For MM

Post #383,733 by drook 11/22/13 4:26:33 PM Reply	For MM http://www.salon.com...biggest_problems/ If we want a real overhaul/simplification of the tax code, the way to do it is to tax land value. It might be the only tax we need. No sales tax. No income tax. No payroll tax to fill a Social Security trust fund. No corporate income tax that, as we can plainly see, offshores profits. No need to tax labor and industry at all. Just tax the stuff that humans had nothing to do with creating, and therefore have no basis to claim ownership over at all. YouÂll find that almost all of it is ÂownedÂ by the fabled 1 percent. -- Drew
Post #383,734 by boxley 11/22/13 8:18:09 PM Reply	thats one way to get the blue states to pay their fair share http://www.google.co...w&ved=0CC8Q9QEwAQ Then there's that Turner guy, we could clean him out , followed by Mormons who are tax free and only the Vatican knows how much dirt they own. Yup, great idea Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 58 years. meep
Post #383,773 by mmoffitt 11/25/13 9:51:09 AM Reply	Only problem with that is farm land. Farm land around here is going for roughly 8K/acre. But the real estate taxes for farm land (unlike residential land) is not taxed on fair value (Aside: if you want to call residential tax assessments "fair value." I built my house on a $19,000 lot. Cost $225,000 to build. My tax assessment is $480,000 despite the fact that if I chose to sell it, I'd be lucky to get $300,000 - last actual appraisal for refi was $325,000 and that was before the ass fell out of the residential market). Farmers get a tremendously lower tax rate on their real estate than do home owners. The "tax assessment value" of farm land is around 1/10th its actual value (which explains why my tax assessment value is skewed sizably up - gotta make up the difference somewhere.) There'd be similar futzing around with "tax values" for the privileged class, I'm certain.
Post #383,777 by folkert 11/25/13 10:36:45 AM Reply	HA! Funny. My Dad plants sweet corn every year on at least 40% of his land to keep the agri classification and the "farm house and barn" He doesn't care if it grows or not. Just so long as he has receipts for the Seed and maintenance on the tractors and stuff... He gets a subsidy from the govt and tax credits for the money he spends "growing" the corn. Considering the Seed is $59 for 2# and he has to have about 50# to plant the proper amount... it ain't cheap. Plus $1500 to have it sprayed... plus he is buying lots of implements and tillers now... well, you know. http://goo.gl/maps/HVHMc <-- his place. -- greg@gregfolkert.net "No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible." --Stanislaw Jerzy Lec
Post #383,779 by drook 11/25/13 10:55:59 AM Reply	I'm sure there's more problems than that It's always a question of what's going to be harder to game. -- Drew
Post #383,780 by mmoffitt 11/25/13 11:07:15 AM Reply	When the base economic system... is built entirely upon gamesmanship (read: weighted toward "financial services"), how to fix? I've never believed that capitalism scales well. The values derived from a capitalist system do not include (nor tolerate, perhaps) any notion of "the common good." Since tax policy to a large extent is designed to fund "the common good" a capitalist system will always see such taxation as a hinderance to "our true capitalist nature." Perhaps its my age and general disillusionment. I don't think (as I did in my youth) that I'll live long enough to see the bullets fly, but I'm fairly confident my kids will. My attitude could change, of course. There could be a Sanders/Warren or Warren/Sanders ticket in 2016. ;0)

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