The Problem with our Taxation debates

The media tends to frame debates over taxes in ways that are a complete fraud, and don't even get close to the problem.

Republicans claim they want to lower taxes for everyone, but only wind up lowering them for the rich.

Democrats claim they only want to raise taxes on the rich, but wind up only raising them for the middle and working classes.

An example would be the stupid tax plan Obama and Warren Buffett were promoting, which the media falsely claimed the Occupy Movement supported. It's a complete sham because it will NOT raise Warren Buffett's or any of the super-rich elitists' taxes by one cent. They don't even pay the 13% capital gains tax they're supposed to pay because of the foundations and various other loopholes, so simply raising the capital gains tax doesn't hurt them at all. The plan will only raise the taxes of people making a few hundred thousand a year, or some people who just barely qualify as millionaires. That means mostly small business owners.

If Republicans really are the party of lower taxes, they should have responded to the question "Is it unfair Warren Buffett's secretary pays a higher percentage in taxes then he does?" with "Yes - that's why we want to lower her taxes". Instead, they decided to start complaining about people who contribute nothing in taxes because they're not making any money. That just tends to confirm they are everything Liberals say they are.

Now, I agree completely that our current tax system is completely unfair and absurd. Part of the problem is what qualifies as "rich". I'm afraid our economy today is way too complicated to simply put everyone into three simple categories - poor, working class, and rich. No one distrusts the super-rich more than me, but not all people who qualify as wealthy are the enemy. Making 100 thousand or even 500 thousand does not really make one rich; they're above average, obviously, but still not truly rich. Millionaires qualify as rich, but they're not super-rich. The real villains are smaller than just the top 1%, it's more like .001%. The total worldwide is probably less than ten thousand individuals.

Republicans want to get rid of the capital gains tax (or at-least lower it drastically). I do not; it's one of the taxes that actually is constitutional. In fact it was the only tax the Federal government had before the Civil War. I think it should be lowered for people making less than a million a year off capital gains, and raised for those making over 100 million, and certainly for billionaires. But before even addressing rates, the various loop holes need to be closed and the 501 Tax Exempt Foundations need to be no longer tax exempt.

We need to eliminate the Personal Income tax on labor, which is basically a form of slavery. No super-rich pay the Personal Income tax because they don't make a salary, so that won't lower their taxes one red cent. Don't let any Democrats deceive you about that.

In 1895 the United States Supreme Court, in its ruling in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., held a tax based on receipts from the use of property to be unconstitutional. The Court held that taxes on rents from real estate, on interest income from personal property and other income from personal property (which includes dividend income) were treated as direct taxes on property, and therefore had to be apportioned. Since apportionment of income taxes is impractical, this had the effect of prohibiting a federal tax on income from property.  In 1913, the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution made the income tax a permanent fixture in the U.S. tax system. The United States Supreme Court in its ruling Stanton v. Baltic Mining Co. stated that the amendment conferred no new power of taxation

The 16th Amendment makes the Business or Corporate Income tax more valid, but a personal income tax on wages is still by definition slavery. I'd like to see the 16th Amendment repealed, but I still do not oppose having a Corporate Income tax, only the Personal Income tax.

It doesn't even help fund the Government anyway. The majority of it goes right to paying off the interest on the national debt, not even lowering it at all (I think usury should be illegal anyway). The rest of that money is essentially how the IRS funds itself. I want the IRS shut down, so no problem there.

We also need to get rid of the Federal Reserve. Three documentaries I recommend to educate people on the non-necessity of the Fed would be The Money Masters, America: Freedom to Fascism, and Fall of The Republic. We need to go back to Congress being the ones printing the money. Whether that's done with a Gold standard or not is another debate, but anything is better than what we have now.

We should also reinstate tariffs. Those are basically fees the Federal Government charges on anything imported into the U.S. from overseas. This would give the Federal Government a source of Income independent of taxes and help destroy the incentive for outsourcing. It will need to be done carefully - we can't put 'em all back overnight, but they should be reinstated, giving those affected advance warning.

I also support the legalization of marijuana and charging a tax on it, like what's done with tobacco and alcohol. The industrial use of hemp for paper, cloth, and ethanol also ought to be encouraged.