If we were doing this right, we should be asking these on video and posting them on YouTube. But after careful consideration we decided Anderson Cooper was just plain prettier than us and thus better suited to be on camera. So we hope he'll ask these questions while the GOP candidates are hangin' with Mr. Cooper this evening.
- The US corporate tax rate is the second-highest among OECD countries. While most of our major trading partners have lowered their corporate rates over the past 10 years, the U.S. has not. Is this a problem? If so, what corporate rate do you think would make America more competitive with our major trading partners?
- Polls show that most Americans think our income tax system is too complicated and nearly 60% of taxpayers pay someone else to fill out their tax forms. Should we overhaul the individual tax system or is it fine the way it is? If it should be overhauled, what should a new system look like?
- Nearly 44 million Americans pay no income taxes after taking advantage of their credits and deductions. That amounts to one-third of all "taxpayers" with no tax liability. Should everyone be required to pay some income tax? If not, what is the right number of Americans who should pay no income taxes?
- The top 1% of taxpayers now pays a larger share of the income tax burden than the bottom 90% combined - that is, more than the share of income taxes paid by every American earning under $100,000 combined. Is there a danger in having so few Americans shouldering the cost of government? Is it possible that the majority will demand more from government because they bear so little of the cost? Does this constitute a Madisonian "tyranny of the majority?"
Here are some of the tax-related questions other YouTubers are asking:
On taxing foreign oil imports: http://www.youtube.com/contests_layout?name=RepublicanDebate&v=lqacZt-JNnQ&goto=4696
On taxpayer's rights:
http://www.youtube.com/contests_layout?name=RepublicanDebate&v=stVKcqsCY6U&goto=3727
To Mike Huckabee on the FairTax:
http://www.youtube.com/contests_layout?name=RepublicanDebate&v=KvPsagJbh0M&goto=3170
On tax reform:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wTA_VIZQ20
In April, residents of Doña Ana County, New Mexico (home of Las Cruces) voted 50.7%-49.3% to approve a 1/4-cent sales tax increase to part fund construction of a $198 million space vehicle launchpad. (Additionally, one-quarter of the tax revenue goes to "spaceport-related education in local schools.") Local boosters hope the spaceport will attract the space industry to the area. Tax collection is scheduled to begin January 1, 2008.
Or maybe not. Under the state law providing additional funding, three counties were required to enact taxes and contribute funds. The other two counties, Otera and Sierra, have yet to even schedule election dates. Because it is doubtful that a tax would even pass, some Doña Ana County residents are reluctant to begin paying a tax that cannot, and may never, be spent.
Doña Ana County Manager Brian Haines told commissioners last month he wouldn't feel comfortable collecting the tax if there was no way to spend it. If the district never forms, the county would be stuck with a pool of money that it wouldn't know what to do with, he said.
However, officials aren't sure whether they can unilaterally delay the tax's collection. Sounds like Doña Ana County put the cart before the horse without a backup plan. Careful thinking can sometimes go out the window when local and state governments seek to use tax money to attract industry, such as by building stadiums, office parks, or even credit card call centers. Taxpayers could end up with the worst of both worlds-paying taxes that can't be spent on a project that, even if built, might not live up to all the stratospheric expectations people have for it.
As we put it in our 2008 State Business Tax Climate Index summary:
Lawmakers create these deals under the banner of job creation and economic development, but the truth is that if a state needs to offer such packages, it is most likely covering for a woeful business climate plagued by bad tax policy. A far more effective approach is to systematically improve the business tax climate for the long term.
House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) is proposing sweeping tax legislation that he calls the "mother of all tax reforms". The bill makes some pretty heavy changes for both... Continue Reading:
Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas are separated by a river, and a good number of people cross that river daily to live in one state and work in the other. Many end up filing tax returns in both states, and to minimize economic distortions, both states allowed the other's residents to take the same property tax deduction when itemizing.
Earlier this year, Missouri repealed the deduction for nonresident taxpayers, seeking to grab a few million dollars even if it hindered interstate travel and commerce.
Rep. Kenny Wilk of Kansas demands that Missouri rescind the tax increase on out-of-staters or else his state will retaliate:
Said Wilk: "You recognize our laws and we recognize yours. If you disagree we will tax your people."
Wilk, according to a recent Associated Press story, is planning to fast-track tax legislation, once drafted, through the House in January. The idea is that if Missouri fails to revoke its legislation in January, Wilk will proceed with the bill.
Time and again, we see states eager to shift tax burdens to out-of-state residents. But since all of us are an out-of-state resident in 49 states, the higher taxes can quickly get out of control. The Supreme Court has restricted such taxes in limited contexts, such as with charging sales tax on mail-order purchases in the Quill case, but otherwise there's little stopping states except common sense, even in the face of threatened retaliations.
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