If you had the option to decide how much to pay in federal income tax,what percentage would you pay?

My effective rate is 15%, according to turbotax. I’d be willing to raise that 2 or 3 percent.

It depends on what country I lived in and how confident I was in my social security (retirement) funds and the way my tax money was being spent. Also… I live in countries where they have public and universal health care.

Does this include heathcare? for EVERYONE?

I don’t pay a ‘state tax’ just a ‘federal’, so I’m ok paying 21% with healthcare.

To plagiarize myself:

The Lord wants his followers to tithe 10%.
Waitresses want at least 15%.

I am figuring The Government rates somewhere between The Lord God and a waitress.

The question is impossible to answer meaningfully in a vacuum.

Is everyone else getting taxed at normal rates, but I don’t have to pay any taxes unless I want to? Then I’d tax myself at normal rates, because that’s fair.

Do I get to decide what everyone pays in taxes? Then I favor a highly progressive tax system. Clinton levels up to a few million dollars. Then add ten percentage points for every “zero” at the end of your income bracket. During the “golden years” of the 50’s, the richest Americans paid almost ¾ of their top brackets in taxes. It is insane that so many Americans believe that billionaires have actually “earned,” in some moral sense, their billions of dollars and are thus entitled to it.

I would rather see a fee based support system, where we received an invoice that listed our share of the expenses.

@wundayatta -Send it in! ;)
@cazzie -Don’t be shy! Send it in! ;)
@filmfann-Does the government really give you better service than a waitress? ;)
@Qingu -Your altruism is showing….and by all means,send more than your fair share in.That ought to assuage your progressive conscience. ;)
@YARNLADY -Not a bad idea ;)

I’d pay the same percent that everyone else agrees to pay, provided everyone actually pays that percent honestly.

@cockswain We are supposed to do that now,aren’t we? ;)

Yes. Maybe I’m missing the point of your question. What are you driving at?

@cockswain I am just having alittle fun ;)

thanks for a good time

An all-in rate of 25%, no gas tax, and no extra social security and no extra medicare.

@cockswain No,thank you.

Given that our tax system is supposed to be progressive and I fall near the low end of the income curve (barely high enough to even have to pay taxes under our current system) I would not be willing to pay more than I am now unless I see some benefit like lower healthcare costs. And for the level of service we get right now, I am not sure if I want to even pay!

Enough that if everyone were paying their fair share, there would be universal health care and no one would starve or freeze to death.