We went from 16.5% to 40% in 25 years because the majority of full time employees make between 30,000 and 40,000 and 25 years ago this group was paying taxes. Twenty five years later this group has far less taxable income, a family making 40,000 with 2 kids pays no taxes and in fact gets a refund. The main cause of this is the increasing cost of living, deductions and tax credits, not a declining work ethic.

I've been a contractor in Florida for more than 25 years and in the time housing has more than doubled, property taxes and all forms of insurance have gone through the roof but my payroll has only increased 10 to 15% since the mid 80’s. The government has had to increase credits and deductions so the largest sector of the work force can continue to support themselves.

This was inevitable because this sector has the largest pool of workers and that keeps their salary down, there’s always someone there that will work for less. Service, manufacturing and construction companies have been able to take advantage of this so they should take on the increased tax burden, or they could give their employees a cost of living increase and let them pay taxes again, whatever works for them. I honestly can’t see a solution to this. Sucks for technology companies because their labor pool is much smaller. 

There will be very few people who 'take' and don't give anything either directly or indirectly, lots of people who take and then give some back, and somewho take and give much more back - it's what you'd expect in almost any tax system, since even a flat tax on everyone would achieve this result (the exceptions would be a head tax where everyone gives equally, and a regressive tax where the rich pay less in absolute terms than the poor). To look at just one form of tax and use this to classify people into givers or takers is also misleading since it ignores people who might not pay one form of tax but do pay taxes in many other ways - income tax only makes up ~45% of the federal budget, so the majority of income comes from other taxes.

Clearly, this must be addressed. Yet the stats are melodramatic because of longevity in the thirties and that retirement was a luxury. I think a better approach might be in a national sales tax. 

I believe everyone should pay tax on income regardless of number of dependents or low wage, starting at 1% and up to 40%.

 

By it's apparent current definition, that's not very 'progressive' of you, Richard.

That would be fair, but it is a vote killer. You know political survival trumps fairness.

All I can say is Wow Richard, totally different from what I'd expect you to propose. I agree, everyone should kick in something, even a small amount. Currently there is little ownership or responsibility. Too many leave it to others.