Other, and this is another layman's view. I think taxes are very country dependant (no one size fits all). So, speaking for my own country (which is the only one I have any true context for), I guess it all depends on what you (and for the US it's you as a plurality) believe that government should do. If government should do a little than it needs a little money. It it should do a lot than it needs a lot of money.
For me, the government needs to protect national borders, maintain property rights, maintain the transit of goods (roads), as well as some other services that are for the societal good. Which means that they subsidize certain things (which is paid through taxes) so that the country will do more of it. This would include things like education, immunization and the like.
Then the arguments start even on this short list. What is most important, how much, how little. As a society, we than add the things we value and compromise with one another, and begin paying for them.
I tend to favor flat taxes over progressive as I think citizen's should proportionally carry the burden of government. I don't like complicated tax systems. I don't like loopholes and exceptions. VAT taxes can get a little problematic when you have to decide where in the supply chain you attach the tax or if you do it at every point in the supply chain. I worry about sales taxes carrying the burden of the tax (this was I think in the US dubbed the Fair Tax). I worry that no matter how they attempt to run exclusions it will end up impacting food costs and being too great of a burden on lower incomes.
It's a complex issue.
For me, the government needs to protect national borders, maintain property rights, maintain the transit of goods (roads), as well as some other services that are for the societal good. Which means that they subsidize certain things (which is paid through taxes) so that the country will do more of it. This would include things like education, immunization and the like.
Then the arguments start even on this short list. What is most important, how much, how little. As a society, we than add the things we value and compromise with one another, and begin paying for them.
I tend to favor flat taxes over progressive as I think citizen's should proportionally carry the burden of government. I don't like complicated tax systems. I don't like loopholes and exceptions. VAT taxes can get a little problematic when you have to decide where in the supply chain you attach the tax or if you do it at every point in the supply chain. I worry about sales taxes carrying the burden of the tax (this was I think in the US dubbed the Fair Tax). I worry that no matter how they attempt to run exclusions it will end up impacting food costs and being too great of a burden on lower incomes.
It's a complex issue.
(05-02-2012, 05:53 PM)billy Wrote: What is the best tax system? why?
i'm against VAT, as a business man i could and did claim all my vat back, even on my daily shopping (loopholes) i claimed it on fuel, tools, even holidays. if i were someone's employee i wouldn't have been able to...somehow it isn't a very fair system. if i did a job for anyone, i also charged them vat. which i paid in but because of loopholes got a large portion of back. so i say. tax on a pay as you earn basis and scarp the vat.
The secret of poetry is cruelty.--Jon Anderson