How does the government collect money?
Submitted by StockPuppet on Wed, 10/31/2007 - 13:48Hey, I brought up Ron Paul today at lunch, and talked about getting rid of the income tax. One of my co-workers said there has to be some inflow, so I talked about how spending would only have to come down to 2000's levels and we wouldn't need income tax.
This brought up an interesting question, what are the other ways the government raises money. Excuse my ignorance, but I'm just looking for the few biggest "revenue" generators besides the income tax. Thanks!
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This is good
Most people don't realize that the income tax only pays toward the defecit. It only makes up around 30% of the national budget.
If we pared back to 2000's budget, we could easily run the gov't w / o this tax. The Democrats and most of the Republicans are proposing exorbitant budgets. Socialized medicine would mean we pay 55% of our salaries like Canadians.
I am so grateful to Ron Paul for running in this election. He could be the best thing that ever happened to Americans. A lot of people are so used to paying income taxes and being disatisfied with government services, they cannot see how different their lives would be if they kept the fruits of their labor. Politicians don't want them to see, because their lobbyist friends would quit buying them lunch... on us!
That's actually what the elections are like these days and definitely were in 2000 and 2004. It's like two wolves and a lamb deciding what's for dinner.
Canada Loves Ron Paul
Canada Loves Ron Paul
Pare down the Dept. of Defense
by ending the war, and closing the foreign military installations. The massive Defense budget alone would do wonders here at home. The DOD is the largest oil consumer in the country. We have bases in over 130 countries. By eliminating much of these costs the Treasury would never miss our measly income tax. That's a start.
Vali
'...truth is loved in such a way that those who love some other thing want it to be the truth, and precisely because they do not wish to be deceived, are unwilling to be convinced that they are deceived." --- St. Augustine, Confessions (10:23), 5th centur
'...truth is loved in such a way that those who love some other thing want it to be the truth, and precisely because they do not wish to be deceived, are unwilling to be convinced that they are deceived." --- St. Augustine, Confessions (10:23), 5th c.
How fast could this be done?
I wonder ,as slow as government moves, how long this would actually take. Just from a logistical standpoint, I think it would take many years. This is why this movement needs to focus not just on electing RP, but getting the House a majority of Ron Paul Republicans or Democrats for that matter. Who cares what party it is, just as long as they truly honor the Constitution.
www.TuNeCedeMalis.com
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If We the People were to abolish the IRS and the Personal Income
If We the People were to abolish the IRS and the Personal Income tax as Ron Paul proposes, how would We the People fund the necessary functions of the government We created and We gave authority to?
1. We would seek out and eliminate highly inefficient bureaucracies;
2. We would begin to phase out government programs that are duplicated at the state level and/or not allowed under the US Constitution; and,
3. We would reduce the budget back to 1990 levels of spending to match revenue projections without the personal income tax;
4. We would continue to allow the government (Federal, State and Local) to continue to collecting the following taxes:
Accounts Receivable Tax
Automobile Registration Tax
Building Permit Tax
Capital Gains Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax - Nearly Equal to the US Department of Defense Budget pre 9/11
Court Fines (Indirect Taxes)
Dog License Tax
Death Tax
Estate Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (42 Cents Per Gallon) – Nearly Equal to the US Department of transportation budget
Hunting License Tax
Inventory Tax
Liquor Tax
Local Income Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Parking Meters
Property Tax – Used to pay for local schools and other local usage
Real Estate Tax
Septic Permit Tax
Service Charge Taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Road Toll Booth Taxes
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-Recurring Charges Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Toll Bridge Taxes
Toll Tunnel Taxes
Traffic Fines
Trailer Registration Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
The Federal government would also continue to collect import taxes (Tariffs) in an apportioned basis as provided for in the US Constitution.
So, the real question is, “what will you do with all of that extra money you get to keep?"
VOTE RON PAUL!
Corporate tax (perfectly
Corporate tax (perfectly legal) pays for the defense budget.
Excise taxes and tarrifs.
Payroll taxes (to fund Social Security / Medicare until we can effectively reduce our overseas involvement to a point where we can ween ourselves away from this)
State and local taxes fund the items most people are concerned about.
Property taxes pay for Schools and give money to the county and city budgets for public works projects. This is why we need to get rid of the department of education. It adds no real value to education. We pay for the schools, therefore the schools should be accountable to our cities and our parents, not the federal government.
Gasoline taxes pay for the roads, bridges, overpasses, and the like.
Sales taxes pay for a number of things that are determined at the state / local level. Usually these taxes are increased by ballot initiative in a local election.
Sin taxes are also usually voted on by the public (but not always) and go to fund a number of different things.
Hope this helps. I am sure I left off a few. If you want a more complete list of taxes / fees watch "Freedom to Fascism" at www.trueworldhistory.info
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
Thomas Jefferson, 1791
You are correct...but..
whenever there is a shortfall in the budget, the difference is turned into bonds and offered on the international market and if they don't sell (which is getting harder and harder by the year) they goto the Fed. Reserve and "borrow" the remaining shortfall by MONETIZING the remaining bonds and the income tax effectively is essentially an interest collection process to repay the debt.
Soooooo congress gets to spend money created out of thin air and WE THE PEOPLE are stuck with the interest bill come April 15th.... let that sink in for a while.......stings doesn't it.....get angry and spread the word.
"The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination."
- Ronald Reagan
Income Tax is NOT Revenue
go read the Grace Commision chartered under Ronald Reagan. It's 8 page cover letter states, and I quote: "Not one nickel of the taxes collected via the Income Tax goes to paying for the goods and services citizens expect. It is soley swallowed up by the interest due on the national debt."
The real question is: who is collecting the interest?? Answer that and you are one more step to becoming that much more of a hardcore Ron Paul supporter.
YouTube "Fiat Empire" and absorb.....
Perfect
You nailed it right on the head mweldon. Get them interested and the rest takes care of itself.
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsley believe they are free."
-Goethe
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsley believe they are free."
-Goethe
Perfect - Ditto
Discovering Ron Paul is the beginning of a real education!
Vali
'...truth is loved in such a way that those who love some other thing want it to be the truth, and precisely because they do not wish to be deceived, are unwilling to be convinced that they are deceived." --- St. Augustine, Confessions (10:23), 5th cent.
'...truth is loved in such a way that those who love some other thing want it to be the truth, and precisely because they do not wish to be deceived, are unwilling to be convinced that they are deceived." --- St. Augustine, Confessions (10:23), 5th c.
Bloated Bureaucracy
This brings up the biggest thing we need to get government to do; hold itself accountable.
WE the people don't know where our money's going, or which tax pays for what. Yeah, the information is out there, but the laws are so screwed up and written so poorly that who knows what it really means.
Borrowing a quote from Madison I found in RP's book, Freedom Under Siege:
"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their
own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read or so
incoherent that they cannot be understood."
Dr. Paul goes on to say, "Madison would be apoplectic if he had been forced to witness the writing of the 2,000-page 1986 Tax "Simplification" Act, which no one fully understands. A decade will be required to decipher the thousands of pages of yet-to-be-written regulations. The chaos is not accidental: the taxing authorities can rule any way they wish with those they choose to imprison as long as the tax code is incomprehensible. When our government officials call it "simplification," we can be confident that it is exactly the opposite."
Payroll Tax
I just found a break down of the revenue sources for 2005
43% Income Tax
37% FICA/Social Security
13% Corporate Tax
7% Other .... tariffs, fees, gas tax, etc.
www.TuNeCedeMalis.com
www.Sitefind.org
and according to cbo estimates
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/66xx/doc6609/08-15-Slides.pdf
we are going in the wrong direction
Aaron Russo lists our various tax burdens
In his film, Freedom to Fascism, Aaron Russo (rest his patriotic soul) has a short segment dedicated to this exact question. He provides a long list of local, state and federal taxes to which we are subjected. {It can be found at 07:10 in the film}
Listed here for everybody's convenience:
(from the documentary film "America: Freedom to Fascism")
A Partial List Of Taxes Americans Are Forced To Pay:
Accounts Receivable Tax
Automobile Registration Tax
Building Permit Tax
Capital Gains Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Court Fines (Indirect Taxes)
Dog License Tax
Estate Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (42 Cents Per Gallon)
Hunting License Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (Tax On Top Of Tax)
IRS Penalties (Tax On Top Of Tax)
Liquor Tax
Local Income Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Parking Meters
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Septic Permit Tax
Service Charge Taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Road Toll Booth Taxes
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-Recurring Charges Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Toll Bridge Taxes
Toll Tunnel Taxes
Traffic Fines
Trailer Registration Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
And Then There's The ... FEDERAL INCOME TAX.
Tax burdens
Is that all? Sometimes I swear there's more. Don't forget the hidden tax which consists of ALL THAT TIME you spend trying to comply with all those tax regulations.
Good list tho, thanks!
Capital Gains Tax
I bet this one is a huge portion of the pie even though it's been cut to 15%.
www.TuNeCedeMalis.com
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You have to pay to die
Don't forget the Death Tax.
www.TuNeCedeMalis.com
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and even after death,
according to the inheritance tax. The same money is taxed over and over again.
Vali
'...truth is loved in such a way that those who love some other thing want it to be the truth, and precisely because they do not wish to be deceived, are unwilling to be convinced that they are deceived." --- St. Augustine, Confessions (10:23), 5th centur
'...truth is loved in such a way that those who love some other thing want it to be the truth, and precisely because they do not wish to be deceived, are unwilling to be convinced that they are deceived." --- St. Augustine, Confessions (10:23), 5th c.
Huge taxes
How about the property tax, intangible tax for businesses and homebuyers, other big taxes on new mortgages, and how about the huge income from lottery.....to name a few. Yes, these are state taxes, but quite huge ones.
Oh, what about tax on just about every service: telephone, cable, and the list is very long.
Bob W., Naples, FL
Shake down
license fees, permit fees, fines, inspections, certifications, toll roads, departure tax, arrival tax - and coming soon - a tax on breathing a.k.a. carbon tax.
As he said last night
If we just went back to the levels of spending at the last years of the Clinton Administration, we could get rid of the income tax. Needless to say, I was complaining that the government was too-damn-big during the CARTER administration, let-alone Clinton's, so it all sounds good to me...
Also, you pay for mundane things like passports. And also, sadly, since the early '80s the government has tried to turn the US Patent and Trademark Office into a revenue-center, instead of the idea-center envisioned by the Founders. The result has been a shift in the granting of patents from individual Americans with Einstein-hair and a great idea to foreign corporations with a much more buttoned-down style. Very sad...
JMR
2000 Spending
We can't go back to those levels. How are these poor Senators and Congressman (Ron excluded) going to get their salary and pension increases?
Bob W., Naples, FL
Excise Taxes
Taxes on goods imported/exported to/from the US.
tariffs
There is a maze of tariffs/quotas in place on trade. Plenty of income through that.
Every Time you Gas Up
The Feds get 18 cents from every gallon of gas and then states tack on up to 40 cents more. Curse Uncle Sam and his tax policy and foreign policy instead of the "greedy" oil companies.
www.TuNeCedeMalis.com
www.Sitefind.org
Corporate Tax
Corporate Tax
"Other" Taxes
There are literally hundreds of other income sources! I'll see if I can find them all later, but right now several come to mind. All camping, gift shop, RV rentals at National Forests, think Yellowstone plus many others. There are Federally owned oil wells in Alaska I think. The Hoover dam is a Federal project, and all of the electric bill profit goes to the Federal Government? There are nuremous Federal funds that are invested and bring in a return, 100's of Billions of dollars in employee pension funds. All kinds of fees, licensings, and assorted permit fees. Toll roads?