First three things YOU would do as president of the USA - Page 3

6SpeedTA95 · 11-19-2006, 10:45 PM

Originally Posted by 7960

I didn't. I said it won't negatively affect *most*.

And when i was teaching and making $21,100 I would have LOVED only paying $3600 in taxes.

How long ago was that? Thats the second lowest tax bracket which puts federal income taxes at about 2800/yr then when you factor out the basic 10,000 dollar personal exemption that bill drops significantly.

Thorgrim · 11-19-2006, 11:07 PM

Does anyone here have a poll from like Gallup which shows how many Americans support an absolute flat tax of like 10% or 15 or whatever for all Americans

Last time I remember, it was so unpopular in 1996 that Steve Forbes was laughed out of the NH conservative republican primary (to give you an idea of how conservative it was, Buchanan won)

DosEquis · 11-19-2006, 11:43 PM

The flat tax will fail because the intial hit in tax revenue would require enormous deficit spending or enormous budget reductions, neither of which is going to be popular. It would have to be something phased in over a long period of time, which is also equally as difficult because each president has their own idea. I think it would need to be done over a 15-20 year period.

DosEquis · 11-19-2006, 11:48 PM

That being said -

1. Put tax levels back to clinton era levels on those making more than 500k

2. Figure out a way to get other countries to stand up, especially countries in the region, in Iraq so we don't have to continue to foot nearly the entire bill.

3. Reduce our military spending by 20%. Not by cutting soldier pay and benefits, but by canceling programs for developing new nuclear weapons, canceling programs like the anti-ballasitic missile shield, ending the war on terror, etc. No more no bid contracts. (i dont care if clinton did it too)

6SpeedTA95 · 11-19-2006, 11:51 PM

Originally Posted by DosEquis

The flat tax will fail because the intial hit in tax revenue would require enormous deficit spending or enormous budget reductions, neither of which is going to be popular. It would have to be something phased in over a long period of time, which is also equally as difficult because each president has their own idea. I think it would need to be done over a 15-20 year period.

Enormous budget cuts? They wouldn't be they big it'd be on the order of about 15% across the board.

Donkey® · 11-19-2006, 11:53 PM

Originally Posted by DosEquis

The flat tax will fail because the intial hit in tax revenue would require enormous deficit spending or enormous budget reductions, neither of which is going to be popular. It would have to be something phased in over a long period of time, which is also equally as difficult because each president has their own idea. I think it would need to be done over a 15-20 year period.

For my plans, the budget cuts would come in stopping the silly wars on terror and drugs and closing all those military bases outside of the US. I think that would MORE than make up for the loss of income tax.

7960 · 11-20-2006, 01:10 AM

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

How long ago was that? Thats the second lowest tax bracket which puts federal income taxes at about 2800/yr then when you factor out the basic 10,000 dollar personal exemption that bill drops significantly.

1997.

DosEquis · 11-20-2006, 01:33 AM

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

Enormous budget cuts? They wouldn't be they big it'd be on the order of about 15% across the board.

15% of 2.8 trillion is quite a bit of money. Try talking the military industrial complex into a 15% budget cut and see where that goes.

6SpeedTA95 · 11-20-2006, 09:02 AM

Originally Posted by DosEquis

15% of 2.8 trillion is quite a bit of money. Try talking the military industrial complex into a 15% budget cut and see where that goes.

Who said it would be fun or that everyone would be on board? You wont get everyone on board but who gives a shit, sometimes you have to do what is right regardless of the shit you'll catch from the various government entities.

lew · 11-20-2006, 09:56 AM

1. Withdraw all troops from every country and bring them home. Close all military bases outside the US. Withdraw from the UN, World Bank, NAFTA, CAFTA, and other international agreements and treaties that compromise our sovereignty.

2. Abolish 99% of taxes and federal programs.

3. Return to strict constitutional government.

4. End all the "War on...." wars. End War on Drugs, War on Terror, War on Poverty, etc.

6SpeedTA95 · 11-20-2006, 09:59 AM

So Lew if you withdraw from the UN how would we deal with the loss of our veto power?

lew · 11-20-2006, 10:02 AM

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

So Lew if you withdraw from the UN how would we deal with the loss of our veto power?

It wouldn't matter. We've done whatever we wanted regardless of the UN for almost its entire existence. So, it's a waste anyway.

DosEquis · 11-20-2006, 10:33 AM

We have done whatever we want, but others do actually follow it for the most part. Things like the veto over condeming israel, etc. If our veto wasnt there things like that would have gone through.

Thomas Crown · 11-20-2006, 12:06 PM

1. I would end the war on drugs and replace it with a measured system of incentives and enforcement. Incentives: US companies to grow and sell legalized marijuana and tax it at 18% (that would make a dime bag $11.80). Use the tax dollar infusion for education (second item). Enforcement: Shut down all outside imports of drugs (legal and illegal) and institute a tarif system for the importation of legal drugs through propper channels. Posession would be a misdameanor unless there was intent to sell. Trafficing and selling would both be felonies.

2. Federalization of the education system and then privitizing management of said system. All salaries and funding would be performance based but all standardized testing sans SAT/ACT would be abolished and performance statistics would be based upon acceptance rates to state and private colleges (a system that can't be fudged by "teaching to the test" or falsely promoting/graduating students).

3. Shut down of the welfare system and replace it with a privately run work training and study system. No more government bailouts of corporations. If a corporation needs a bailout, we provide them with workers for them to train and employ at a discount (until they are trained). After that, we have skilled workers and an available workforce who can fend for themselves.

These are ideas and would require more logistics obviously. I didn't impliment a flat tax or tax reform because I think we should focus on reducing the tax load first and then finding out where we need more money. A viable budget would be my single largest priority as well as reinforcing the dollar in the world economy.

TheScatman · 11-20-2006, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by lew

1. Withdraw all troops from every country and bring them home. Close all military bases outside the US. Withdraw from the UN, World Bank, NAFTA, CAFTA, and other international agreements and treaties that compromise our sovereignty.

2. Abolish 99% of taxes and federal programs.

3. Return to strict constitutional government.

4. End all the "War on...." wars. End War on Drugs, War on Terror, War on Poverty, etc.

Maybe not 99 percent but damn close

to the above though

TheScatman · 11-20-2006, 01:55 PM

Originally Posted by DosEquis

We have done whatever we want, but others do actually follow it for the most part. Things like the veto over condeming israel, etc. If our veto wasnt there things like that would have gone through.

why does it matter if they "condemn israel"? I dont think I see a part of our Constitution that lists one of Congress' powers as protecting other nations from international humiliation