[tuccillo]

"Fair share" - I hate that term. Who gets to decide what "fair" is?

In my opinion, the only "fair" thing to do is abolish fed, state, and city taxes, including property taxes, as well as corporate taxes and go to a pure consumption tax with a sliding deduction based on income to reduce/eliminate the regressive aspects. In other words, if you buy something you pay a tax on it. The more stuff/services you buy the more tax you pay. The infrastructure is already in place since most states already collect sales tax. The tax rate on goods and services would go up but other taxes would be eliminated. You would eliminate tax loopholes. If you have a high income, you would not be able to shelter your income, unless you choose to not buy anything, pretty unlikely. If you make most of your income from capital gains it would no longer be taxed at the capital gains rate. You pay taxes when you spend it. The underground economy would be a problem but it is already. I don't have a solution for that.

Originally Posted by CFrance

And offshore loopholes lower it even further--even down to 1%. Check this out.

Mylan, Heinz among U.S. companies using Luxembourg for tax reduction | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

I'm all for lowering the corporate income tax rate if it will keep jobs in the US. But something has to be done about all the loopholes and end-arounds that enable these large corps to avoid paying taxes. They can be profitable and pay their fair share of taxes as well.