Taxes - where should top tax rate be set and at what %?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's very easy to pay no taxes if you don't get a W-2. You set everything up as a business, run all passive income (dividends, cap gains, rental income, etc) through the business and charge all your expenses to the business and zero everything out. That's the goal of every CPA.

+1

Exactly. Owners don't pay income taxes. Income taxes are for the proles.

This is why you don't get to see Drumpf's taxes. He doesn't pay any.

[Anonymous]

18% across the board flat

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's very easy to pay no taxes if you don't get a W-2. You set everything up as a business, run all passive income (dividends, cap gains, rental income, etc) through the business and charge all your expenses to the business and zero everything out. That's the goal of every CPA.

+1

Exactly. Owners don't pay income taxes. Income taxes are for the proles.

This is why you don't get to see Drumpf's taxes. He doesn't pay any.

I definitely believe this. Romney's effective tax rate was below 15% and it's basically because he's effectively retired (i.e., living off passive capital gains income).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's very easy to pay no taxes if you don't get a W-2. You set everything up as a business, run all passive income (dividends, cap gains, rental income, etc) through the business and charge all your expenses to the business and zero everything out. That's the goal of every CPA.

As a business owner I can assure you that what you wrote is BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:18% across the board flat

Punitive to lower incomes. At my income level it would be a bonanza but an inequity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Married couples earning more than $150k should be paying 45% or 50% on all income above $150k.

Obviously, the brackets would be adjusted accordingly, but that's a rough idea where it should be.

Your idea of wealthy and mine are different.

HHI 100K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Married couples earning more than $150k should be paying 45% or 50% on all income above $150k.

Obviously, the brackets would be adjusted accordingly, but that's a rough idea where it should be.

Your idea of wealthy and mine are different.

HHI 100K.

+1 pp wants to cut someone's income from 75k to 37k?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's very easy to pay no taxes if you don't get a W-2. You set everything up as a business, run all passive income (dividends, cap gains, rental income, etc) through the business and charge all your expenses to the business and zero everything out. That's the goal of every CPA.

As a business owner I can assure you that what you wrote is BS.

I also own a business, and you can only deduct business expenses. What about rent, food, clothing, the repairman for your A/C, a movie ticket, dinner out with friends, gas, vacations, etc.? (You can deduct housing expenses proportionate to the space allocated for your business, if applicable.) If a CPA is advising what you suggest, it's tax fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be a top tax rate for millionaires of 50 percent. And an estate tax of 75 percent on estates worth more than $50 million.

No loopholes or deductions.

You can't just say "no loopholes or deductions." You'll just get families putting those assets into trusts and limited partnerships. Those aren't going away, and you can't just take them away from one group of people.

These are, in fact, loopholes. Maybe they are untouchable ones, but in the make-believe world of "no loopholes" these would go away...or at least the ability to use them as tax shelters.

I do think that there should be a higher tax bracket starting at around $1M. Tax rate is highly dependent on whether there actually are loopholes and capital gains etc, but I think 50%+ marginal rates at the highest levels make sense. I think the US was most prosperous when those marginal rates were more like 90%, so this isn't the economy killer most people would make it out to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be a top tax rate for millionaires of 50 percent. And an estate tax of 75 percent on estates worth more than $50 million.

No loopholes or deductions.

You can't just say "no loopholes or deductions." You'll just get families putting those assets into trusts and limited partnerships. Those aren't going away, and you can't just take them away from one group of people.

These are, in fact, loopholes. Maybe they are untouchable ones, but in the make-believe world of "no loopholes" these would go away...or at least the ability to use them as tax shelters.

I do think that there should be a higher tax bracket starting at around $1M. Tax rate is highly dependent on whether there actually are loopholes and capital gains etc, but I think 50%+ marginal rates at the highest levels make sense. I think the US was most prosperous when those marginal rates were more like 90%, so this isn't the economy killer most people would make it out to be.

Before my time (well, I was a toddler), but didn't the economy improve when JFK lowered the top tax rate from 90% to 70%? Leaving people with a dime for every dollar they make is a real disincentive to aspire beyond a certain level. I'd say 50% should be the maximum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Married couples earning more than $150k should be paying 45% or 50% on all income above $150k.

Obviously, the brackets would be adjusted accordingly, but that's a rough idea where it should be.

Yes let's kill the middle class.

seriously!! glad this PP isn't in charge of tax policy! WTF

[Anonymous]

Using historical high marginal rates (90%) as evidence that they don't harm anything is not a good idea.

Yes. Those rates were in place. However, no one paid that rate. Those were the days when a 50,000 dollar investment could provide $500,000 in losses which could be used against all income. The Reagan reforms did away with much of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Married couples earning more than $150k should be paying 45% or 50% on all income above $150k.

Obviously, the brackets would be adjusted accordingly, but that's a rough idea where it should be.

Yes let's kill the middle class.

seriously!! glad this PP isn't in charge of tax policy! WTF

150k is above middle class no matter how you slice it. The top 25% in DC starts at $140,000. Below 140 is middle class. You know? The middle?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be a top tax rate for millionaires of 50 percent. And an estate tax of 75 percent on estates worth more than $50 million.

No loopholes or deductions.

You can't just say "no loopholes or deductions." You'll just get families putting those assets into trusts and limited partnerships. Those aren't going away, and you can't just take them away from one group of people.

These are, in fact, loopholes. Maybe they are untouchable ones, but in the make-believe world of "no loopholes" these would go away...or at least the ability to use them as tax shelters.

I do think that there should be a higher tax bracket starting at around $1M. Tax rate is highly dependent on whether there actually are loopholes and capital gains etc, but I think 50%+ marginal rates at the highest levels make sense. I think the US was most prosperous when those marginal rates were more like 90%, so this isn't the economy killer most people would make it out to be.

Before my time (well, I was a toddler), but didn't the economy improve when JFK lowered the top tax rate from 90% to 70%? Leaving people with a dime for every dollar they make is a real disincentive to aspire beyond a certain level. I'd say 50% should be the maximum.

PP, the tax structure of the 60's cannot be limited in discussion based on rate alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:18% across the board flat

+1