The United States debt and defecit is a major problem in our society. One thing I would propose to the President would be to tax the rich. Time. It's useful to keep in mind how the rich are different. When you are poor, you are willing to trade your time to earn money. When you are rich, you trade your money to get more time. For example, the rich hire people to clean their homes, and they don't waste time shopping for bargains. In business school I learned that when people have different preferences, you can usually find a way to engineer a deal. Gratitude. Imagine that the government arranges to provide genuine person-to-person gratitude to the rich in exchange for higher tax rates. Suppose (bad idea alert) the government makes it a condition that anyone applying for social services has to write a personal thank-you note to a nearby rich person who, according to a central database, hasn't lately received one. Gratitude goes a long way (online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703293204576106164123424314.html).
The American rich would even stand to make more money if they helped to rebuild the middle class. It has been an acknowledged rule of business since Henry Ford that companies thrive when people can afford to buy the products that the factories produce. I think If people focus on the oppurtunity cost of what there buying that could help with our nations debt. People should think about what they need to survive and not what they really want. My mom has thousands of clothes down in her basement which she doesn't even wear anywhere and if we sold all of them we could really use the money ! The oppurtunity cost of (loss or gain of what someone buys is really important with us at a nation trying to get out of a recession still)....
... middle of paper ...
...efit-cutting options for balancing the budget. Fewer than half want to cut the military, fewer than a third would cut Medicaid, barely a fifth would cut Medicare. It seems the rich are satisfied with medicare by the age of 65, the poor need medicaid, and people want to cut military spending (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/12/hill-leaders-fire-warning-shots_n_848392.html).
Works Cited
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/12/hill-leaders-fire-warning-shots_n_848392.html
http://biggovernment.com/ecantor/2010/05/12/tired-of-big-government-spending-then-youcut-it/).
https://questions.medicare.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/2038/~/what-is-the-difference-between-medicare-and-medicaid%3F).
(http://www.buzzle.com/articles/classical-economics-vs-keynesian-economics.html).
(http://www.buzzle.com/articles/classical-economics-vs-keynesian-economics.html).
America’s Tax System, Flat or Fair? “No taxation without representation!” A fair tax system was what the American colonists were looking for and one that many say we are still trying to achieve. Today, while we are all represented in government and are all required to pay taxes, some still perceive the system of taxation as unfair, allowing for specialized interests, loopholes, as well as more/less taxation based on income.
We have to take away 10% of the budget, which comes from the Medicare/Medicaid category. That would give us 90,000,000 to add to another important category that needs the money. In this case we will be adding it to the categories of “The Middle Five.”
The tax policy in the United States is very confusing. When the tax policy was originally written in 1913 it was four hundred pages. Now, over the past ninety one years, that tax policy has evolved to over 72,000 pages. Since the tax code has become so lengthy and nearly impossible to understand, the topic of tax reform has been in the minds of many. Although, most barely think about tax reform until tax season. It is a controversial subject due to the impact a change in tax code would have on the American people. The two most popular and widely known stakeholders in this debate are the two major political parties in the United States, the Democrats and the Republicans. The two parties share absolutely no common ground on the subject of tax reform, other than thinking the other parties solution is wrong. The Democrats, in general, want to raise taxes on the wealthy, while Republicans, generally, want to cut taxes for everyone (Democratic Party) (GOP). Unfortunately, with the United States economy currently doing so poorly, the parties can no longer afford to remain at a standstill, some sort of compromise is going to have to be made. The implementation of a flat tax, and discarding the current tax system would be a compromise that both parties can agree on and will simplify the tax code, overall benefiting all Americans.
During the study of various reforms that were proposed and denied, both the GOP and Democrats attempted to find a balance that would guarantee the success of their proposals. Years of research, growing ideologies, political views and disregard for the country's constitution sparked an array of alternatives to solve the country's healthcare spending. The expenditure of US healthcare dollars was mostly due to hospital reimbursements, which constitute to 30% (Longest & Darr, 2008). During the research for alternatives, the gr...
II. Implementing a flat tax without significantly increasing the deficit is impossible without shifting the burden from the rich to the middle-class, instead our current progressive tax policy needs to be changed so that it is simpler and does not allow corporations to abuse the tax loopholes.
Inside of this video, this guy really targets an issue nobody has really been presented. He shows charts that talk about how we Americans think our wealth is distributed. We think distribution is doing alright. Americans think that the bottom 40% is getting a bit of money. They also believe that the middle class is doing reasonably well. Unfortunately, that is not the case. In the video, he breaks it down a little bit getter. He shows a graph that shows how money is actually being distributed. The poorest of poor don 't even register on the poverty line. The middle class is barely making it. And then there is this huge difference between "the rich" and the poor. It is proven that the 1% of America has 40% of the entire nation 's wealth ("Wealth Inequality in America."). The bottom 80% of America only share 7% of the nation 's wealth among themselves. The top 1% has 50% of the stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. The bottom 50% of Americans only own 0.5% ("Wealth Inequality in America."). The poor is not just getting by but they are scraping and fighting to get by. Now that it is clear that there is a lot of poor people in America, it is important to figure out how to fix
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.
Health care is one of those issues where the political spectrum shows some overlap. Both sides want the same outcome: a healthy and happy society. However, the ways they want to accomplish this varies greatly. The Republicans are staunchly against government-organized healthcare. They believe that the less government the better, believing that “government run affordable health care leads to inefficiencies and can be disastrous to the nation’s health overall.” They believe that health care should be left to doctors, HMOs and insurance companies to decide and manage. However, the democrats’ main point on health care is that it should be funded and controlled by the government for the people. They hold that all people should be able to have the assurance of health without worrying about losing coverage or going into debt. This would be most effective for the poor and elderly, those who normally would not be able to afford coverage and need it most. As such, Med...
One person may see that the increase taxation on the poor and the decrease taxes on the wealthy is not an issue because the wealthy pay a lot of taxes already. However, many people don’t realize the fact that, yes, the wealthy are paying a lot of taxes because they make more money, but they can afford to pay more. Recently, in a CNN article, more than forty millionaires want their taxes to increase, which proves the fact that the wealthy have plenty of money to give back to the community. In addition, their just going to keep getting wealthier and wealthier by the
Wealth inequality is a real issue that needs to be fixed. The imbalanced growth of the upper class compared to the middle class is a danger to American society as a whole. The rich becoming richer while the middle class remains the same leads to a power imbalance, with the rich using their money to run the country the way they see fit while the middle class speaks to ears that do not listen. The issue of wealth inequality needs to be fixed by raising taxes on the rich.
Medicare and Medicaid together "are the single biggest contributor to [the United States] long term [budget] deficit." This idea was expressed by President Obama during his 2011 state of the Union Speech. After saying this, the president said that health care costs need to be reduced, including these two services. Medicare and Medicaid are beneficial to those who receive their services, and the criteria for eligibility currently allow many to qualify for either program. This is most likely the cause of the major deficit that the president spoke of. However, downsizing or eliminating these programs to lessen the deficit will affect many people and their ability to receive healthcare.
America is in a Great Recession, and the American Dream seems to be dying (if not already dead) to many Americans. I don’t think that the American Dream is dead; it just needs rehabilitation due to the injuries it sustained from the hands of an unregulated government. Though we are in a Great Recession, every American can progress their lives for the betterment of themselves and future generations. According to Brandon King (2011) in The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?: “…the most worrisome problem is inequality: that wealth is concentrated into the hands of a rich minority.” Because of this, many Americans and politicians are arguing about either “raising the taxes on the rich” or “supporting the richest sectors in America” (Thomas, 2011) to stimulate the economy. In the articles I have read in They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, both Cal Thomas and Brandon King seem to believe that the government should not tax the rich minority more than the poor majority. I disagree with both Cal and Brandon and believe that the rich should be taxed more than the poor. However, the income from the taxes should be put to use for the betterment of the poor majority of America.
America’s upper class has been getting richer since the past three decades, and we have still not found a way to stop this. We have been unable to find a way to distribute America’s wealth equally, so we can have a decent lower class and a good middle class. Inequality has caused many people to struggle in various ways, but their is alway another side to the story.
The current tax system that the United States uses contains several flaws. First of all, it is very complex. It is comprised of many various variables that can create loopholes. These loopholes can cause two equal income families to be paying very different tax rates. In fact, there are 480 different types of tax forms (Website). The current tax system is also very unfair for the wealthy. Because it is a progressive tax, it is higher for people who have higher incomes. People should not be punished for being successful. If a flat tax policy were instituted, then it would simplify the complicated tax system, create fairness within the economy, and promote a desire to thrive financially.
... rich, this would somehow be the great equalizer and bridge the ever increasing income gap between the wealthy and the less fortunate. However, this concept could not be further from the truth. In essence, this would not solve anything. The unequal distribution of wealth is an erroneous and irrefutable perception America will always be left to face. Whether intentional or not, the unequal distribution within American society is seen as a flaw in our nation’s history.