If businesses want ‘certainty’ on taxes, perhaps we should just raise them and give them the ‘certainty’ they need to start spending their wad of cash. I don’t actually believe this, but I don’t believe their excuses either.
For the record, I am in favor of a progressive tax system for individuals, but business taxes should be lower than they are, without the exceptions that cause companies to ‘cheat’ on their taxes. Think Ireland-like.
Globalization is a great thing. It should be embraced. America is going to have to get used to the competition, and that means altering our economic structure to maintain competitiveness. Here are a few ideas that I’m just now making up and/or repeating from others that will help our economy:
1) Business tax rate of 13%, flat, for all types of registered businesses. The U.S. is going to have to give businesses a reason to stay here.
2) Amnesty for illegal immigrants with economic penalties. The bigger tax-base, the more our economy will grow. Immigration will save our country, that’s a fact. We need young people to join the workforce.
3) Get rid of the payroll tax ceiling for individuals, but reduce the rate for businesses by 50%.
4) Raise marginal income rates for every citizen across the board to Clinton-level rates. As long as they are above the poverty-line, they should be paying income taxes. Capital gains should be raised.
5) Government-funded healthcare. No middleman. It will save consumers a ton. Reduce coverage for seniors once they reach a certain age(say, oldest 3% of population?). Take the burden off of states to pay for this. Also, decouple business and healthcare. If businesses don’t have to worry about healthcare, it will save them a ton of money.
6) Extend exclusive patent coverage to help incentivize innovation.
7) Get rid of handguns(keep rifles). Handguns are quite useless and cause much destruction.
8) Stop arresting people for low-level drug offenses. You know how much prisons cost?
9) Reduce money/lobbying in politics. If this means public campaigns, I’m fine with that. Or maybe enact term limits.
10) Open up competition between nations. Free markets are beneficial. I firmly believe that excessive tariffs on imports only cause more problems and distrust in the long-run.
11) Put a check on the unions when it comes to pensions. I’m all for bargaining, striking, etc., but some of the pension benefits have just gone too far.
12) Find a way to reduce payments from governments to private companies for business. I’m not sure the best way to go about this, but this type of corporate welfare isn’t a good idea. I’m thinking about defense, energy, especially.
13) Find an innovative way to partner business and education. Create a symbiotic relationship between the two. When I was in school, there didn’t seem to be a focus on business on my campus, but perhaps I was drunk too much to notice.
14) Push foreign-language skills, math and science for young children. Once a kid reaches a certain age, he/she may well branch out to areas of interest, but the basics, the framework for success for workers, needs to be taught at a young age. Children in other countries are way ahead of ours when it comes to these important subjects. Globalization is changing the paradigm.
15) Raise the retirement age to 70. We’ll need workers to contribute for longer in the future. Citizens with sound minds at that age have alot of experience and great ideas. It’s time to take advantage.
