So do I. But serious Republican offers for a revenue-neutral replacement of the tax exclusion with a tax credit can be counted on the thumbs of one hand, rounded down.
Require the entire benefits package and all ‘paid by the employer on your behalf’ payments to show up on the paystub as income. “This is what it costs -us- to hire -you-.” Or at least the year-end-summary paystub. Yes, including things like the employer-side SS.
Exactly. One of the big problems today is that people think there’s something magical and special about these benefits, and because of that it ties people to their current employers stronger than it should. It also hides the true cost of the payroll tax. If people knew how much they were actually being paid and how much they were actually paying in taxes a lot of things would change.
I disagree. Much better would be a repeal of the 16th amendment and elimination of virtually all social assistance programs, to be replaced with a federal sales tax and an equal monthly stipend for every citizen.
Charles Murray has more-or-less convinced me that the minimum income (or negative income tax) could work, but there would have to be a way to guarantee that the government beast couldn’t game it and couldn’t leave any other assistance programs in effect. IOW, not gonna happen anytime soon.
Whether the employer buys it for you, or pays you and you buy it for yourself, a sane tax code would apply the same liability.
So do I. But serious Republican offers for a revenue-neutral replacement of the tax exclusion with a tax credit can be counted on the thumbs of one hand, rounded down.
Require the entire benefits package and all ‘paid by the employer on your behalf’ payments to show up on the paystub as income. “This is what it costs -us- to hire -you-.” Or at least the year-end-summary paystub. Yes, including things like the employer-side SS.
Exactly. One of the big problems today is that people think there’s something magical and special about these benefits, and because of that it ties people to their current employers stronger than it should. It also hides the true cost of the payroll tax. If people knew how much they were actually being paid and how much they were actually paying in taxes a lot of things would change.
I disagree. Much better would be a repeal of the 16th amendment and elimination of virtually all social assistance programs, to be replaced with a federal sales tax and an equal monthly stipend for every citizen.
Charles Murray has more-or-less convinced me that the minimum income (or negative income tax) could work, but there would have to be a way to guarantee that the government beast couldn’t game it and couldn’t leave any other assistance programs in effect. IOW, not gonna happen anytime soon.
Whether the employer buys it for you, or pays you and you buy it for yourself, a sane tax code would apply the same liability.