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Plug That Loophole!

As the nation races toward the 2013 "Fiscal Cliff" like the teen-age drivers in Rebel Without A Cause, House Speaker Boehner said last week that Republicans would support increased revenues, but not higher tax rates. This could be achieved by closing "tax loopholes," as proposed by Mitt Romney during the campaign. He refused to specify what loopholes to close, but since I am not a candidate for anything, I can:

1. Tax breaks for dividends and capital gains: All investment income is already exempt from FICA (Social Security) tax, so why should corporate dividends and long-term capital gains also enjoy preferential a tax rate (15%) compared to pay for work and interest income? One way to simplify the tax code would be to tax all income at the same rate.

2. Estate Tax: Let the first million dollars of inherited money be tax-free, and tax the rest as ordinary income. If I were to inherit a million dollars tax-free, I would be so tickled pink that I would not whine about paying tax on the rest of my inheritance. If you doubt my sincerity, just change your will to leave me more than a million dollars and find out!

3. Home Mortgage Interest: Rent is not deductible, and neither is interest on consumer loans, so why should home-mortgage interest be deductible? Most taxpayers take the standard deduction anyway, and there is no reason to give those affluent enough to buy a house a tax-break not available to those who cannot afford to buy. Unlike the two proposals above, this one would really impact the middle-class, but there is no way to make a significant dent in the deficit without getting more from the middle-class.

Our country needs more money, so the patriotic imperative is for all of us to pay more in federal taxes. (1) During war-time (2) we expect our soldiers, mainly drawn from the working class and the poor, to risk their bodies and lives for this country, so why is it so repugnant for the more affluent to merely sacrifice more of their money for the country? I am willing to pay more if necessary, are you?

Gerald S Glazer

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(1) Proposal Number One would raise my taxes.

(2) Our last full day of peace was September 10, 2001. Before we conclude our war in Afghanistan inb 2014, we will probably be at war someplace else, perhaps Iran or Syria.

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solitarius | Nov. 12, 2012 at 12:31 p.m. (report)

First of all the problem is not too little taxes it is too much spending.

1. Capital Gains and dividends: Capital gains are taxes on money earned from investment after it has first been taxed when it was earned from income. Thus the capital gains tax is double taxation and this os extremely unfair to everyone.

2. Estate tax: This the most unfair tax of all. Why does government think it deserves money that my father earned and wanted to give to me? First of all this money had already been taxed so this is double taxation. Secondly, on what basis should this money be taxed at all? Why does the government think it owns my father's money that he earned? The estate tax is pure socialism/communism.

3. Mortgage deduction: The whole point of this deduction was to make housing more affordable for the middle class. This was not put in to favor the rich but to favor the middle class. and it does. This tax deduction is minimal for most rich people but it is the primary deduction for all middles class people. This tax deduction also help our economy because it stimulates the housing industry as well as the banking industry.

Even if these tax issues were enacted as Mr Glazer wants, they would not come close to solving our debt problem.
The solution to our economic problems is very very simple and it is really the only solution and that is reducing spending.

Even if all of the money of the so-called rich were confiscated by government it would only solve our yearly deficit of over one trillion for 1 year. Then after taking all the money of the rich where would the government get money to pay for the one trillion deficit the next year? This illustrates the problem very well because once the government decides to go down the road of higher taxes there is no end to it because there is no solution to it. They cannot get enough money from the rich so they will have to get it from the middle class, it is inevitable and a certainty.

The ONLY solution to this problem is to reduce spending otherwise, it is 100% assured that all will pay higher taxes and this cycle will never end until we become Greece which is not that far off.

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