Quote:
Originally Posted by Heyitsrick
The problem with a "modest" tax - on anything - is that taxes always grow. They're very hard to control once enacted. It's another $$ pie for the politicos. So, a two cents tax today is soon going to be a two dollar tax, then a twenty dollar tax, etc. That's how it works. We've all seen this time and time again.
I find this tax proposal interesting, given where people reside. You're living in Florida. Yeah, yeah...warm weather. Gotcha. But there are plenty of southern states with warm weather. What there aren't plenty of is states with no state income tax. Those are in the minority. Wasn't the no-state-income-tax a consideration when moving here? It certainly is for me. So would you (a tax advocate) prefer just a federal tax for debt relief, or would you also rally for a state income tax, as well? This isn't meant to be a facetious question. I'm just wondering where the line is drawn on this from a personal perspective.
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As long as state minimum wage is $8.56/hour and the most anyone can get from unemployment compensation is under $350/week no matter how much they were actually earning - no. Not in favor of a state income tax.
However, if a state income tax was implemented along with stronger pro-labor protections (I'm not talking about unions - not a fan - a well-run state shouldn't NEED unions), participated in medicaid expansion in the ACA or added similar protections and health care for ALL its citizens, no matter how much or how little they earned, no matter whether they had a bank account or not...
In other words - if the least able to afford to pay state income taxes, were given the benefits that their pay is paying for, thus making it unnecessary for those benefits to come out of their paychecks, then I can see an income tax.
You have to get something for the money you pay. You say great weather. Well - the government of Florida has nothing to do with that. That weather will be great or not, whether the government exists or not. It's not an expense that an income tax has to pay for.
State income taxes pay for things that its citizens get to enjoy. Most of those things are social services. Florida very strongly resists adding a single dime into social services. So unless you're willing to change the attitude about social services to the majority of the voting citizens, you're not going to see support for a state income tax.