Rand Paul: taxes are slavery

[ttt]

^o) ^o) ^o) ^o) ^o) ^o) ^o) ^o)

www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/rand-paul-philosophizes-on-tax-rates-if-we-tax-you-at-50-you#.ofz8waNZA


Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul, speaking last week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said he believes a 50% tax rate leaves individuals “half-slave, half-free.”

“Now you can have some government, we all need government,” the Kentucky senator said while discussing Thomas Paine and the role of government at the local public library. “Thomas Paine said that government is a necessary evil. What did he mean by that?”

Paul said he believes that “you have to give up some of your liberty to have government,” saying he was “for some government.”

“I’m for paying some taxes,” continued Paul. “But if we tax you at 100% then you’ve got zero percent liberty. If we tax you at 50% you are half slave, half free. I frankly would like to see you a little freer and a little more money remaining in your communities so you can create jobs. It’s a debate we need to have.”

Paul, who was discussing his recent tax proposal, described his plan to “leave more money in Iowa” and “send less money to Washington.”

“This past week I put forward a plan to have a simple flat tax, where everybody pays there fair share,” said Paul earlier in the speech. “Everybody pays, and you can fill it out on one page. Fourteen-and-a-half percent for personal income tax, fourteen-and-a-half percent for business tax.”

Paul said he believed the way to create jobs was to leave money in the local communities.

“The way you get jobs creation is you need to leave more money in the productive sector,” he said. “You are the productive sector. When you look at Washington, that’s the non-productive sector.”

[elleblue]

Oh stfu, that's not how it works. That's not how any of this works.

[emisi]

He's an idiot. During the Eisenhower administration, the tax rates were at 95%, so people put their money in "tax shelters" - they started businesses. The economy was a whole lot better than it is now.

And really, slavery? Are we going with that?

[Deleted]

Oh lord. The extreme rhetoric is not doing him any favors.

[spunkarella]

Jul 6, 2015 23:57:18 GMT -5 @domerjen said:

I haaate people who push the flat tax. Hate.

Yes!

And this is totally beside the point because the man is clearly not logical...but using a job creation argument for the flat tax makes no sense. What about all the jobs of tax people?*

*As a CPA, I feel the need to say my own job security has nothing to do with why I think a flat tax would be terrible.

[ESF]

Jul 6, 2015 23:35:06 GMT -5 ttt said:

“This past week I put forward a plan to have a simple flat tax, where everybody pays there fair share,” said Paul earlier in the speech. “Everybody pays, and you can fill it out on one page. Fourteen-and-a-half percent for personal income tax, fourteen-and-a-half percent for business tax.”

Paul said he believed the way to create jobs was to leave money in the local communities.

LOL

I'm extraordinarily skeptical that his audience's effective tax rate right now is actually higher than fourteen and a half percent.

[phdprocrastinator]

Jul 7, 2015 8:08:47 GMT -5 deej said:

Hey, Rand? You know what's like slavery? Slavery. Not funding a government so that we have essential services for people and businesses to function.

I think you're confused. I heard the slaves actually liked being enslaved. Something about benevolent owners.

-source: Michelle Bachman.

[NewOrleans]

Hitler comparisons were so 2010-11. Slavery ones are in vogue these days.

[meshaliuknits]

Jul 7, 2015 6:50:31 GMT -5 @soudesafinado said:

I don't understand how so many people can be so confused about what the word slavery means.

Right? It's not like it means "mildly uncomfortable situation."

[miniroller]

Jul 7, 2015 8:08:47 GMT -5 deej said:

Hey, Rand? You know what's like slavery? Slavery. Not funding a government so that we have essential services for people and businesses to function.

I know it's not going to happen (in all likelihood), but it disgustingly comforts me to think that someone who spews this idiotic BS will have to live as a slave for say... 2 wks (?) in purgatory-ish/ after death, before afterlife. Horribly, it comforts me to think of Rand Paul having a first-hand experience of slavery. Again, not going to happen, & I know my vengeful attitude is far from Christ-like, but man, I want him to pay for how he's belittled the horror of slavery by using this nonsensical comparison.

[bugandbibs]

Can someone giving me talking points on why flat tax is bad? I hear is proposed all the time by my white upper middle class friends who are all "bootstraps".

[spunkarella]

Jul 7, 2015 10:01:40 GMT -5 bugandbibs said:

Can someone giving me talking points on why flat tax is bad? I hear is proposed all the time by my white upper middle class friends who are all "bootstraps".

My biggest issue is that it disproportionately taxes the poor in a BIG way. 14% of $20k impacts having reliable food and housing or not. 14% of even $200k does not have remotely the same impact.

I see proponents say "but we'll have a personal exemption of x before taxes are levied." By definition, that is not a flat tax. That is a drastically simplified progressive tax code, which I would be ok with in theory (although not quite that drastic) if loopholes were also closed for corporations and the mega-wealthy (lololol for days).

Yes, the current tax code is an absolute mess. But there are really good reasons for some of the complexities and it's not all bad. As one example, imagine the impact on non-profit giving if donations were no longer deductible.

ETA disclaimer: I'm a CPA but I hate tax work with the fire of 1,000 suns and retained very little from school and the little tax work I did just after graduation.

[ESF]

Jul 7, 2015 10:01:40 GMT -5 bugandbibs said:

Can someone giving me talking points on why flat tax is bad? I hear is proposed all the time by my white upper middle class friends who are all "bootstraps".

In addition to what spunkarella said, it also just doesn't reflect reality.

The only way a flat tax works is if there are no deductions and no credits. It has to be that everyone really does pay the same rate.  So the mortgage deduction goes away, and tuition deductions and all of that stuff.  That's not terrible in principle, because reasonable people can disagree about to what extent deductions should be used to further policy agendas.    But it makes no sense in practice, because every lobbyist still wants a deduction for their pet cause, and for better or for worse, tax loopholes are how politicians compromise and get shit done.  So you can pass a flat tax, but it's not going to stay flat for long.

The only way to really get a flat tax to stay a flat tax is a constitutional amendment.  Which would never pass.  Nor should the government's power to tax be restricted like that, as there could be national emergencies that warrant changes to the tax structure.

Really, I don't think anyone in power actually wants a flat tax. They just like it as a catch phrase because it's simple for people to understand, and it would not surprise me if the vast majority of the American public thinks they are paying a much higher effective rate than they actually are.

[mominatrix]

Jul 6, 2015 23:35:06 GMT -5 ttt said:

“This past week I put forward a plan to have a simple flat tax, where everybody pays there fair share,” said Paul earlier in the speech.

On top of everything else infuriating already mentioned, can I just say how much this annoyed me?

[gpw]

Oh? Tell me more about what slavery is, white man.

[marriedfilingjoint]

Uh, sit the fuck down, Rand Paul.

uk.businessinsider.com/rand-paul-chainsaw-tax-code-2015-7?r=US&IR=T


And FWIW, the Internal Revenue Code is absolutely not 70,000 pages. I have a copy sitting on my desk at the office. It's two books about the size of Tolstoy's War and Peace. So, 2K, 3K max. I know it's stupid but people quote that 70K pages bullshit and lose all credibility with me. #taxnerd

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) released an intense new video on Tuesday where he appears to be literally destroying the US tax code.

Paul has made tax reform central to his presidential campaign. To draw attention to his plan, Paul is asking his supporters to vote how they want to see him shred the current tax system.

The options for his supporters are: chainsaw, fire, and wood chipper.

"Hey I'm Rand Paul and I'm trying to kill the tax code — all 70,000 pages of it," Paul declares in his video.

Then, an electric guitar version of the American anthem plays as Paul proceeds to torch, chop up, and rip through the tax code.

"My favorite was actually taking a chainsaw to the tax code," Paul said in a Fox News interview Tuesday morning. ]

[saz]

Oh so that's why he is taking a chainsaw to a stack of paper on my FB newsfeed?

[elleblue]

[downtoearth]

Jul 21, 2015 11:32:47 GMT -5 saz said:

Oh so that's why he is taking a chainsaw to a stack of paper on my FB newsfeed?

I am dying... so funny. Is he wearing safety glasses?  If we lose all taxes, then OSHA won't exist and there won't be need to certify safety glasses or any other personal protective equipment and maybe he'll get more revenue as an eye doctor from more employees at work hurting their eyes. I'm sure they'll have WAY more money to pay for health care once we stop taking The Taxes and so everyone will be so happy with hurt eyes and money to pay Rand to fix them up.

[marriedfilingjoint]

Jul 21, 2015 11:32:47 GMT -5 saz said:

Oh so that's why he is taking a chainsaw to a stack of paper on my FB newsfeed?

Super clever, right? 

I picture Rand Paul like the president in Idiocracy right now (NSFW, language):

youtu.be/llwgHjfagBo

[saz]

Jul 21, 2015 11:37:44 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

Jul 21, 2015 11:32:47 GMT -5 saz said:

Oh so that's why he is taking a chainsaw to a stack of paper on my FB newsfeed?

I am dying... so funny. Is he wearing safety glasses?  If we lose all taxes, then OSHA won't exist and there won't be need to certify safety glasses or any other personal protective equipment and maybe he'll get more revenue as an eye doctor from more employees at work hurting their eyes. I'm sure they'll have WAY more money to pay for health care once we stop taking The Taxes and so everyone will be so happy with hurt eyes and money to pay Rand to fix them up.

Nope, I don't think there were any safety glasses. Only wimpy liberals need those!