Showing posts with label income tax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label income tax. Show all posts
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Earth to Florida: You Need an Income Tax
This week’s callous budget slashing and the downright laughable property tax “cut-reform” mess merely illustrate what 43 of the United States already know: Florida needs a state income tax, a graduated, progressive income tax. It seems so obvious if you’re not rich like 90% of the people in this state: taxes should be based on one’s ability to pay. It’s doable if you have the political will. Even the most Republican state of all has an income tax (and property taxes to boot): Utah. If I were Governor, I’d go all out to enact an income tax and this week I’d be proposing a budget that increases state spending by a billion dollars, not slashing it one billion. The money would go to phase out property taxes, fund high quality socialized early education for all two, three and four year olds, class size reductions and parent training courses for all high school students and all other imminent parents.
Check out this amazing table of the state income tax rates: www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/
My favorite state is recently Republican Ohio. The second tax rate is mine, the modifications I would submit to the legislature and arm twist, and offer carrots and make deals, and tour the entire state and visit every editorial board and TV and radio station to get passed. The rates are for heads of households on taxable income.
$Zero to $5,000 .68% .5%
$5,000-$10,000 1.36% 1.25%
$10,000-$15,000 2.7% $2.5%
$15,000-$20,000 3.4% $3.25%
$20,000-$40,000 4.08% 4%
$40,000-$80,000 4.76% 5%
$80,000-$100,000 5.44% %6
$100,000-200,000 6.3% 9%
$200,000+ 6.8% 12%
I’d add a 15% bracket for over $300,000, but remember, I’d be abolishing property taxes. Taxes should be based on ability to pay, not the market value of a house or building that has no relation to the owner’s current income or revenue. California had a 13% top bracket for a long time, until the Republicans slashed it to 9.3% when they got power, but it’s still the highest in the nation. Massachusetts taxes capital gains at 12%.An income tax is a no brainer. It’s not debatable. What is debatable is how we enact it in this state. So I hereby announce my second project, The Florida Income Tax Project (my first was The Florida Anti-Terror Project). I’ll be setting up a site. Comment if you are interested in participating in it. It’ll all be obvious. We need to conduct a little research, crunch some numbers, come up with the rationales, talking points, etc. Put together a coalition. Then we launch a public information campaign. We’ll hold panel discussions in each major city, lobby key columnists and meet with editorial boards. We’ll get it done. Now. Utah did. Easy. Day 30.
Check out this amazing table of the state income tax rates: www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/
My favorite state is recently Republican Ohio. The second tax rate is mine, the modifications I would submit to the legislature and arm twist, and offer carrots and make deals, and tour the entire state and visit every editorial board and TV and radio station to get passed. The rates are for heads of households on taxable income.
$Zero to $5,000 .68% .5%
$5,000-$10,000 1.36% 1.25%
$10,000-$15,000 2.7% $2.5%
$15,000-$20,000 3.4% $3.25%
$20,000-$40,000 4.08% 4%
$40,000-$80,000 4.76% 5%
$80,000-$100,000 5.44% %6
$100,000-200,000 6.3% 9%
$200,000+ 6.8% 12%
I’d add a 15% bracket for over $300,000, but remember, I’d be abolishing property taxes. Taxes should be based on ability to pay, not the market value of a house or building that has no relation to the owner’s current income or revenue. California had a 13% top bracket for a long time, until the Republicans slashed it to 9.3% when they got power, but it’s still the highest in the nation. Massachusetts taxes capital gains at 12%.An income tax is a no brainer. It’s not debatable. What is debatable is how we enact it in this state. So I hereby announce my second project, The Florida Income Tax Project (my first was The Florida Anti-Terror Project). I’ll be setting up a site. Comment if you are interested in participating in it. It’ll all be obvious. We need to conduct a little research, crunch some numbers, come up with the rationales, talking points, etc. Put together a coalition. Then we launch a public information campaign. We’ll hold panel discussions in each major city, lobby key columnists and meet with editorial boards. We’ll get it done. Now. Utah did. Easy. Day 30.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
I would veto the Rubio property tax disaster
The Rube Goldbergian, patchwork Republican tax reform shell game is shaping up to be a fiscal disaster worse than the property tax crisis that spawned it. We have to fight it. We need to convene a statewide conference of progressives to put together a progressive tax reform initiative for the November 2008 ballot to compete with whatever garbage the Republicans (and dare I say I am worried about what our Democrats) are going to come up with.
The solution to Florida's fiscal crisis is actually very simple, and should be kept so, and need only follow one simple principle: base taxes on people's ability to pay them. That means abolish the property tax and replace it with a progressive state income tax like 43 other states use. And in the coming days I will be blogging about a great model: Ohio.
The current problem of confiscatory property taxation is rooted in the fundamentally flawed and dysfunctional nature of the property tax itself: it is never directly related to people's means to pay it. It eats away at people's income over time (even with the 3% cap) and forces those whose life circumstances change after they have bought a house, in many cases to sell their house and move. That's wrong. It is happening to thousands of Floridians and could happen to any of us next week, month or year: a major illness, a divorce, a layoff or salary cut, especially when the next recession hits.
Our message should be very clear: abolish the property tax. Any discussion of an income tax should always be secondary and quickly turned back to a discussion of the REAL issue: we are proposing, in this order, tax cuts, tax reform and tax fairness while preserving public education and vital local government. I don't want to hear any more talk, especially coming from the Democratic leadership, about how an income tax will never fly in this state. Such talk is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It just takes leadership. If Republican anti-tax states like Utah can enact an income tax, so can we. But its clear that leadership is not going to come from our current Democratic leaderships. That's why we progressives need to step up to the plate and provide that leadership with a statewide conference.
The solution to Florida's fiscal crisis is actually very simple, and should be kept so, and need only follow one simple principle: base taxes on people's ability to pay them. That means abolish the property tax and replace it with a progressive state income tax like 43 other states use. And in the coming days I will be blogging about a great model: Ohio.
The current problem of confiscatory property taxation is rooted in the fundamentally flawed and dysfunctional nature of the property tax itself: it is never directly related to people's means to pay it. It eats away at people's income over time (even with the 3% cap) and forces those whose life circumstances change after they have bought a house, in many cases to sell their house and move. That's wrong. It is happening to thousands of Floridians and could happen to any of us next week, month or year: a major illness, a divorce, a layoff or salary cut, especially when the next recession hits.
Our message should be very clear: abolish the property tax. Any discussion of an income tax should always be secondary and quickly turned back to a discussion of the REAL issue: we are proposing, in this order, tax cuts, tax reform and tax fairness while preserving public education and vital local government. I don't want to hear any more talk, especially coming from the Democratic leadership, about how an income tax will never fly in this state. Such talk is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It just takes leadership. If Republican anti-tax states like Utah can enact an income tax, so can we. But its clear that leadership is not going to come from our current Democratic leaderships. That's why we progressives need to step up to the plate and provide that leadership with a statewide conference.
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