EQUALITY. A term used from previous ancestors that came to America for freedom. A term used from Americans that fought for their equal rights today. A term avoided in the state of being taxed. Two out of three tax systems are set to be genuinely unfair to Americans of the lower and upper class: a progressive system and a regressive system. Today, Americans are paying in a progressive tax system which is when the tax rate will increase if the taxable income increases (“Preface to…”). Americans pay an average of 18.2% on federal income, 10.6% on state, 7.65% on social security and Medicaid, 10.3% on sales tax and so forth (“How Much Tax…”). The one system that will work for our nation’s economy and benefit the people is known as the proportional tax system, or better known as flat tax, which is a system in which the tax rate is set rather than varied by income (“Preface to…”). Setting the rate to fifteen percent will benefit all Americans and the economy because the upper class will still pay a big amount and the lower class will pay a small amount on their part. With today’s economy, many employers are bound to cut hours and wages or lose their company causing unemployment. Using the current tax system, many Americans’ earnings are going towards a government that is investing these funds towards unnecessary things.
One problem faced today is the number of Americans unemployed and how many families who are suffering from the poverty rate. Unemployment is a problem discussed and seen throughout America. With the unemployment rate hitting 6.6% in January 2014, the nation should focus on lowering that number so welfare can be a last option for the unemployed. Blacks have the highest unemployment rate of 12.1% followed by Hispanics with...
... middle of paper ...
...nna. "United States Unemployment Rate." Trading Economics. N.p., 7 Feb. 2014. Web.
2 Mar. 2014.
"How Much Tax Do We Really Pay?" How Much Tax Do We Really Pay? Now and Futures,
n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. .
Morong, Cyril. "How Much Has Federal Spending Increased In The Last 10 Years?" The Free
Market Alternative. N.p., 24 Apr. 2011. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.
"Preface to 'Is the Current US Tax System Fair for Rich and Poor?'." Tax Reform.
Ed. Noël Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Opposing Viewpoints.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Sullivan, Andy. "Behind U.S. Budget Cease-Fire, the Same Festering Problems."
ChicagoTribune.com. Chicago Tribune, 3 Mar. 2014. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
Tate, Randy. "Helping the Middle-class." The IRS v. the people: time for real tax reform.
Washington, D.C.: Heritage Foundation, 1999. Print.
Whether or not to keep or discard the Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy, give tax breaks to the lowest tax bracket, and even throwing out the entire current tax code and replacing it with a simpler version, tax code and tax law has been a very controversial topic for the past few years. As it stands, the current tax code has over seventy two thousand pages, compared to the four hundred pages it had in 1913. There are many different stakeholders in this debate including taxpayers, corporations, businesses, etc. Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is an organization that was “founded in 1985 by Grover Norquist at the request of President Reagan”(.N.p.). Their goal is to create and advocate for a simple flat tax,“...on the belief that they will provide a strong stimulus to investment, employment, and output” (Stokey 1). They promote their organization and represent taxpayers in all fifty states. Along with tax reform, ATR also advocates for individual health care, free trade, and spending transparency (.N.p.). Using very simple and easy to understand images, ATR is able to convey their goals and get information across to the general audience that visits their website.
Many debates have been waged over the decades on what will be taxed, on who shall be taxed and how taxes are collected. Since the 16th Amendment was ratified in 1913, the debate has intensified, centering on how high to make the income tax rate. Most Americans were not concerned since the Amendment was sold to them as something that would only affect corporations and the rich. With ever increasing fervor these corporations created lobbyists to convince Congress to exempt them from some or all of the income tax. The big breakthrough in this was taxing the worker directly with payroll taxes during World War II. This method of collecting income tax was sold to Americans as temporary, but Congress has extended it indefinitely and the public has become used to it. The next few decades saw the debate revolve around creating tax breaks for individuals in an attempt to modify behavior or spending. This has resulted in over 67,000 pages of tax code and an entire industry devoted to tax compliance and evasion, with the unintended behavioral change of corporations and the rich parking their money outside of the United States in small island nations to avoid taxation. These offshore accounts are estimated to hold $10 trillion dollars, a number approximate to the national debt. The FairTax Act should be enacted because it eliminates all federal income taxes for individuals and corporations, eliminates all federal payroll withholding taxes, abolishes estate and capital gains taxes and repeals the 16th Amendment; thus eliminating the need for offshore accounts.
Our current system of taxation is a varied rate percentage based on different income brackets. Many say that it violates our constitutional rights through unequal taxation. Multiple deductions, loopholes, special rates, and a complex system of regulations all characterize our Federal Income Tax System, prompting many to question why it is still being used (Peters, 2013). The current system although bringing in over $3 trillion, taxes income multiple times, and includes the taxing of estate, labor, savings, and investments (National Priorities Project, 2013). The system itself is complex with over 20,000 pages of regulations, requiring a massive filing system, which is set up and maintained by an even larger IRS, requiring over $225 billion in compliance costs (Hall, 2001). One can be hard pressed to find an advantage in the current system, other than the fact that it provides the government with an enormous amount of funds, and it has...
Mehan, C.. N.p.. Web. 19 Jan 2014. . . N.p.. Web. 6 Mar 2014. . Kirkland, Stephen D. "Should We Have A Flat Tax?." Business & Economic Review 49.1 (2002): 27.
(TRANSITION: But before we get into all of that, the questions I asked you for my audience analysis revealed that not all of you are as riveted by tax policy as I am-shocking I know-, so I will clarify some of the jargon I will be using. First the progressive tax is a tax system where the tax rates increase with income earned. Let’s say the first tax bracket is set at 50,000 dollars, and the first tax rate is set at ten percent, and the rate above it is set at twenty percent. So, if you make 70,000 dollars, the first 50,000 will be taxed
Many ponder the idea of federal taxes and whether the wealthy deserve to pay a higher percentage rate of their overall income. That is, they argue that because our society needs more equality and a lower national budget deficit, taxes on the rich must be raised. This specific topic has been discussed for decades, and due to the severely different perspectives, it is unclear whether the two sides will ever come to an agreement. President Barack Obama and much of the Democratic Party strongly lean towards raising taxes on the rich, while the conservatives and the Republican Party heavily lean towards a more balanced flat tax. However, after extensive research and focus on what would be best for the equality of individuals, the nation and its economy, this paper will firmly prove that the top one percent should not be taxed any more than they are today.
Unemployment of 7.3% has been a part of having illegal immigrants taking jobs of Americans. Many construction jobs and hardworking jobs are being taken from Americans because many immigrants are willing to do more work for less pay and this can truly affect the unemployment rate. Multiple occasions, in which, a citizen of the United States cannot find any jobs, having to start a new career, possibly having to move to where one can find a fertile econom...
In this example of political voice, John Oliver (2014) of Last Week Tonight, in the portion of the video shown of the show, he addresses the issue of income inequality in regards to the estate tax in America. Oliver (2014) states that the Estate tax does not apply to most people living in the U.S. due to the tax only applying to about .6 percent of the population in the United States according to the Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (2013).The people who have to pay the estate tax, are exempt for the first five million dollars. Most importantly, the people who have to pay the “death tax” want to remove the estate tax, according to Oliver (2014). Everybody wants this tax to be removed because they assume the estate tax will
Inequality exist and is high in America because the amount of income and wealth that is distributed through power. In America the income distribution is very inequality and the value of a person wealth is based on their income with their debts subtracted. “As of 2007, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth, and the 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 50.5%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 85%, leaving only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers)” (Domhoff, 2011). In contrary the poor do not get ahead and the rich get more. Americans are judged and placed in class categories through their home ownership which translates to wealth. Americans social class is often associated with their assets and wealth. “People seek to own property, to have high incomes, to have interesting and safe jobs, to enjoy the finest in travel and leisure, and to live long and healthy lives” (Domhoff, 2011). Power indicates how these “values” are not distributed equally in American society. Huge gains for the rich include cuts in capital gains and dividends and when tax rates decrease for the tiny percent of Americans income is redistributed. Taxes directly affect the wealth and income of Americans every year.
Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The income gap in America has been increasing steadily since the late 1970’s, and has now reached historic highs not seen since the 1920’s (Desilver). UC Berkeley economics professor, Emmanuel Saez conducted extensive research on past and present income inequality statistics and published them in his report “Striking it Richer.” Saez claims that changes in technology, tax policies, labor unions, corporate benefits, and social norms have caused income inequality. He stands to advocate a change in American economic policies that will help close this inequality gap and considers institutional and tax reforms that should be developed to counter it. Although Saez’s provides legitimate causes of income inequality, I highly disagree with the thought of making changes to end income inequality. In any diverse economic environment, income inequality will exist due to the rise of some economically successful people and the further development of factors that push people into poverty. I believe income inequality e...
Taxation has always been a major controversy. Just like any major corporation, the government is constantly looking to raise revenue. The easiest and fairest way to do this is by taxing the people. However, how the people will be taxed is always an issue.
According to Lein (2013), the poverty rate increased in the United States over the course of the recession. In 2009, the overall United States poverty rate was 14%, and then rose to 15% in 2010, the highest rate...
Income inequality continues to increase in today’s world, especially in the United States. Income inequality means the unequal distribution between individuals’ assets, wealth, or income. In the Twilight of the Elites, Christopher Hayes, a liberal journalist, states the inequality gap between the rich and the poor are increasing widening, and there need to have things done - tax the rich, provide better education - in order to shortening the inequality gap. America is a meritocratic country, which means that everybody has equal opportunity to be successful regardless of their class privileges or wealth. However, equality of opportunity does not equal equality of outcomes. People are having more opportunities to find a better job, but their incomes are a lot less compared to the top ten percent rich people. In this way, the poor people will never climb up the ladder to high status and become millionaires. Therefore, the government needs to increase all the tax rates on rich people in order to reduce income inequality.
People need money to purchase all kinds of goods and services they needed every day and sometimes, for goods or services they desire to own. To fulfill that, they have the essential need to earn money. In order to earn money, they must work in either in fields related to their interests or to their qualifications. However, people will meet different challenges during their jobs-hunting sessions, such as many candidates competing for a job vacancy; salaries offered are lower than expected salaries and economic crisis or down which causes unemployment. Unemployment is what we will be looking into in this report. Dwidedi (2010) stated that unemployment is defined as not much job vacancies are available to fulfill the amount of people who want to work and can work according to the current pay they can get for a job they chose to work as. There are four major types of unemployment: frictional, structural, cyclical and seasonal unemployment.
Unfortunately, there are many Americans out of work in today’s current declining economy. Unemployment can be defined as a person who is out of work involuntary, not by choice. These people are looking jobs and available to start work. Being unemployed can be disheartening and deciding what the next step is can be challenging. Underemployed can be described as being inadequately employed, such as a low-paying job that requires fewer skills than one possess. (Daly, Hobijn, and Kwok 2015) Making ends meet can be difficult for one who has been affected by this economy over the past few years. America still has a high unemployment rate since the decline of the current job market. And many Americans are struggling to establish the skills needed for employment, or the underemployed are force to lower they skill to make a profit. America’s economic status has force the underemployed and unemployed to make ends meet with the current jobs available. And last but not least some have also utilized these difficult times to venture into new discoveries to make life hassle free. So, we wonder is Americans giving up in today’s economy or do they settle for lower end job to establish a steady income to make ends.