My Plan to Fix America (1 Viewer)

[DocHolliday]

Require a balanced budget or put a hold on the current budget amount. Our government has proven for decades that it is too easy to spend money when it is not yours. Make the people that see inside the workings of the government fix the overspending and waste that has been created.

Go with a flat tax. I do not care if it starts at 25K or 50K. Regional differences do make sense though. Get rid of most of the IRS and restructure what is left to focus on tax cheats.

 

[Max Power]

we're just too broken to ever be fixed.

 

[General Malaise]

If only we had a convenient way to make 'more harsh' one word...

 

[Chadstroma]

If only we had a convenient way to make 'more harsh' one word...

Mor'ash.

 

[Chadstroma]

If only we had a convenient way to make 'more harsh' one word...

Mor'ash.

Or maybe that is Mo'rash.

 

[32 Counter Pass]

1. Spend less Federal budget money on defense and healthcare and double expenditures on education and on social programs

2. Reform education: make it more practical(more detail to come)

3. Reform Medicine: make it more affordable(more detail to come)

4. Stop being the world peacekeeper as soon as possible

5. Cut corporate taxes to be more commensurate with foreign country corporate taxes

6. Increase censorship of violence in video games and television

7. Continue down the path of a more active FDA: removing trans fats etc.

8. Invest heavily in social programs for singe parent families, the poor, mentally ill individuals

9. Improve gay rights

10. Tax the wealthy at the same effective rate that we tax the middle class

11. Legalize Marijuana and tax(nationally)

12. Stricter Gun Control laws

13. More severe penalties for child abuse, rape, murder...and less expensive judicial process

14. Tort Reform - remove the unnecessary burden of legal costs across almost every vertical

15. Promote birth control through the age of 24(?)

I reserve the right to add to my list

The hell with all that nonsense, let's start here:

1. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

8. Make Gerrymandering illegal

I bet we would all get a much better government.

eta: make Gerrymandering illegal.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

Meh

Whoa there, you guys can't even get pizza remotely correct where you are - lets get all politically judgey. I'm not even going to bring up Vernon Davis.

Big fluffy pizza squares? Really?

 

[Dan Lambskin]

Meh

Whoa there, you guys can't even get pizza remotely correct where you are - lets get all politically judgey. I'm not even going to bring up Vernon Davis.

Big fluffy pizza squares? Really?

There's nothing wrong with Detroit Style Pizza

What's next...The War On Coney Dogs?

 

[Annyong]

I celebrate all the shapes and sizes in the pizza universe.

 

[Pigskin Fanatic]

- Don't let losers continue to breed. if you can't hold a job and support yourself, you certainly cannot procreate. This planet needs less of you, not more.

though this is as pipe dream as it gets, if this was possible a la Gattaca it would make a lot of problems just disappear. how about we start with better education for parenting so that the future generations can at least start to do the right things. something went south in a hurry around the 80s, the worst politicians are just now starting to become eligible for major offices. time to move to canada...

 

[jon_mx]

You sound like a stupid conservative right-wing libertard.

Pretty much the best of both worlds

 

[randall146]

1. Spend less Federal budget money on defense and healthcare and double expenditures on education and on social programs

2. Reform education: make it more practical(more detail to come)

3. Reform Medicine: make it more affordable(more detail to come)

4. Stop being the world peacekeeper as soon as possible

5. Cut corporate taxes to be more commensurate with foreign country corporate taxes

6. Increase censorship of violence in video games and television

7. Continue down the path of a more active FDA: removing trans fats etc.

8. Invest heavily in social programs for singe parent families, the poor, mentally ill individuals

9. Improve gay rights

10. Tax the wealthy at the same effective rate that we tax the middle class

11. Legalize Marijuana and tax(nationally)

12. Stricter Gun Control laws

13. More severe penalties for child abuse, rape, murder...and less expensive judicial process

14. Tort Reform - remove the unnecessary burden of legal costs across almost every vertical

15. Promote birth control through the age of 24(?)

I reserve the right to add to my list

The hell with all that nonsense, let's start here:

1. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

8. Make Gerrymandering illegal

I bet we would all get a much better government.

eta: make Gerrymandering illegal.

you forgot to change the date when you copy and pasted this

 

[Mister CIA]

1. End all privacy

2. Death penalty for those that attempt to preserve privacy

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Meh

Whoa there, you guys can't even get pizza remotely correct where you are - lets get all politically judgey. I'm not even going to bring up Vernon Davis.

Big fluffy pizza squares? Really?

There's nothing wrong with Detroit Style Pizza

What's next...The War On Coney Dogs?

They came for my chili & onions...

 

[apalmer]

Any healthcare provider that is found in fault of malpractice will not be allowed to practice again.

Within 10 years, the only ones still practicing medicine will be those that order every test under the sun for every patient, driving healthcare costs through the roof.

 

[Rubi]

IRS 1040 (earned income) Report only if income exceeds $50,001.00

1. Salary and wages.......................$80,000

2. Subtract $50,000 from line 1,

enter result on line 2...................$30,000

3. Multiply line 2 by .15,

enter result on line 3.......................$4,500

4. Enter tax withheld from

form w-2...........................................$5,000

5. If line 4 is higher than line

3 this is your REFUND.

Enter here.........................................$500

6. If line 4 is lower than

line 3 this is tax OWED

Enter here.....................................

IRS 1040UE(unearned income)

1. List total amount of all

unearned income on line 1...................$100,000

2. Multiply line 1 by .20

and enter on line 2...................................$20,000

3. Line 2 is amount OWED

 

[AAABatteries]

We need to educate our young women that butt stuff is not only perfectly normal, but beautiful.

 

[AAABatteries]

how about we start with better education for parenting

I see now reason we shouldn't implement this but it'll never happen.

This idea apply to a lot of areas and in some ways goes along with education reform. Areas like personal finance (how to balance a checkbook, create a budget, explain why borrowing money is dumb most of the time).

Make vocational training cheaper/more prevalent and encourage more kids to go that route rather than waste time/money on college

Hell, it would never work but I'd be in favor of a basic etiquette/manners class.

 

[SHIZNITTTT]

Any healthcare provider that is found in fault of malpractice will not be allowed to practice again.

Within 10 years, the only ones still practicing medicine will be those that order every test under the sun for every patient, driving healthcare costs through the roof.

This is why I put in the part about frivolous lawsuits.

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

IRS 1040UE(unearned income)

1. List total amount of all

unearned income on line 1...................$100,000

2. Multiply line 1 by .20

and enter on line 2...................................$20,000

3. Line 2 is amount OWED

So if I buy a house in 1973 for $100,000 and sell it in 2015 for $550,000, I should pay $90,000 in income taxes when I sell it even though my inflation-adjusted income from the transaction was a bit less than zero?

 

[32 Counter Pass]

IRS 1040UE(unearned income)

1. List total amount of all

unearned income on line 1...................$100,000

2. Multiply line 1 by .20

and enter on line 2...................................$20,000

3. Line 2 is amount OWED

So if I buy a house in 1973 for $100,000 and sell it in 2015 for $550,000, I should pay $90,000 in income taxes when I sell it even though my inflation-adjusted income from the transaction was a bit less than zero?

What would you pay in taxes under the current laws?

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

IRS 1040UE(unearned income)

1. List total amount of all

unearned income on line 1...................$100,000

2. Multiply line 1 by .20

and enter on line 2...................................$20,000

3. Line 2 is amount OWED

So if I buy a house in 1973 for $100,000 and sell it in 2015 for $550,000, I should pay $90,000 in income taxes when I sell it even though my inflation-adjusted income from the transaction was a bit less than zero?

What would you pay in taxes under the current laws?

Under the current tax code, people in that situation usually do a 1031 like-kind exchange and don't pay taxes if they reinvest the $550,000 in another residence. (They don't pay taxes until they stop doing 1031 exchanges and use the money for something else, that is.)

This workaround is needed because without it, it would be grossly unfair to make people pay taxes on only nominal income (without any real income).

I'd suggest that it's no less unfair if we substitute stock in ABC Co. for a house. Either way, it's kind of lame to make people pay taxes on only nominal income. That's a very good reason for making the tax rate for capital gains less than the tax rate for ordinary income, which is how we've always done things. About half of the capital gains, on average, from selling stock in ABC Co. are only nominal, not real, because of inflation.

I therefore suggest that Rubi's idea of taxing capital gains at a higher rate than ordinary income is unfair. The example with the house shows why it's unfair. The same principle extends to situations that don't involve houses.

 

[Rubi]

IRS 1040UE(unearned income)

1. List total amount of all

unearned income on line 1...................$100,000

2. Multiply line 1 by .20

and enter on line 2...................................$20,000

3. Line 2 is amount OWED

So if I buy a house in 1973 for $100,000 and sell it in 2015 for $550,000, I should pay $90,000 in income taxes when I sell it even though my inflation-adjusted income from the transaction was a bit less than zero?

Under your example I believe you would pay nothing if you are married. I may be wrong but I think current law allows a married couple to exempt up to $500,000 in earnings from the sale of a house as long as it was a primary residence and you lived there 2 of the previous 5 years. An individual may exempt $250,000.

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

IRS 1040UE(unearned income)

1. List total amount of all

unearned income on line 1...................$100,000

2. Multiply line 1 by .20

and enter on line 2...................................$20,000

3. Line 2 is amount OWED

So if I buy a house in 1973 for $100,000 and sell it in 2015 for $550,000, I should pay $90,000 in income taxes when I sell it even though my inflation-adjusted income from the transaction was a bit less than zero?

Under your example I believe you would pay nothing if you are married. I may be wrong but I think current law allows a married couple to exempt up to $500,000 in earnings from the sale of a house as long as it was a primary residence and you lived there 2 of the previous 5 years. An individual may exempt $250,000.

I figured you were simplifying the tax code and would get rid of the zillions of various exemptions, exclusions, etc.

Do you agree with this particular exclusion? If so, why? The income is unearned!

 

[32 Counter Pass]

I have always thought it "shady" that the government was allowed to tax on personal gains such as property investments or stock trades when the individual has taken the risk, generally with money the government has already tax.

From what I understand we could go to a much simpler and fairer tax code IF we eliminated subsidies and corporate tax loopholes.

 

[Otis]

I'm down with all these.

 

[32 Counter Pass]

Unfortunately none of these will ever happen until we get election reform and overturn the SCOTUS ruling that corporations are individuals.

 

[TripItUp]

I'm down with all these.

 

[NCCommish]

1) Extend Medicare to all, premiums based on ability to pay.

2) Raise the minimum wage to at least 12.50 an hour and tie it to inflation.

3) Through partnerships with each state make college and tech school free for all.

4) Universal Headstart.

5) Universal Free Lunch.

6) All income under 20k federally tax free for everyone. Every penny in income above that taxed at a progressive rate topping out at 30%. Very few loopholes. No mortgage exemption for example. Probably leave a capped charitable deduction.

7) Fix corproate tax structure to get our effective rate around 22% like everyone else in the G7. It's currently closer to 13%.

8) Institute a Financial Transaction Tax. A .03% tax would raise over 300 billion dollars.

8) Uncap SS taxes. Allow people to contribute extra to their SS account pre-tax just like it was a 401k and allow employers to also get a tax break for matching. Up to 10%.

9) Reduce our insane military spending. Significantly.

10) Invest in infrastructure. Invest in our cities.

That's a decent start.

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

Unfortunately none of these will ever happen until we get election reform and overturn the SCOTUS ruling that corporations are individuals.

SCOTUS has never ruled that corporations are individuals. Its holding in Citizens United didn't rely on corporations being individuals, and in fact the opinion never even mentioned corporate personhood.

 

[32 Counter Pass]

Whatever. Corporations are not persons in any sense of the word.

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

Whatever. Corporations are not persons in any sense of the word.

Even if that were true it would have nothing to do with Citizens United (except that, if it were true, and if the FEC had tried to fine Citizens United for publishing political speech and Citizens United had refused to pay, the government would not have been able to sue Citizens United since, generally speaking, only persons can be sued).

 

[Mr.Pack]

1. Spend less Federal budget money on defense and healthcare and double expenditures on education and on social programs

2. Reform education: make it more practical(more detail to come)

3. Reform Medicine: make it more affordable(more detail to come)

4. Stop being the world peacekeeper as soon as possible

5. Cut corporate taxes to be more commensurate with foreign country corporate taxes

6. Increase censorship of violence in video games and television

7. Continue down the path of a more active FDA: removing trans fats etc.

8. Invest heavily in social programs for singe parent families, the poor, mentally ill individuals

9. Improve gay rights

10. Tax the wealthy at the same effective rate that we tax the middle class

11. Legalize Marijuana and tax(nationally)

12. Stricter Gun Control laws

13. More severe penalties for child abuse, rape, murder...and less expensive judicial process

14. Tort Reform - remove the unnecessary burden of legal costs across almost every vertical

15. Promote birth control through the age of 24(?)

I reserve the right to add to my list

The hell with all that nonsense, let's start here:

1. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

8. Make Gerrymandering illegal

I bet we would all get a much better government.

eta: make Gerrymandering illegal.

you forgot to change the date when you copy and pasted this

Unless he meant 3012, or 2112

 

[slackjawedyokel]

1. End all privacy

2. Death penalty for those that attempt to preserve privacy

Privacy sucks. So does liberty. Plus the government is so efficient that we should just let the politicians handle it. They got this! And what's all this I keep hearing about charity? I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter.

 

[Dr Oadi]

4. Stop being the world peacekeeper as soon as possible

Let me put his way the typical American in 2015 can follow.

Let us withdraw our400 advisors who are not boots on the ground training some people to stand against the Islamic State formed in the Nations of Iraq and Syria.

Let us withdraw some 30k Americans from South Korea because let us face it Saigon wasn't worth it so why shouldn't "Soul" Korea be renamed?

Let us withdraw however many troops we have in Germany (NATO) right now.

There are a lt more American troops in a lot more places in this World that Americans do not care about but let us take them all home.

Then what?

World War One?

 

[GoBirds]

IRS 1040UE(unearned income)

1. List total amount of all

unearned income on line 1...................$100,000

2. Multiply line 1 by .20

and enter on line 2...................................$20,000

3. Line 2 is amount OWED

So if I buy a house in 1973 for $100,000 and sell it in 2015 for $550,000, I should pay $90,000 in income taxes when I sell it even though my inflation-adjusted income from the transaction was a bit less than zero?

What would you pay in taxes under the current laws?

Under the current tax code, people in that situation usually do a 1031 like-kind exchange and don't pay taxes if they reinvest the $550,000 in another residence. (They don't pay taxes until they stop doing 1031 exchanges and use the money for something else, that is.)

This workaround is needed because without it, it would be grossly unfair to make people pay taxes on only nominal income (without any real income).

I'd suggest that it's no less unfair if we substitute stock in ABC Co. for a house. Either way, it's kind of lame to make people pay taxes on only nominal income. That's a very good reason for making the tax rate for capital gains less than the tax rate for ordinary income, which is how we've always done things. About half of the capital gains, on average, from selling stock in ABC Co. are only nominal, not real, because of inflation.

I therefore suggest that Rubi's idea of taxing capital gains at a higher rate than ordinary income is unfair. The example with the house shows why it's unfair. The same principle extends to situations that don't involve houses.

I believe 1031 is only possible on investment properties, not a personal residence right?

 

[cstu]

1031 is only for investment properties, however, the owner can convert it to a residence for 5 years and then use the Section 121 exclusion ($250,000/$500,000) to avoid the tax. A clever married couple willing to move every 5 years could buy and sell property and never paid taxes (up to $500,000 married).

 

[Zegras11]

IRS 1040UE(unearned income)

1. List total amount of all

unearned income on line 1...................$100,000

2. Multiply line 1 by .20

and enter on line 2...................................$20,000

3. Line 2 is amount OWED

So if I buy a house in 1973 for $100,000 and sell it in 2015 for $550,000, I should pay $90,000 in income taxes when I sell it even though my inflation-adjusted income from the transaction was a bit less than zero?

What would you pay in taxes under the current laws?

Under the current tax code, people in that situation usually do a 1031 like-kind exchange and don't pay taxes if they reinvest the $550,000 in another residence. (They don't pay taxes until they stop doing 1031 exchanges and use the money for something else, that is.)

This workaround is needed because without it, it would be grossly unfair to make people pay taxes on only nominal income (without any real income).

I'd suggest that it's no less unfair if we substitute stock in ABC Co. for a house. Either way, it's kind of lame to make people pay taxes on only nominal income. That's a very good reason for making the tax rate for capital gains less than the tax rate for ordinary income, which is how we've always done things. About half of the capital gains, on average, from selling stock in ABC Co. are only nominal, not real, because of inflation.

I therefore suggest that Rubi's idea of taxing capital gains at a higher rate than ordinary income is unfair. The example with the house shows why it's unfair. The same principle extends to situations that don't involve houses.

Might have missed something here, but you can't 1031 a primary residence. Only investment property.

 

[Riversco]

1. Spend less Federal budget money on defense and healthcare and double expenditures on education and on social programs

2. Reform education: make it more practical(more detail to come)

3. Reform Medicine: make it more affordable(more detail to come)

4. Stop being the world peacekeeper as soon as possible

5. Cut corporate taxes to be more commensurate with foreign country corporate taxes

6. Increase censorship of violence in video games and television

7. Continue down the path of a more active FDA: removing trans fats etc.

8. Invest heavily in social programs for singe parent families, the poor, mentally ill individuals

9. Improve gay rights

10. Tax the wealthy at the same effective rate that we tax the middle class

11. Legalize Marijuana and tax(nationally)

12. Stricter Gun Control laws

13. More severe penalties for child abuse, rape, murder...and less expensive judicial process

14. Tort Reform - remove the unnecessary burden of legal costs across almost every vertical

15. Promote birth control through the age of 24(?)

I reserve the right to add to my list

Things to consider:

Corporation laws?

Electoral college reform?

Gun laws?

Campaign finance laws?

Space exploration ideas?

Funding for science ideas?

Is housing a right?

Basic income guarantee?

Immigration laws?

Cuba?

Police brutality? What to do about it? Or nothing?

Racism?

Minimum wage? Raise, lower, scrap?

College loans? How do we lower the burden on students?

Internet speeds. We're slower than places like Europe. Should we invest here?

Banks. Should we keep bailing them out?

Cellphone bans? Where and when?

Public funding for stadiums?

 

[BustedKnuckles]

i didnt read the entire discussion...did anyone mention our war vets? they seem to be getting a raw deal

 

[TripItUp]

i didnt read the entire discussion...did anyone mention our war vets? they seem to be getting a raw deal

That would be covered under several of my bulletpoints, but it should be explicitly called out.

It's an absolute travesty that we don't adequately support our troops.