Eliminating Income Tax by 2010
Department of Defense: Defend America!
My Pledge to You
Eliminating Income Tax by 2010
Democrats claim to be the party of labor, the party of the blue collar worker, the hardworking middleclass. Here's how to prove it: Eliminate the tax on income, and replace it with a tax on wealth.
Here's why:
The first thing to know about taxes is that taxes tend to discourage the taxed behavior. Cigarettes and gasoline get more expensive, and people hesitate to buy them. States with high sales tax tend to lose shoppers across the border to states with lower or no sales tax.
So why do we tax income? Income is reward for work performed, whether by an individual or capital. This work is crucial for a healthy economy. Yet is is the thing we tax the most. Income tax is also a regressive tax -- it hurts the poor and the working poor more than it hurts the wealthy. A millionaire may make no money this year -- a billionaire may lose money. They pay no income tax. A working mother making 30K, she may pay thousands in income tax. A wealth tax on the other hand, is invisible to those that live from paycheck to paycheck.
How would it work?
Point 1: American wealth is larger than American annual income. This means you have a larger potential tax base.
Point 2: Income tax encourages nonproductive investment of capital in order to shelter it from taxes. Wealth tax encourages productive investment of capital, since the capital will be taxed the same for that year, regardless of how it is invested, which encourages using it to create income.
Point 3: Certain exemptions (one home, a 401K, etc.) would minimize the penalty to those in the middle class who are beginning to acquire wealth
Point 4: This could dramatically simplify the tax code.
If you're skeptical, consider this slogan:
Democrats believe in rewarding hard work.
Republicans believe in rewarding hoarding.
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Department of Defense: Defend America!
America has a serious security problem, and a serious immigration problem. We also have the world's finest military. Unfortunately, that military is dispersed around the globe fighting unpopular and unsuccessful wars that drain our bank accounts, kill our finest young people, and only increase the danger of attacks on American soil, by sowing distrust and hatred throughout the middle east and Asia.
My solution: Bring the military home. If they are the Department of Defense, then they should start doing what we're paying them to do: Defend America. Terrorists could be sneaking across the Canadian border. But you can't stop them from a bunker in Iraq. Right now illegals are flooding across our southern border, putting downward pressure on wages, working in dangerous environments without the support of worker's rights we have fought so hard to achieve. But you can't stop this from a base in Korea. Our ports are largely unguarded. The next ship to dock in Los Angeles could be carrying t-shirts, or anthrax. But we probably won't look to find out. Because our military is off fighting wars we didn't need to win, and now we can't afford, win or lose. So bring the troops home. We could use them here.
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My Pledge to You
The biggest problem facing democracy in America is that Americans have lost faith in the system, and in their elected leaders. This is due to decades of corruption, suspect elections, corporate influence and leaders who put their party and political aspirations ahead of the need of their citizens.
So here is my pledge to you: I will take no corporate donations. I will take no PAC funds. I work for the people, and the people alone. If elected, my office will be open to citizens, but not to lobbyists. Every decision I make will be based on one factor: How will this affect the citizens who placed their trust in me?