Quote:
Originally Posted by Robbie
kane and MakeMeGrrrrowl:
I think that IF people were forced to write those checks...that income tax would be eliminated.
I think a national sales tax would become a reality. And no, I don't think that social programs would have to be cut.
I DO think that the overbloated military would definitely need to be cut back to just actually being for the physical defense of our nation (as opposed to worldwide bases, ships, etc. for "defending" things that are in our "national interest"...which translates into things that make a lot of money for a few people)
I think that politicians would no longer be riding around in limousines and flying jets everywhere and making foreign trips that cost millions of dollars.
It's all just conjecture I suppose.
The reality our country faces is...the govt. is NEVER going to get smaller. I don't foresee any politician EVER making the kinds of changes that could really change the way things are going.
So I guess we're all gonna ride this debt-ridden ship straight down to the ground. 
Which is kinda ironic...because some of the posts here have said you can't "trust" people to save the money to pay their taxes.
That may be true, but just look at our govt. 17 TRILLION dollars in debt.
Looks like we can't trust them either. |
The debt and lack of trust comes likely from two different situations. For individuals there is no doubt that some people won't save that money and use it to pay their taxes simply because they don't want to and are irresponsible. However, there would be plenty of people who would use the money to get by, likely promising themselves they will save later, but never do.
With our leadership, it isn't one leadership trying to do what is best for the country. The house and senate are made up of a bunch of people all looking out for themselves. Their number one priority is getting re-elected. Pretty much everything they do is as a means to achieving that priority. They keep increasing the spending because they want money to build things and do things in their states/districts which will help create or keep jobs there and thus help them get re-elected.
Here is a breakdown of how the federal budget is allocated now. The current budget is at $6.2 trillion dollars. I read that the government collects about $3.7 trillion of that in income taxes. In order to cut that amount to where we could eliminate federal income tax and cover it with a federal sales tax we would have to do some serious slashing.
Could it happen? Potentially, but it would take some pretty big cuts or changes to the large sections of the pie. I don't see it happening.
Personally, I like to try to be optimistic and hope for the best, but at least right now I think our country is far too divided to pull together in any way to pull this off.