Notes on Economics - Taxes

More from the unused note files:

Before the economy disintegrated, Fed Chair Bernacke, like Greenspan before him, favored making the Bush tax cuts permanent, though he would not tie that to budget cuts.

Progressive taxation is a more just way to meet social needs that relying on philanthropy alone.

When Exxon profits increased 40%, their tax bill went up only 14%.

Teddy Roosevelt inaugurated the estate tax to strike at the "aristocracy of wealth". While the tax only applies to the richest 1 or 2% of the population, 40% of the people think it may apply to them also. Attacks on the tax typically use an apocryphal small business that is destroyed by the tax after the death of the owner. Repealing death taxes for the wealthiest of the wealthy could cost $300 billion to one trillion in lost taxes over 10 years. One change to the tax that makes sense though is that the exemption allowed should be adjusted for inflation.

Many years ago my brother and I came up with an income tax idea I still find intriguing. Establish a minimum income figure below which no tax is due, the idea being that these low income workers pay their dues by the fact they work at low income jobs. Above the minimum, the tax rate would be 50%. The income tax could also be tied to the federal budget, with the minimum taxable income figure for the next tax year being determined by the size of the budget for the current year.