Do you think everyone should have to pay at least $1 in taxes?

If he meant a net of $1, then I’d agree with him. But I’m sure he doesn’t. No “responsible” politician would ever advocate such an extreme position. The $1 would be comp’d for about 30% of Americans.

@CyanoticWasp He was addressing people who pay no income tax, or actually get money through programs like EIC if I understood correctly.

I don’t know if taxing those who rely on government benefits for income makes much sense – they don’t escape sales tax, so they’re not really completely off the hook.

There’s no reason you shouldn’t pay a buck, though, otherwise. I would just like to see the revenue service attempt to go after several hundred people who didn’t pay their dollar tax to collect it. Because THAT certainly won’t cost much, much more than any additional revenue raised by the tax.

@iamthemob Your point is valid that it won’t be financially practical to go after the people who don’t pay. I just hink he is talking about a mind set that nothing is for free. That services are there because someone has to pay for them.

@iamthemob I agree for the most part, but there are several states that don’t have sales tax, so people in those states do escape sales tax.

My husband and I were talking about this the other night. We came to the agreement that it’s one thing for the different credits to take someone to a “zero” tax responsibility, but it’s another for them to take people into a negative tax responsibility and those people end up getting more money back then they even paid in to taxes. If you overpay, you should get a refund, but I really don’t think people should have a negative tax responsibility.

Not for those for whom benefits are their only income. But for people who earn independently, sure.

Flat tax FTW

My view is that individual taxation is a totally reasonable obligation of being a citizen in a country that provides government services we all enjoy and too often take for granted. I for one pay, if not always happily, always dutifully.

No. Some people need the EITC. They would lose a significant source of income if they had to pay a $1. The average EITC benefit is around $2500 – a significant loss for families with incomes of 15K per year.

The elimination of this benefit would force a number of people to stop working, because they’d get health care and housing that they couldn’t afford without the EITC.

It’s bad policy. It might save the cost of the EITC, but it would raise the costs of providing programs that citizens are eligible for. The net result would be for tax payers spending more money. There would be no savings from forcing everyone to pay a dollar in tax.

It the move is symbolic—i.e., people keep the EITC, but they have to give one dollar back and call that paying “taxes,” it’s just plain stupid. What is the point of reducing people’s benefits by $1?

Stupidity! No matter how you look at it.