How does one determine if a person is paying his or her fair share of federal (or state, county, local, etc.) taxes? Does the implied meaning of word “fair” in that context resemble its use in other contexts? I’m really hoping to get some good insight into what people mean by a fair share of taxes.
you first
I suppose I could, but later. I was hoping for someone to volunteer something. Maybe I need to offer a bribe.
Your context is unclear. Are you referring to a person determining if their own tax burden is equitable, or if someone else’s is? Either way, taxes are wealth-redistribution, and my idea of a fair share of taxes paid for EVERYONE is $0.00. Otherwise, “You fear the man who has a dollar less than you, that dollar is rightfully his…. You hate the man who has a dollar more than you, that dollar is rightfully yours….”
It’s the context that people carry when they say taxes are unfair, either too high or too low, that I’m hoping to parse. But I am already familiar with your context and agree with it
. I was hoping to get some understanding of the other side from those who believe it. To no avail, it appears.
I think you mean what is the fair share the gov’t should take. To me fair for the US is a modified flat tax starting at 0% thru 10K, 5% thru 20K, 10% thru 30K, 15% thru 50K, 20% thru 100K, and 25% above – no deductions except that up to 25% of income can be put into qualified savings such as mutual funds but taxed fully when withdrawn. Cap gains, dividends, corp income, etc all at 15% with no threshold.
This gives some assistance to those of limited means but otherwise basically has a reasonable balance of each paying for the gov’t they receive. It also basically pulls taxes out of decisions on how to invest in the economy.