Tariffs are effectively consumption taxes. For example, if we were to replace the income and FICA taxes with the Fair Tax, it would be the equivalent of a 30 percent across the board tariff on all foreign made consumer goods. https://rulesforreactionaries.substack.com/p/free-trade-isnt
The Fair Tax would also tax domestic goods -- equally. What we have now is subsidized outsourcing, where we tax domestic labor at a far higher rate than we tax imports. This made sense after World War II, since we were trying to keep Europe recover from the war and not go communist. Today, that foreign aid subsidizes nominally communist China.
The income tax was sold to Americans as a surcharge for the very rich, since the rich can defer paying consumption taxes for generations. To restore the spirit of the original income tax, we should have tariffs around 30% across the board plus an income tax which is truly progressive. You do need to have a nonzero bottom rate, because the magic of the income tax is that one person/businesses' expense is another's income, which makes cheating hard. But that bottom rate could be five percent for the first 100K and then up 5% for each major tic on a logarithmic graph. (factors of 2, 5, 10, 20,...) And get rid of FICA and unemployment insurance premiums. Make employment simple.
This is still a lot of taxation, but we have 30 trillion in debt plus a retirement system which was never adjusted for the fact that people are living longer than in the 1930s.
The Fair Tax sounds great, but fails completely when you look at the nitty gritty. I sent them my report but I think they have an underlying agenda in mind.
I agree that the Fair Tax would not work. Too easy to cheat. With income tax, my expense is someone else's income.
Going back to the original promise of the income tax -- as mostly a surcharge for the
rich is feasible. Tariffs and excises could replace FICA, and we could make the bottom bracket low and spread out the brackets evenly on a logarithmic scale.
You do have to tax everyone a little bit, or you lose that double-entry accounting feature. But a standard deduction or a citizen dividend could work to keep the poor from being net taxpayers.
You have to forget everything that you've been told about the income tax, and start over building on what the law (US Constitution + 26 USC) actually says.
Advocating for any type of income tax reform before that is basically being controlled opposition.
Please read the W-2 breakdown post and the Income Tax Briefing that I linked.
Since I don't have a massive war chest with which to pay lawyers, and I would rather pay taxes than go to prison, Long Lost Interpretations of the tax code have limited interest to me. I know too many people who have gone to prison or been financially harmed by attempting tax resistance.
Now maybe your links are better than the tax resister information that I have read in the past. And maybe with a brilliant legal team and a government that is interested in legalities, your information would be worthwhile.
But the reality is that the federal government is broke, and the money has has already been spent. And the Constitution is written on a sheet of Silly Putty. Much as I dislike the income tax, I dislike hyperinflation, civil war, and the country being sold/conquered by foreigners even more. So my focus is on politically realistic ways to make the tax system less bad while raising more money. Two trillion/year would be about right. It's time to pay down the debt.
When the country is solvent, let's have a national debate and rewrite or replace the 16th Amendment with something less bad.
>I don't have a massive war chest with which to pay lawyers
Neither do I.
>I know too many people who have gone to prison or been financially harmed by attempting tax resistance.
This is not "tax resistance" or "tax protesting". It's reading comprehension.
>my focus is on politically realistic ways to make the tax system less bad while raising more money.
Would that include encouraging the Government to obey the law?
>replace the 16th Amendment with something less bad.
Again, read the Briefing. From my point of view, on this topic, you sound retarded, with all due respect. Anyway, totally up to you. I obviously can't force you to research anything.
I propose that there is nothing you or I can do individually to make any dent in the national debt. That's a national issue, to be handled by players at the national level. Even after the revolution, the states struggled to pay off their debts, facing repossession. It was handled by the federal government assuming state's debts and practicing Hamiltonian Economics.
I have a question -
You say in your bio: "Played 4D political chess before it was cool. You didn't see the results (unless you were in a certain city)"
Do you have examples/procedures/processes/paperwork/anything of what you did in certain city that I could learn from and replicate in mine?
Regarding your last sentence, that is tough to do without revealing my true name. If you put in the effort to join my subscriber chat (no payments needed) and follow the directions therein, I'll lower shields and give you the data.
For the principles, see Rule 11. There are groups that are hugely different in vocabulary and deportment which are ideologically very close to each other but don't realize it. I have adopted different personae to communicate with these different groups.
Your point on China is on target. As ell on the income tax. Honest did only tax folk who made $800 a year, and then ended it. But Wilson and others are better examples for your statment on how they sold it.
There was an insightful X post that was linked a few days ago on Citizen Free Press that showed how much tariffs were charged to the US by Canada (and maybe Mexico, I don't recall) for items like eggs. Some of these tariffs exceeded 300%. I believe these outrageous tariffs are what Trump has referred to in the past as being so grossly unfair to the US. Sorry I'm unable to find that X post to provide a link here. The X post was for tariffs BEFORE the latest Trump confrontation.
Thank you for clarifying tariffs in a clear and simple way. I have shared this with a number of friends as I think it's very important for the average person to understand. And thank you for the wonderful work that you do and informing us. God bless🙏
I like simple. Tariffs and a 1% federal sales tax.
Agree 110 percent.
Tariffs are effectively consumption taxes. For example, if we were to replace the income and FICA taxes with the Fair Tax, it would be the equivalent of a 30 percent across the board tariff on all foreign made consumer goods. https://rulesforreactionaries.substack.com/p/free-trade-isnt
The Fair Tax would also tax domestic goods -- equally. What we have now is subsidized outsourcing, where we tax domestic labor at a far higher rate than we tax imports. This made sense after World War II, since we were trying to keep Europe recover from the war and not go communist. Today, that foreign aid subsidizes nominally communist China.
The income tax was sold to Americans as a surcharge for the very rich, since the rich can defer paying consumption taxes for generations. To restore the spirit of the original income tax, we should have tariffs around 30% across the board plus an income tax which is truly progressive. You do need to have a nonzero bottom rate, because the magic of the income tax is that one person/businesses' expense is another's income, which makes cheating hard. But that bottom rate could be five percent for the first 100K and then up 5% for each major tic on a logarithmic graph. (factors of 2, 5, 10, 20,...) And get rid of FICA and unemployment insurance premiums. Make employment simple.
This is still a lot of taxation, but we have 30 trillion in debt plus a retirement system which was never adjusted for the fact that people are living longer than in the 1930s.
The Fair Tax sounds great, but fails completely when you look at the nitty gritty. I sent them my report but I think they have an underlying agenda in mind.
Congress is already aware of this:
https://open.substack.com/pub/asodhani/p/income-tax-brief?r=clr9o&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
If you want to learn to what FICA applies:
https://taxcoroner.beehiiv.com/p/w-2?draft=true
I agree that the Fair Tax would not work. Too easy to cheat. With income tax, my expense is someone else's income.
Going back to the original promise of the income tax -- as mostly a surcharge for the
rich is feasible. Tariffs and excises could replace FICA, and we could make the bottom bracket low and spread out the brackets evenly on a logarithmic scale.
You do have to tax everyone a little bit, or you lose that double-entry accounting feature. But a standard deduction or a citizen dividend could work to keep the poor from being net taxpayers.
You have to forget everything that you've been told about the income tax, and start over building on what the law (US Constitution + 26 USC) actually says.
Advocating for any type of income tax reform before that is basically being controlled opposition.
Please read the W-2 breakdown post and the Income Tax Briefing that I linked.
Since I don't have a massive war chest with which to pay lawyers, and I would rather pay taxes than go to prison, Long Lost Interpretations of the tax code have limited interest to me. I know too many people who have gone to prison or been financially harmed by attempting tax resistance.
Now maybe your links are better than the tax resister information that I have read in the past. And maybe with a brilliant legal team and a government that is interested in legalities, your information would be worthwhile.
But the reality is that the federal government is broke, and the money has has already been spent. And the Constitution is written on a sheet of Silly Putty. Much as I dislike the income tax, I dislike hyperinflation, civil war, and the country being sold/conquered by foreigners even more. So my focus is on politically realistic ways to make the tax system less bad while raising more money. Two trillion/year would be about right. It's time to pay down the debt.
When the country is solvent, let's have a national debate and rewrite or replace the 16th Amendment with something less bad.
>I don't have a massive war chest with which to pay lawyers
Neither do I.
>I know too many people who have gone to prison or been financially harmed by attempting tax resistance.
This is not "tax resistance" or "tax protesting". It's reading comprehension.
>my focus is on politically realistic ways to make the tax system less bad while raising more money.
Would that include encouraging the Government to obey the law?
>replace the 16th Amendment with something less bad.
Again, read the Briefing. From my point of view, on this topic, you sound retarded, with all due respect. Anyway, totally up to you. I obviously can't force you to research anything.
I propose that there is nothing you or I can do individually to make any dent in the national debt. That's a national issue, to be handled by players at the national level. Even after the revolution, the states struggled to pay off their debts, facing repossession. It was handled by the federal government assuming state's debts and practicing Hamiltonian Economics.
I have a question -
You say in your bio: "Played 4D political chess before it was cool. You didn't see the results (unless you were in a certain city)"
Do you have examples/procedures/processes/paperwork/anything of what you did in certain city that I could learn from and replicate in mine?
Regarding your last sentence, that is tough to do without revealing my true name. If you put in the effort to join my subscriber chat (no payments needed) and follow the directions therein, I'll lower shields and give you the data.
For the principles, see Rule 11. There are groups that are hugely different in vocabulary and deportment which are ideologically very close to each other but don't realize it. I have adopted different personae to communicate with these different groups.
Your point on China is on target. As ell on the income tax. Honest did only tax folk who made $800 a year, and then ended it. But Wilson and others are better examples for your statment on how they sold it.
A flat tax of 1 o 2 % would be the way to go.
There was an insightful X post that was linked a few days ago on Citizen Free Press that showed how much tariffs were charged to the US by Canada (and maybe Mexico, I don't recall) for items like eggs. Some of these tariffs exceeded 300%. I believe these outrageous tariffs are what Trump has referred to in the past as being so grossly unfair to the US. Sorry I'm unable to find that X post to provide a link here. The X post was for tariffs BEFORE the latest Trump confrontation.
If you find link, do post it here.
Thank you for clarifying tariffs in a clear and simple way. I have shared this with a number of friends as I think it's very important for the average person to understand. And thank you for the wonderful work that you do and informing us. God bless🙏
I am flattered. Thanks for your support.
I always learn from you. Good stuff, as usual.
Thank you.