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AnimusRex -> RE: When Socialists Ruled America (2/11/2010 9:19:54 PM)
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Actually, Mia, I think there is some merit to a flat tax. As MM mentioned, as Federal taxes have declined, state and local taxes have gone up.
Worse yet, the taxes have gone from open and clear, to hidden and subversive- meaning states and localities are charging ever more clever "fees" and charges to try and bring in income.
My complaint is that we have demonized taxes to the point where they have been separated from the good they produce. Everyone, Teabagges included, loves to drive on Federal highways, attend State schools, and demands that local governments create and maintain Parks; yet loathes paying taxes.
My point to all this was that we forget that there was a time when people understood that taxes and government produced things that were not as efficient as private things, but the widespread availability made them worth having.
For instance, long ago, many local governments had public swimming pools. Instead of individual citizens paying for their own pools, people swam in public pools.
This had several good effects- one was that even people who were poor felt enfranchised by society- they felt as though they had a stake in the community, and could take pride in it. When all pools become private, those who are left out are disenfranchised, and then everyone- rich and poor alike- turn their backs on the common good, and the sense of community fabric is shredded. Second, it was more efficient- instead of paying for your own private pool, which you only used a couple times a year, you could pay a smaller amount for a public pool, and leave the maintenance to someone else.
Today taxes are so taboo, roads, bridges, dams and parks are all failing, all over America for lack of tax revenue. While some people gather vast fortunes, even the rich drive along streets that are pitted and rutted with decay. Tom Friedman in the NYT wrote of how flying from Peking to New York was like going backward in time, that China feels like a first world country, while New York feels old and worn down.
Back when I was a conservative, we were accused of wnting to turn back the clock and live in the 1950's.
Considering that during that period we had high marginal tax rates, and 1/3 of all workers were in unions, and gas prices were regulated...
I wonder if that wouldn't be a good idea!
P.s. Its late, so I won't bother to open my copy of the 1,000 A.D. Exchequer, or the Domesday Census conducted by William the Conquerer. Maybe tomorrow.
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