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From: renner@uiucdcs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: give-aways - (nf)
Message-ID: <29200131@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 16-Apr-84 18:31:00 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.29200131
Posted: Mon Apr 16 18:31:00 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 18-Apr-84 07:01:02 EST
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Nf-From: uiucdcs!renner    Apr 16 17:31:00 1984

#R:teldata:-27900:uiucdcs:29200131:000:1818
uiucdcs!renner    Apr 16 17:31:00 1984

   /**** uiucdcs:net.politics / uiuccsb!grunwald / 10:36 am  Apr 13, 1984 ****/
>  No, the poor are not paying less tax -- they are in fact paying more.
>  If one looks at the services that they get, one will find that the
>  reductions in services far exceeds the tax cuts that have gotten. Thus,
>  their income as a whole has gone down, due to the "reductions" in
>  taxes. Ergo, they are in fact paying more, although the dollor amount
>  that they fork out in taxes may well be less.

I reject this analysis of income taxes.  It is legitimate to view a
part of taxes as fees for services -- such as police protection -- and
it is generally true that in these areas the poor do not get the
services they pay for.  But the vast majority of the "reductions in
services" mentioned above are cuts in the rate of growth of government
handout programs.  To view welfare programs as a "service" that the
poor are somehow "paying for" is ludicrous.  To view cuts in these
programs as an increase in the tax burden of the poor is unjustified.

>  Also, before advocating a flat tax, think about the theory of marginal
>  utility -- 10% of 10,000 income means MUCH more to me that 10% of
>  100,000 income as far as my freedom to do things (i.e. eat, see a
>  doctor, etc). That's where the "flat tax" becomes a farce -- the poor
>  wind up paying much more in "subjective expense."

I advocate a flat tax scheme.  In my scheme the personal exemption is rather
large and is designed to exempt *all* income up to the official poverty level
for each household.  That is, if the cash income poverty level for a family
of 4 is $12,000, then the personal exemption would be $3,000.  With this
system, the poor pay *no* tax; others pay tax equally to the extent that
they are not poor.

Scott Renner
{ihnp4,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!renner