Forum Post: The 99% plan
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 27, 2011, 8:11 a.m. EST by MauriceCarlos
(1)
from Columbia, SC
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I've put a lot of thought into a set of concrete things that can be done that could radically change our economic system so that It works better for all, instead of just those at the top. Here are just three of some of my ideas. Any comment is welcome, but let's please try and keep this civil.
Re-write the tax code so that no major companies pay zero percent taxes. Get rid of all the loop holes, and maybe lower the rates by a small percent.
Let companies get tax breaks maybe even going as low as zero percent, based on the number of American employees they employ year round.
Allow companies to get tax breaks for hiring employees from certain other countries, if said employees agree to pay a “tax” which could be used to raise more revenue.
I'm not an economist so it could be some real underlying problems with this, but I'm just throwing something out there.
I have a simpler idea, that I am sure will be demonized by the corporate protectors that infest the OWC website
• We all use the straight form, No more write-offs for anybody for anything.
• Companies, business, corps will use the straight form; they will roll the cost of doing business into the price of their product or service. The government will no longer subsidize them by not taxing their cost of doing business.
• Yes the person that is using their product or services will pay more, but he will pay fewer taxes and that will compensate for the new unsubsidized cost
• This is “true” free enterprise. Isn’t that what everybody truly wants?
You do realize that each of your points contradicts the one before it, right? While many companies do exploit strange and esoteric loopholes, most of those tax shields come from vanilla things like interest expenses and charitable donations (to name two).
You got off to a good start in number one by getting rid of all loopholes, then created loopholes in numbers two and three. Flat tax rates for all for income above the poverty line is a great idea. Make it lower and simpler. Lower Corp rates so GE and Boeing have to pay taxes like everyone else. Give corporations a 15% rate and watch a flood of capital come to the US in the form of repatriated profits from abroad. Talk about a Jobs Bill, that would be a huge boon for employment. Sadly Obama sees that as a give-away to corporations.
Good first step. I'd stop after number 1.
Number one is just to set up the conditions for two and three. Ok you can lower cooperate tax rates but if you drop it down to 15% without making cooperations do anything for it, then you're not really going to accomplish anything. A business isn't going to hire anyone just because you lower there taxes, the only reason they will hire is if they have to. If you make so the best way for a company to be more profitable(i.e. have a lower tax rate) is by hiring American workers, then you would create a situation where companies are competing for workers and not the other way around. You can't simply let the free market decide the fate of America because the free market might decide against what might be best for the country. Step three is icing on the cake. It will help fund or entitlements by letting the country get money from people who can't get the benefits of said entitlements.
Corporations of any kind and size only hire when it meets the needs of the business. That's how is should be, businesses are not jobs programs. When they need employee they will hire them, when they don't, they won't. The only incentive business needs to hire is their ability to generate profits, which is as it should be. When you incent business you distort the market and begin the kind of mess we have today.
How ridiculous.
This will drive you crazy http://occupywallst.org/forum/artist-wanted/