FLAT TAX is back being touted! Is there ANY way we Dems can destroy that

[CTyankee]

goddamn thing without having to go into a long explanation about why it is unfair (it is regressive not progressive, which are great concepts but most people don't understand what those terms mean)? Repukes say "flat tax" and "fairness" and helping the working man and woman and no one says anything in rebuttal.

There's got to be a simple way to help folks understand the sham and fraud that is being perpetrated on them.

[onehandle]

1. I wouldn't worry about it. The most extreme 'solutions' are never implemented.

Shutting down the IRS. Making election day a holiday...

Whether right or left, never going to happen.

[CTyankee]

3. But we should try, even if only to show voters the LIE that is being perpetrated on them

by saying they are all fair the working folks and promoting something so terribly unfair. I know it probbly won't happen, but I'm talking about propaganda that can help win an election, taken together with all the other lies...we shouldn't allow them to get away with it. REveal them for the heartless bastards they are.

And having Paul Krugman write about it in the NYT is wonderful (and I adore the man) it doesn't reach the average voter out there.

[rurallib]

5. trickle down economics

many things have gone from ridiculous idea to reality in this country.
With friendly phrasing and media push suddenly the crazy becomes the norm.

Death tax anyone?

[think]

6. Making election day a holiday is extremist?

[onehandle]

8. Not to me.

But it's not going to happen.

[6chars]

2. we basically have it

if you count ss and employer contribution, the tax rate goes from about 15% to 25% to 28% etc right around the time the ss cap hits.

[CTyankee]

4. we should be talking about raising the cap or getting rid of it entirely...and I think

that is doable and understandable to most people...

[6chars]

7. that is the corrolary

it makes a joke of our "progressive" tax code. if you count sales tax, even more so.

[Duppers]

10. Whaaat?

Sniff, sniff.

[6chars]

11. maybe i wasn't clear

right now, even though we purportedly have a progressive tax code, with federal income tax rates going from 10% to 15% to 25% to 28% and up, once you add thing like social security taxes with the cap, to it, we really do not have a progressive code at all. counting the social security tax plus employer's match (or the self-employment tax which covers oth), a person in the 25% federal bracket who is above the cap is paying lower tax on the marginal dollar earned than a person in the 15% bracket who is below the SS cap. when you add in things like sales tax (which hits poor for a greater % of their income than rich), and lower capital gains tax rate (which benefits rich who get a higher proportion of their income from cap gains) what we have now is pretty good for those at the top.

[Skidmore]

9. Someone needs to point out that all the tax cuts in the world

have not repaired the infrastructure, created jobs, or gotten bankers to loosen their grip on money they sit on. It has only gotten us talk about doing away with Medicare, Social Security, and stripped away regulations to keep our environment clean and food supply safe.