Without the FSB, our economy as we know it would not exist. One of their primary responcibilities is to control the amount of money in teh economy at any given time, thus controlling inflation. They do this with the buying/selling of Treasury Bills (which Mr. Clinton used to "balance" the budget, but that's another arguement) and by adjusting what's called the Federal Reserve Rate, the interest rate they charge other banks to loan money and what is touted so often when they meet once a quarter.
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Pay your taxes folks, or get out!
Hear! Hear! And that should include EVERYONE.
Amen to that. I just filed my taxes yesterday. Here are some of MY personal facts about income tax:
-AGI: ~$46k
-Tax Bracket: 15%
-Effective Taxes: ~$1200 or 3% (after deductions)
-SocSec Tax: ~$3500 or 7.5%
-State Income Tax: ~3% after deductions
So just based on this, I paid around 10-11% to the federal government just to have the priveledge of living here. I do it more than willingly as it's a cheap bill to pay for prosperity. I gave much more than 10% just to my church (about 14%).
However, once you add in a 8% state and local sales tax, the state income tax, use tax (that odly enough we pay every year on houses and vehicles.... but no one fights those under the double taxation clause) I'm around 20-25% of my income just in taxes. Take the time that it takes me to fill out that damn 1040 and the AR1000 (Arkansas income tax form), which is about 5 hours at my work rate of around $23 hour (salary so it's a bit tough to actually figure), plus the time spent by banks and my employer for tax forms and the "waste" generated by the IRS alone is in the thousands.
A simple 18% sales tax would boost this economy more than any tax cut in history. Everyone would pay their fare share based on what they bought. If you're so damned worried about "the poor", then make what ever currently falls under the WIC program tax free, or just make groceries (unprepared food only) tax at 9%.