Taxation

[paigetheoracle]

Why doesn't everybody get taxed the same percentage wise? (10% of $100 = $10/ 10% of $1000 = $100). Surely that way nobody could accuse anybody else of being favoured more as a social group than they are - that is office, manual worker and executive etc. This would lead to more social cohesion because favouritism would be outlawed by such a move ('We're all in this thing together' as opposed to the more selfish 'Every man for himself' or 'The rich get richer while the poor get poorer').

[anglepose]

that veiw could be thought of as a comunist veiw the u.s goverment is coming to get you oj

that idea doesnt quite work becuase then poorer people although paying less and percentage terms the same they would have far less money left than the richer what they do is tax richer people more (percentage wise) than the poor people

[pgrmdave]

The problem is that there is a base amount on which people need to live, which the government should take as little as possible from. If you only make $150 a week, taking $10 - $20 means you don't eat one day. And at the other end of the spectrum, the richer people are able pay more without it really hurting their lifestyle, and it helps people at the bottom. If you're making $3 million, does it really matter whether the government takes $300,000 or $500,000? It does mean that the richer people earn less money per dollar they earn than the poor people, but I don't see them clamoring to be poor, nor do I see taxes making anybody poor.