Is the single biggest reason we have such a large Govenrment (Fed, State & Local). If your normal everyday Joe working man had to stroke a check for his Fed, State and Local taxes at the end of every year...well lets just say things would be different. Looking at my last pay stub for the year.....Yeesh...they kept a lot of money. Thats where the TEA party, Libretarian, conservative, etc people should focus on changing. Get rid of withholding and make regular people write a check out every quarter, or year. We would see some changes real quick...
I have a fb friend that's constantly posting things about Fair Tax online. He's a small business owner and hates paying taxes. What he doesn't realize, is even with all the corporate welfare, the wealthy (and upper middle) pay the lion's share of the taxes in this country. But yes, you're right. The root of the problem is that the government is so big and bloated that it needs all this money. If everyone down low paid in, there'd be more impetus to shrink government and it's unquenchable thirst for spending our money.
Don't forget about matching of Medicare and SS. When you have a small company, the company is really the same entity as the owner. So I pay double on SS & Medicare every payday.
Yep...more people would truly understand the TRUE cost of being an American if they had to go through that exercise. Then, instead of the "Free <whatever> for all" mentality, more would wake up and start asking, "Who's gonna pay for this shit?"
It would be nice if everyone paid a little, well maybe not the very bottom of earners and Im OK with that. Im thinking way more middle of the road left leaning people would move toward smaller government if they had to write those checks as opposed to never seeing that money in the first place. Ive been a contractor and owned a small business so I know about writing checks and the whole SS, medicare thing. It suuuuucccckkkkkssss writing those checks. If more americans had to do it more americans would be like, hell no you get enough money already.
Some of that would change if withholding allowances were different. The truth is, LOTS of lower class folks have no idea how to manage money, and they look at withholding as sort of a "savings account", and it is, for the government. You're letting them borrow your money for a year interest free.
What would change? People would have to PAY the government. Well they are right now but they dont ever really see it since they dont let the proletariat get their hands on that money to begin with. Thats the point. You look at your pay stub, grumble about taxes and then go on about your day. If every couple months you had to physically send them money....well I think more people would join those of us who think government should be smaller, more efficient and therefore cost less. And your right about people being bad about saving to pay those taxes. Thats why uncle sugar likes to make the employer send him his cut right off the top. Kinda like the mob. We can talk about everyone paying, fair tax, yadayadayada. If we could ever get rid of withholding government would get smaller tomorrow.
Tax all entitlements some to make the 'entitled' realize where it comes from. Also cut off anyone in arrears from paying taxes on entitlements. Never happen because it would destroy the rich folks running the DNC.
Whoooooo it's TaxSeason, I'm getting a Huge Refund.... shit you will never hear me say... Waste, Fraud & Abuse.. and Non Essential Programs..are what eat Tax Payer $$$ like hogs at the trough.
As a business owner myself, many people dont realize when they bitch about how much their check was cut, that their employer matched that cut for EVERY employee. Where is my tax break?
This may be a bit retrograde....When I first started you had to go to the paymaster and he gave you your cash at the window! A twist on this would be you go to your employer and he hands you 2 checks, one made out to you and the other to the Feds, whereupon you sign the Fed check and return it to him to send in. It's no longer some black ink on a pay stub but a physical payment you just authorized. OUCH. Pain is the best way to get a response.
The set up that gets double wacked is c-corp, s-corp, & LLC, I believe. If you are org. as a sole proprietor or partnership, you will pay self employed rate, which I am told is a lot higher. Apparently, they bake into the rate the idea that you are somehow avoiding the double dip. Maybe someone here has done it both ways and can give better insight.
I don't think you'd see changes overnight. It would take at least a generation and then I'd guarantee you'd have a drastically different political landscape. What you'll see happen right away, and for the next 10-20 years is people carrying much higher debt loads. People just getting by on the crumbs left over now, are just going to spend their new found "windfall". When the time comes to pay the man, they will borrow, and continue to bury themselves in debt. It will take YEARS for people to adjust their spending habits. When the children of those people enter the workforce, THEN you will start to see change.
You pay double taxes if you are sole proprietor. you pay double taxes if you are a corp. I have been both sole proprietor and S-corp They just word it differntly so you feel better about it, but yeah, in a small business like mine, you pay, but as a corp, you pay out a different checkbook than your personal account.
So then, your corp should get a vote in all elections, right? Corporations are people, and no taxation without representation? AMIRITE? Yeah, right. I still think that everyone's vote should be weighted by their taxes paid, and, to a lesser extent, the taxes paid by the people that they employ. If you suck the tit on welfare, chip, snap, wic, ebt, whateverthefuckyourstatecallsit.... then you suck your dole & don't get a vote. Your voice in the running of society should be directly related to your contributions to it.