Wednesday, June 13, 2012

How to fix the budget and stupid wars

Here is an idea.
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Every time we declare war (or commit troops overseas to a conflict area) we should put a surcharge of 20% on all federal taxes - AND FREEZE RATE changes until the end of the war.  So, if your rate is 25%, your "War Tax Rate" would be 30% (25*1.2).  When the conflict was over, your rate would drop back to pre-war rates.
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So, let's look at the impact WITH the Bush Tax Rates in 2002
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Assume an income of $100,000.
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In 2002 - Your Rate on $100,000 would have been 30%
But, because we sent troops to Afghanistan, your effective rate would have been 36% (30*1.2)
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In 2003 - We had troops in Iraq AND Afghanistan, your effective rate would have been 43.2% ([30*1.2]*1.2).
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We would have paid for the wars (which Bush kept "off-book") and had a much bigger incentive to get the hell out.  This would have moved some non-payers into payment status - and would have moved the rich from 35% tax rate to 51.84% - and how quick do you think they would have stopped the war!
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For 2011 rates, our our hypothetical $100,000 man would have gone from a rate of 43.2% back to 36% - since we left Afghanistan. But only for 2/3s of year and 43.2% for the 4 months we bombed Libya (somebody has to restock the bombs and stuff).  So yearly rate would have been 38.36% [(0.66*36)+(0.33*43.2)]
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Nincompoopery - Simple Ideas to Fix the World (TM)