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Originally Posted by eweissenbach
No responses from the far right. I take that to imply tacit agreement. Honestly, unless you are in the $250K taxable income bracket (which would mean you earn well over $300K), you would likely be unaffected, from an income tax standpoint, by increased taxes on the highest earners. And if you are in that bracket, you might realize the fairness of playing a small part to help get the country that has enriched you out of the mess it is in. Here in Missouri and Kansas, legislators are trying to do away with state income taxes and institute a higher (10%) sales tax, which absolutely shifts the tax burden from the well-to-do to the lower and middle classes. How can that be defended?
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It can be defended from the standpoint that people
legitimately employed should not be punished to pay for the taxes that people working for cash under the table, illegal immigrants, drug dealers, etc. are not paying in income tax. Consumption (sales) tax involves everyone, not just those legitimately employed. Also, there are some good points in here:
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Between 1998 and 2010, private sector jobs in the 10 states with the highest state and local tax burden increased by 1 percent, whereas the 10 lowest burden states grew by 8.8 percent. At the same time, Kansas lost 1.2 percent.
Not surprisingly, the nine states with no personal income tax did even better; they added 1.7 million jobs while the rest of the country lost 300,000. We must reduce our tax burden to create jobs and economic growth, and gradually eliminating the state income tax will have the greatest impact.
But that would not cause crippling reductions in essential services. Letting taxpayers keep more of their income will increase sales tax receipts, as much more money will be spent on taxable goods.
That’s exactly what Oklahoma experienced when it reduced its income tax rate; Gov. Mary Fallin is working to eliminate their income tax, and some in Missouri are considering the same. Imagine the impact if one or two of our neighbors did so while Kansas kept taxes high.
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Read more:
http://voices.kansascity.com/entries...#ixzz1eOndy23K