[tivodan1116]

Quote by: sdbest If forced taxation is unconstitutional, as some have argued, how much--or what percentage of your income--would you pay voluntarily for services provided by the government?

Zero. And so would everyone else, so long as they could still get the services. Why pay for something you can get for free? See: Communism. See also: Illegal MP3 downloading.

Quote by: sdbest Clearly, you weren't clear.

Let me just say that law school makes you hate the word "clearly" - it's just something our R&W profs KILL us about. That sentence gave me a headache remembering first year R&W class. LOL

What taxes would you suggest? A 17.5%-21% consumption tax like that in some EU countries?

The problem most tax theorists have with consumption taxes is that they are felt to be regressive, i.e. poor people end up paying a larger percent of their income in taxes. This is debatable since rich people buy more goods, but that is the issue raised at least.

Quote by: sdbest I wonder would agree to a 15% tax on the purchase of stock in companies?

There is already a tax on the sale of and dividends of a stock. Capital gains (usually 15%) on the gain upon sale, and ordinary income tax on dividends.

Would agree to a 15% tax on a loan?

I'm not clear what you mean here.
The income received by the creditor (the interest) is already taxed as ordinary income.
The debtor is not receiving any gain by taking out a loan. How would you assess the fairness of taxing a transaction which results in the debtor being poorer then before they started?

Would you agree that person should pay a 15% tax on any gifts they receive?

Currently our system taxes the giver of the gift on certain occasions to prevent tax arbitrage.

Quote by: Kame Fifteen percent of the price of a gift is zero, so I don't know what you're getting at here.

Well the gift has some value and could certainly be taxed based upon the value.

If I receive a car as a gift, the car has a marketable value, and my basis (cost to receive that item) is zero - therefore when I sell it, I have taxable income. In many cases, however (like an estate), I can get "carryover" basis from the donor.

Quote by: another day Americans, don't forget that your federal income tax is completely illegal and is not written in a book of law anywhere.

The 10-pound volume on my shelf entitled "Selected Statutes in Federal Taxation" and contains a portion of the tax code, as well as my unabridged version at work, would disagree with you...

It is 100% fraudulent...compared to other taxes that you pay, the federal income tax is literally theft.

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: