Minnesota Report
Income tax is the problem at the federal level and the reason is every dollar is not treated the same. Investment income is tax at a different rate than waged income and when Warren Buffett decries the fact, he pays less in taxable income than his secretary the system is wired the wrong way. Now, granted this is not the specious argument of the raw amount, it is the percentage, which is how the system should be structured.
So, when Elon Musk boldly Tweets, he will pay $11 Billion in taxes this year, great, but if it’s only 5% of his income, he isn’t paying enough. Of course, we do not know how much money he actually made las year.
If President Joe Biden (D) wants to truly pay for his Build Back Better Plan, he also should be calling for a change in the tax code, which removes all income tiers, and taxes one dollar at the bottom of the income scale at the same rate as every dollar of income earned either through work of passively through investment in the same fashion.
Here is the little secret, if every dollar were taxed at the same rate as every other dollar, the income tax rate could be lowered and the application of this flat tax would benefit all income brackets because the largess at the top of the income scale is obscene. When is enough, enough? Why isn’t greed considered a vice and morally objectionable? If you really want the rich to pay their “fair share” this is the best way to do so. It’s simple, uniform and easily understood, because everyone it treated the same.