[IWE] Galbraith's OpEd on what should be done about the Bailout.

[Bill Patient]

I think I'd need to see that proven out. And the basis of my disagreement is
in how these things are used in capital investment decisions. (Loopholes
arent considered...meaning if the decision is to build local versus build
international...the place with the lower tax burden gets the edge). 

Lower the rates and remove the loopholes. Very simple. Same deal with
personal income taxes. 

And ANYTHING as a percentage of GDP looks lower when your GDP is as large as
the US. It's the rate at the margin that you need to look at. Same deal with
personal income tax talking points. If you give an even 5% break...what you
hear from the talking heads is how much more the rich people got than the
poor people (because they're paying more in the first place). 

How likely to I think a "fair tax" type proposal (flat tax with low income
adjustments), or an ad velorem style system like the rest of the world uses
will be enacted. 0%. Washington is, in the end, too chicken to take it on
(same with medicare and social security). I simply don't anticipate us being
able to find a true leader with the capability of getting it done. I'm
completely in favor of removing the cap on FICA...but also completely in
favor of limiting the feds ability to borrow those funds (Al Gores "lockbox"
is not a horrible idea)

And no, you won't see taxes judged evenly across the countries...as the
layers upon layers that you see here with fuel, excise, sales, profits, b2b
exemptions, etc...is not something that the rest of the world has to deal
with.

-----Original Message-----
From: iwe-admin@warhead.org.uk [mailto:iwe-admin@warhead.org.uk] On Behalf
Of D. Scott Katzer
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2008 3:17 PM
To: iwe@warhead.org.uk
Subject: Re: [IWE] Galbraith's OpEd on what should be done about the
Bailout.

Hey Bill,

Bill Patient wrote:
> That does not change my position that I think corporate taxes are too 
> high, that our personal income tax scheme is brain dead, or regulatory 
> environment governing manufacturing forces jobs out of the country and 
> that, in general, having Washington politicians try and solve our 
> problems is, more often than not, a bad idea.

I think Obama had a good counter to McCain's comment about corporate tax
rates - The effective rate is among the lowest in the world due to all of
the loopholes and exclusions.  Do you disagree?

(IIRC, you do, and you referenced Ireland.)

Ireland's personal tax rates don't seem all that low to me:
http://www.irishlinks.co.uk/income-tax-ireland.htm

Oh, and the total tax burden as a percentage of GDP is higher in Ireland
than in the USA.  (Scroll down to Table A):
http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_1011514.shtml

For 2006 - USA 28.2%, Ireland 31.7%

(It's not clear to me whether that figure somehow includes state and local
taxes or not, but presumably they're treated the same in all the
countries.)

Three quick questions:

1) What do you think a fair Federal tax system would be?
2) Recognizing the House's Constitutional responsibility to raise revenue
and write the tax laws, How long do you think such a system would last?
3) How likely do you think it would be that your proposal would be enacted?

Thanks.

Cheers,
Scott.
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