which can never be eliminated when times get good again.
So the big three taxes that 47% who don't pay income taxes pay are social security, medicare and fuel taxes. I believe in trickle up and that's where we should start. Then eliminate employers payroll tax, then eliminate corporate taxes and repatriation taxes and lower personal rates.
When times get good again start closing loopholes and exemptions then gradually raise rates.
This idea that the government needs to tax and spend to stimulate the economy is misguided. Corporations will start spending again when they have customers. And the easiest way to create customers is to give them all their tax money back.
We're going to have to borrow anyway. I would rather borrow it because people are not paying enough taxes than to borrow it for one more government program which can never be eliminated when times get good again.