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Tax Loopholes

Would you support eliminating every tax loophole?


  • Total voters
    20

Josie

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Would you support an elimination of every single tax loophole known to man or business?

Please explain.
 
Would you support an elimination of every single tax loophole known to man or business?

Please explain.

the devil is in the details

for example, if you live in say Cincinnati and work in dayton, dayton and cincinnati both can tax your income but many cities give their residents a credit for taxes they pay in another work location

some would call that a loophole when in reality it means someone who works in a city different than their residence is not taxed far more than someone who lives and works in the same city

some would claim deducting losses is a loophole as well but it makes sense that if you made 100K in your business for say the first 8 months and then the last four months you lost money you should pay on your net profit
 
Would you support an elimination of every single tax loophole known to man or business?

Please explain.
I would support starting with a blank slate and rewriting them, but not outright eliminating them. Many of the "loopholes" are of course things like charitable deductions, child tax credits, and so forth. These help many people or just seem like the right thing to do to encourage giving, so I don't believe you would find a majority of people that are against these.

On the other hand, ask people what they think of Corporate jet deductions, special subsidies to oil companies and others (like GM, for example). I think most people would be pretty upset about these kind.

And then, of course, you have to decide if research tax credits and other things of that nature are worth it or not. Personally, I would say research tax credits are a good thing, in general. They allow the private sector to conduct research that they otherwise would not. This is what keeps us ahead as a country in the long run, along with education and infrastructure. Of course, you have to figure out which ones are actually contributing to important R&D.

It's a much more complicated issue than just tax loopholes/no loopholes.
 
How do you define loopholes?

In the professional tax world, a loop hole would be like selling extracted crude oil from your Nigerian wells at a price nearly equal to what you're going to sell it to refineries in the US at in the virtual no tax Cayman Islands and having your subsidiary sell it at near zero profit from the Caymans into the US. THAT is a loop hole.

Taking a deduction for inventory as cost of goods sold is not a loop hole.

This poll is impossible to answer until we know what Josie is defining as a loophole.
 
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Would you support an elimination of every single tax loophole known to man or business?

Please explain.

I would support eliminating every tax loophole. I even believe that there should be a flat tax rate,preferable a national sales tax and thats it.
 
OC raises a good point in that we need a good definition of loophole. Is any deduction a loophole?
 
OC raises a good point in that we need a good definition of loophole. Is any deduction a loophole?
probably not as I noted with one city giving its residents a credit for taxes paid in a different city where a job is located
 
probably not as I noted with one city giving its residents a credit for taxes paid in a different city where a job is located

Right, but what is and isn't a loophole? It's hard to give an answer without knowing that.
 
Would you support an elimination of every single tax loophole known to man or business?

Please explain.

Yes I would.

I would implement a 20-25% consumption tax on everything anyone buys, including food and medications. No write-offs. No exemptions. No sin/capitol-gains/inheritance/property/etc/etc tax. Minimal IRS. No annual/quarterly filing.

The rich would still pay more taxes because the rich obviously spend more dollars. The poor can finally start paying their fair share.
 
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Right, but what is and isn't a loophole? It's hard to give an answer without knowing that.

I think OC came the closest in an accurate description of what REALLY is a loophole

what many people consider loopholes are often deductions that make sense that they themselves don't get
 
Something else. Instead of having a complicated system that requires loopholes I favor a flat tax of around 15-20% or even more preferable the Fair Tax, no loopholes needed if there is no reason to dispute.
 
Yes I would.

I would implement a 20-25% consumption tax on everything anyone buys, including food and medications. No write-offs. No exemptions. No sin/capitol-gains/inheritance/property/etc/etc tax. Minimal IRS. No annual/quarterly filing.

The rich would still pay more taxes because the rich obviously spend more dollars. The poor can finally start paying their fair share.
Agreed. And I like the consumption tax although I believe we won't see it in my lifetime. I would go one further..................all food stamp purchases should be taxed at 3% and under our current tax structure, all welfare checks should include a 3% witholding. What can you realistically purchase for $100 that you can't purchase for $97..........if you need the other $3, scrape together some pennies. :shrug: I know many will say that this is just cutting entitlements and........I agree, but it's not simply a "blanket" welfare cut as it addresses "individual" entitlement and at least it "dresses up" a little better. EVERYBODY pays their fair share.......EVERYBODY.
 
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For the sake of keeping it simple, tax loopholes = any deduction or credit.

If you think some deductions are important and necessary, please post them. The only one I can think of that might make me change my mind is the deduction for your minor children.
 
Agreed. And I like the consumption tax although I believe we won't see it in my lifetime. I would go one further..................all food stamp purchases should be taxed at 3% and under our current tax structure, all welfare checks should include a 3% witholding. What can you realistically purchase for $100 that you can't purchase for $97..........if you need the other $3, scrape together some pennies. :shrug: I know many will say that this is just cutting entitlements and........I agree, but it's not simply a "blanket" welfare cut as it addresses "individual" entitlement and at least it "dresses up" a little better. EVERYBODY pays their fair share.......EVERYBODY.

When it comes to hand-outs, imo if the government is going to do it then it should cut out the bull**** and just write a check to bring the household income up to $40K. No special programs for HEAQP, TANIF, SNAP, Title19, etc. You get up to $40K with a lot of strings attached and you buy everything you need with it....while yes paying 20-25% consumption tax just like everyone else.

Strings include but are not limited to: Raising a child under the age of 18 (yes I would be happy to pay a parent to stay-at-home); if married, minimum of one spouse must either have a full-time job or be a full-time student in an accredited program; single people must either be a full-time student, have a full-time job, or be legally disabled. Can not be unemployed for more than 6mo (and I think that's generous), and if fired for-fault they will be sanctioned for 6mo. Can not be a felon or be convicted of a domestic-violence offense, or even one (1) DUI, ever. Must submit to random drug testing.
 
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For the sake of keeping it simple, tax loopholes = any deduction or credit.

If you think some deductions are important and necessary, please post them. The only one I can think of that might make me change my mind is the deduction for your minor children.
That's a bit of a dangerous road. For instance many business deductions under the current system are necessary for expansion, if one can't write off a loss it's much more difficult to justify the risk of expansion loans, growing inventory, or hiring new employees. That's one instance I can think of but the main point is that many deductions are there as protections in the tax code. I still think simpler, more even, and less is better.
 
For the sake of keeping it simple, tax loopholes = any deduction or credit.

If you think some deductions are important and necessary, please post them. The only one I can think of that might make me change my mind is the deduction for your minor children.

So you think a system which disallows losses and costs to sell something is a good one?

I don't see how many businesses can survive a high gross tax.
 
So you think a system which disallows losses and costs to sell something is a good one?

I don't see how many businesses can survive a high gross tax.

they cannot. any corporate tax should be based on net gains. if a corporation brings in a million and has 900K in costs and is taxed 9% on a million rather than 100K its gonna take a bath
 
When it comes to hand-outs, imo if the government is going to do it then it should cut out the bull**** and just write a check to bring the household income up to $40K. No special programs for HEAQP, TANIF, SNAP, Title19, etc. You get up to $40K with a lot of strings attached and you buy everything you need with it....while yes paying 20-25% consumption tax just like everyone else.

Strings include but are not limited to: Raising a child under the age of 18 (yes I would be happy to pay a parent to stay-at-home); if married, minimum of one spouse must either have a full-time job or be a full-time student in an accredited program; single people must either be a full-time student, have a full-time job, or be legally disabled.
Might work under a national consumption tax program. I'd definitely like to see it happen. Question is, however, what can we do to make taxation more equitable under our CURRENT tax structure? Sadly, unless our current Chief Executive and 70% of our current legislators get abducted by aliens today, I don't see the consumption tax getting any real attention at any time in the near future. :shrug:
 
Might work under a national consumption tax program. I'd definitely like to see it happen. Question is, however, what can we do to make taxation more equitable under our CURRENT tax structure? Sadly, unless our current Chief Executive and 70% of our current legislators get abducted by aliens today, I don't see the consumption tax getting any real attention at any time in the near future. :shrug:

Not without massive spending cuts, beginning with the elimination of Obama'Care and TARP.
 
For the sake of keeping it simple, tax loopholes = any deduction or credit.

If you think some deductions are important and necessary, please post them. The only one I can think of that might make me change my mind is the deduction for your minor children.

Under that definition, no I would not favor eliminating all of them. That does not mean that some could not or should not be eliminated.
 
Redress, which would you keep and which would you get rid of?
 
Redress, which would you keep and which would you get rid of?

Dammmnnnnn. Now that is a big question and to be honest I don't have a good answer right now. I just don't know enough to give you a good answer. If I get some time tomorrow, I will try and look some stuff up and at least give you a partial answer. For now: personal and dependent deductions stay. Past that I really will have to look even for personal FIT.
 
OC raises a good point in that we need a good definition of loophole. Is any deduction a loophole?

A loophole is any deduction that people don't think should be allowed.
 
Yes I would.

I would implement a 20-25% consumption tax on everything anyone buys, including food and medications. No write-offs. No exemptions. No sin/capitol-gains/inheritance/property/etc/etc tax. Minimal IRS. No annual/quarterly filing.

The rich would still pay more taxes because the rich obviously spend more dollars. The poor can finally start paying their fair share.

That's never work, but who cares, right?
 
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