There already is a flat tax for Delaware that begins above $60,000 dollars… Some, like El at Delaware Liberal, ask for a progressive rate to continue into the higher elevations of income levels.. The more you make, the more you pay…
This may sound unfair to some… and at face value it is… By face value I mean as the words themselves are written. For what is actually happening in a progressive tax, is this:
The more you make over what you can possibly spend in your wildest dreams, the higher percentage you pay of all that excess back the government that made your extravagant wealth possible….
Put that way…. that’s fair. That’s damn fair…
Most of us don’t have enough money. Most of us don’t pay much in taxes. That’s fair. But those with too much money over what they can spend? Don’t they have a duty too?
They’re the ones benefiting the most from the American dream. Shouldn’t they be the ones contributing the most to make it happen for others? Don’t they have the most to lose if all stability ruptures and violence, rioting and revolution begin eating away at all they have gained?
Obviously yes… and when people are starving next to you, it inhumane not to want to give up some of that money THAT YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY SPEND IN YOUR WILDEST DREAMS so they can get one bite of food and live.
So we need a flat tax in Delaware… One that is fair. Republicans like flat taxes; they say they are fair. But somehow I don’t think they will like this one…
This upcoming year we have a budget deficit of $300 to $400 million ….. again…
WE the people, can make it go away if we invoke a flat tax based on percentages.
If you make $100 million over what you can possibly spend…. we tax it at !00%….
If you make $ 99 million over what you can possibly spend,….we tax it at 99%….
If you make $ 90 million over what you can possibly spend….. we tax it at 90%…
If you make $ 50 million over what you can possibly spend….. we tax it at 50%…
We follow the same pattern all the way down… fair is fair…
If you make $ 20 million over what you can possibly spend….. we tax it at 20%…
If you make $ 10 million over what you can possibly spend….. we tax it at 10%…
If you make $ 5 million over what you can possibly spend….. we tax it at 5%…
If you make $ 1 million over what you can possibly spend….. we tax it at 1%…
Under $1 million the tax code can stay the same… The budget crises had been solved…
Under this arrangement, those in the high end may grumble… “Why should we support a government that allowed us to prosper?” But if any of you are making near the low end, you see this arrangement causes you to pay far less taxes than you do now… Imagine… having more money…
Ironically this plan benefits those who the Republican leadership is always saying needs the help: those new millionaires…. Of course some tweaking will be done… It is not fair that someone would pay more taxes at $999,999 still under the old plan than they would at $1,000,001 under the new.. But we can fix that.
Some may say the top earner will leave Delaware.. He should. He’s not paying state taxes anyway, so his loss means nothing to us as far as revenue goes… But that is a threat, we have to take into account.
But just the top ten percent of left-over-income earners would clear our deficit.. Boom… Gone… Goodbye.
And the economy would get back into shape as Delaware got back to work….
It is rather obvious we must raise taxes on the top earners of this state, no matter what one’s political persuasion may be.. It is not about politics; it is about money….
Everyone else has sacrificed as much as they can possibly stand. It is time those spoiled ones at the top, who have no idea of what sacrifice entails, step up and contribute their fair share… After all, it’s only money they can’t possibly spend anyway…..
So the next time someone says they won’t raise taxes in Delaware ask them why?
Say why won’t you raise taxes on those who can’t possibly spend the money they’re earning anyway? Why should they get to keep their money, while everyone else in the state has to lose theirs?
When, but for just a few people, taxing them fairly under a flat tax based on percentages, would improve the lives of many?
It makes just way too much sense. We need $400 million? We take it from the top.
kavips 
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January 6, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Duffy
“The more you make over what you can possibly spend in your wildest dreams, the higher percentage you pay of all that excess back the government that made your extravagant wealth possible….
Put that way…. that’s fair. That’s damn fair”
First of all, you’re using weasel words. “Over what you can possibly spend”? WTF is that? You’re passively setting a maximum income limit above which all other earnings will be confiscated. That is not, in any way, “damn fair”. It’s goddamn criminal.
Look, I’ve been hammering away at this over and over. That money whether it’s a million, ten million or a billion isn’t simply sitting idle in a huge pile somewhere. It’s employing people. Either through spending or saving/investing. The wealthier you are the more illiquid you tend to be. So your money is invested in stocks which helps companies expand and raise capital to employ more people. Or bonds which helps municipalities build new schools or T-bills which helps your friends in Congress go hog wild in spending every cent possible etc etc. etc.
Your plan will result in the elimination of only one thing: rich people. They vote with their feet and would flee Delaware in droves. Just like they did in Maryland and now they’re hurting more than ever.
P.S. citing a statistical chart in no way explains why we’re not paying too much in taxes and citing Delaware Liberal for anything factual is even worse.
January 6, 2010 at 5:57 pm
kavips
Let me jump in quick to move the argument along.
The money if it is spent on real investment…. ie plants, products, or payrolls, does grow the economy. That is theory.
But theory has a flaw… Those with money are greedy. Who wants to invest in America and make 4%… when they can chase a bubble and make 15%. 25%, 50%?
So the money leaves the country. Or circulates as paper around and around. When the bubble bursts… there is no collateral to back it up….
It just happened 2009-2009.
That is the flaw.
The answer is kind of a charade, I know. But that is to tax the financial stream high enough, that money gets hidden into the economy to avoid those taxes… That money, hidden in real collateral is doing exactly what the plan was for it to do when it was decided to cut taxes, leaving more for investment…
Had we limited that investment to real capital, your plan would have worked. The results we are looking from both extremes would both be the same…
Your side of cutting taxes, yet requiring the savings to be invested in real collateral, versus my side of raising taxes, but writing off all money invested in real collateral, both yield the same result.
The same amount of tax; the same amount of investment…
The problem with the Bush tax cuts is that the rider specifying that all extra money had to be utilized for capital improvements only… wasn’t there…
The money went into paper… and now… is gone.
My side of the argument can be backed up because it fueled the Clinton economic miracle; the one we fondly wish for as we try to pull out of our economic nose dive; the one caused by 8 years of 0% real job growth….