Billionaires, trillionaires, Joe Schmo.
Everyone pays taxes. Income tax, capital gains, payroll, sales, etc. As much as they like to whine about it, taxes don't really "hurt" those who can afford to pay them. But they can put a serious crimp in the budget of poor people or young people trying to gain a foothold on life.
What if you could live tax free?
That's my proposal. Everyone would start out tax free and stay tax free up to $1 million dollars. Then established rates would kick in. This proposal has the added benefit of costing millions instead of billions and directly targets those who most need it.
Consider the median income of around $50K/year and a working life (rounded for math convenience) of 20 to 60. That makes a total lifetime income of $2 million. Such a person would live tax free until 40 or later.
Imagine. Most of us don't need to, we live/d it. People below $1 million in lifetime income would automatically receive a 20 to 25 percent raise without payroll and withholding taxes. They would take home $1,200 instead of $1,000/month. Anyone living on that income knows how much difference a hundred dollars makes in getting to the end of the month before the end of the money. Plus no sales taxes on their food, clothing, furniture, vehicles, etc.
The person below the $1 million threshold could win a car in a raffle and not have to sell the car to pay the taxes. That person could receive an inheritance tax free.
This tax proposal gives working people (especially minimum wage or lower) a chance to survive and perhaps an opportunity to advance. Young people, especially, could establish their lives. Buy and furnish homes. Provide for their children. Maybe even save. Of course the squalling baby who pops out of the womb already earning millions would start paying tax right away.
I realize that my proposal lumps together federal and state taxes. States rely heavily on sales and property tax income so it's probably unreasonable and impractical to do away with those. But it's nice to dream.
The Republicans and some rich like to decry how horrible it is to pay taxes but I've yet to hear an example of how any tax directly impacts them on a personal level. Do they EVER not buy something (tangible material item) because of a tax on it or lack of money paid in taxes elsewhere?