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Would You Rather Have Inflation or Raise Taxes?

Would you rather pay more sales tax for a couple of years, or pay the same increase in inflation?


  • Total voters
    24
Nov 28, 2010
83,706
37,527
113
Maryland
Some of us believe we could have averted at least some of this inflation if we (meaning Congress) had been willing to raise the revenues to pay the bills. Do you believe that? I do.

Inflation is sort of a sales tax, because it applies to what we buy. And it's sort of a flat tax in the sense that it applies to all equally. Of course it's different from a flat tax in that a flat tax applies to income. But still, it applies equally to all, which is a big part of the appeal of the flat tax.

Most of us aren't fans of the sales tax, but almost all states have one. So I guess we don't dislike it too much or we'd elect people to get rid of it.
 
We can just make more people unemployed and lower all wages. No need to raise taxes, we just have to reassert the dominance over the labor market of the tiny fraction of people who own 90% of American businesses so they can force people to work three jobs to make ends meet
 
There's a third choice. How about not spending do much F**king money that we don't have? We've never had a revenue problem.
 
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There's a third choice. How about not spending do much F**king money that we don't have? We've never had a revenue problem.
The thing is we are NOT spending more money than we have.

We are spending more money than we are willing to raise taxes to cover.

This morning's news had a blurb on the UK where public workers are complaining that the raises they are getting are nowhere near what they need to keep up with inflation (and inflation in the UK is worse than here). The government's response? "We can't afford higher raises."

But what "we can't afford it" really means is "we don't want to (or are afraid to) raise taxes on our big donors."

The US has way more than enough money to pay its bills. Easily. The fat cats simply don't want to. And the people we elect work for them, not for us, not for America.
 
So far, I'm the only vote on the poll.

Look, I realize that nobody wants either higher sales taxes or higher inflation. And I also realize that if you are willing to raise taxes to avert inflation, sales taxes wouldn't be the best tax option. But sales taxes and inflation have very similar impact, making this a fair comparison. So pick the one you like least.

My sense is that faced with this choice, most of us would bite the bullet and opt for a higher sales tax. The prices we would pay would go up about the same, but the extra money would help pay for programs we want. Inflation has no positive upside that I can think of. Plus, with sales taxes, we can exempt food and rent and so on, whereas inflation is uncontrolled.
 
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We received a tax increase when the price of everything went up due to what some say inflation and others say corporate greed. Governments are seeing an increase in tax revenue from the increase in prices on everything we buy then and now with continued price increases on a daily basis.
 
We can handle some inflation. Before raising taxes, I’d prefer to see some sort of a commitment to curb our spending. This shouldn’t be an either or.
 
We could have averted inflation by treating COVID more reasonably, avoided school shutdowns, lockdowns, etc. All the things we know now were wrong choices.

By treating COVID as we did, we gave industries and companies all the excuses they needed to grab government money, raise prices, and restrict supply.

Falls on the Trump administration, driven by democrats. Shared responsibility abounds here.
 
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We received a tax increase when the price of everything went up due to what some say inflation and others say corporate greed. Governments are seeing an increase in tax revenue from the increase in prices on everything we buy then and now with continued price increases on a daily basis.
From a consumer standpoint, that just makes inflation worse. From a government services point of view, the extra revenue probably doesn't matter much because the government also has to pay more for what it purchases. So that could be a wash, or worse.
 
We can handle some inflation. Before raising taxes, I’d prefer to see some sort of a commitment to curb our spending. This shouldn’t be an either or.
I agree that it shouldn't be either or. I'd like to see us raise taxes AND cut spending. There are clearly programs that need more investment - dealing with the climate crisis being the obvious one - but others that are less important, or less appropriate for government to handle. Plus, everybody agrees on making government more efficient and less corrupt.

As Will McAvoy said on The Newshour...

 
Taxes need to be raised, significantly, on higher incomes and on wealth above a certain level. Either we do this or the few will continue to buy up most of their competitors and further consolidate our various industries.

We need much more anti-monopoly enforcement. Had we a less consolidated economy over the past few years, we would not have the price gouging "supply chain issue" that accounts for much of our ongoing inflation.
 
Taxes need to be raised, significantly, on higher incomes and on wealth above a certain level. Either we do this or the few will continue to buy up most of their competitors and further consolidate our various industries.

We need much more anti-monopoly enforcement. Had we a less consolidated economy over the past few years, we would not have the price gouging "supply chain issue" that accounts for much of our ongoing inflation.
There are segments of Adam Smith's philosophy that most of us can agree upon. On the negative side, most "pro-capitalist" folks probably support various degrees of monopoly.
 
So far, I'm the only vote on the poll.

Look, I realize that nobody wants either higher sales taxes or higher inflation. And I also realize that if you are willing to raise taxes to avert inflation, sales taxes wouldn't be the best tax option. But sales taxes and inflation have very similar impact, making this a fair comparison. So pick the one you like least.

My sense is that faced with this choice, most of us would bite the bullet and opt for a higher sales tax. The prices we would pay would go up about the same, but the extra money would help pay for programs we want. Inflation has no positive upside that I can think of. Plus, with sales taxes, we can exempt food and rent and so on, whereas inflation is uncontrolled.

Doesn't inflation "shrink" the National debt, so to speak?
 
Taxes are high enough, just do away with all the stupid deductions that reduce the tax rate.
 
There are segments of Adam Smith's philosophy that most of us can agree upon. On the negative side, most "pro-capitalist" folks probably support various degrees of monopoly.
Some have argued that monopolies can't happen under "true" capitalism. IIRC, both Von Mises and Hazlitt wrote to that effect.
 
Some have argued that monopolies can't happen under "true" capitalism. IIRC, both Von Mises and Hazlitt wrote to that effect.
True....but there is a human side to all "isms"....and the human side of monopoly-ism would be comfort.....and once you become one of the monopoly stakeholders....you tend to become comfortable....right?
 
I view inflation as a national issue and sales tax as a state issue.

Are you suggesting a national sales tax?
 
I am not trying to be argumentative but a lot of you want to raise taxes on the wealthy and higher income people.
Now you are wanting to send your children and grandchildren to college because you believe it is their best chance in life to be very successful. I have seen this posted quite often.
If they become successful you will want to raise their taxes. Why do you want to punish them and beat them up for being very successful?

The Lord only asks us for 10% to be given.
 
Honestly.....how old are you? Or are you one who believes you should not pay any taxes to any one? You think those roads, bridges, missiles and tanks and planes just build themselves for free?

Honestly how senile are you? Now, here is a question for you. Are you phucking stupid or something? Show in my post where I said to lower the taxes. I said get rid of a bunch of the deductions that lower the tax rate.

There are countless people that receive a refund each year due to all the deductions that basically generate a zero tax liability and they get back almost everything that is paid in or significantly reduce the amount they should be paying.

I know people that make over 6 figures that pay very little in taxes due to all their "deductions". The tax code to so bloated with all these "deductions" that it's basically worthless.

Now GFY
 
Honestly how senile are you? Now, here is a question for you. Are you phucking stupid or something? Show in my post where I said to lower the taxes. I said get rid of a bunch of the deductions that lower the tax rate.

There are countless people that receive a refund each year due to all the deductions that basically generate a zero tax liability and they get back almost everything that is paid in or significantly reduce the amount they should be paying.

I know people that make over 6 figures that pay very little in taxes due to all their "deductions". The tax code to so bloated with all these "deductions" that it's basically worthless.

Now GFY
You can “plan” how to handle taxes. Inflation offers no such luxury. Also, the IRS is seriously short employees and adding employees would theoretically even out the advantages of the wealthy filer.
Good luck getting rid of deductions. The biggest rip off in the tax code is the “capital gains rate” which benefits the wealthiest by accessing them to the second lowest tax rate. More “enforcers and smarter rules would even the game...and it would enable what Dems have been harping on for years...getting the rich (and corporations) to pay their share!
 
You can “plan” how to handle taxes. Inflation offers no such luxury. Also, the IRS is seriously short employees and adding employees would theoretically even out the advantages of the wealthy filer.
Good luck getting rid of deductions. The biggest rip off in the tax code is the “capital gains rate” which benefits the wealthiest by accessing them to the second lowest tax rate. More “enforcers and smarter rules would even the game...and it would enable what Dems have been harping on for years...getting the rich (and corporations) to pay their share!
So severely senile, got it.
 
Would you rather have terminal cancer or a terminal heart condition?
 
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