Transaction tax to fund health care?

[RicROC]

The more I read about transaction taxes, the more I become intrigued about its efficacy. A transaction is a flat tax, a concept that appeals to conservatives, and because it raises more money from wealthy individuals because they are spending way more than other classes of people, would appeal to progressives.

The tax would apply to ALL transactions, from groceries to stock transactions to mortgage payments, etc. No loopholes, no exemptions. That's the beauty of it because since it applies to all transactions, the rate of tax is INCREDIBLY low because it is spread so far and wide throughout the economy.

Paying for Health Care for all: Not 10% tax, not 1%... but a 0.1% tax which would a penny on every $10 (ten). It's mindblowing how much money that would bring into the paying for great health care. And yet, would cost each person virtually nothing. A single individual who would spend $50,000 during the year, would really contribute a mere $50 for the whole year and would get 'free' health-care' with no premiums, no deductibles and no co-pays...and no bankruptcy.

Frankly, it's not merely just paying a tax on a purchase. For every stock transaction, there's a 0.1% tax. One buys stock, there's a tax. He/she sells it back, another penny tax. One get's a loan to buy a car, there's a 0.1% tax - that person sends a check monthly to pay that loan, includes a 0.1% transaction tax on that payment. (So, on a $300 car payment, he pays an a measly 30¢ CENTS health care tax)

[Chin music]

1. No more consumer consumption taxes.

The rich have been living high on the hog since Reagan. Hopefully they saved some money, so they can get all those vacations, yatchs, Bentlys etc. Enough is enough. The wealth is the top 5% is so enormous they can jimmy around our political system w it now. That's too much money, and too much time on their hands. When do Americans in that bracket start caring about all the rest of us?
No real pay raises in years and years for a majority of America. The rich need to pay for the blessings they've received from the American people for 40 years. JMHO.

[mopinko]

2. this is one of those very appealing solutions to a complicated problem,

which are almost invariably wrong.

as far as taxing stock transactions, here is the thing.
that penny seems like nothing to you, but to traders, it is a lot. trust me, an arbitrage program that found that penny available would jump on it. they jump on much less. so it is anything but insignificant.
and here is the thing. this will push many, many traders outside the u.s. they dont have to trade in ny or chicago. they can trade out of tokyo or london w/o getting out of their chairs.


but the people who work for the exchanges, some of the best jobs in the country, see their jobs trickle away. i'm not talking about traders, but the employees who build the computer systems down to the people who sweep the floors.
we cant afford to piss those jobs away.

there is one way and one way only to do this w/o shaking the economy, and that is if you can do it world wide, all at once.
there are countries that have imposed these taxes, but the big ones havent.
and even then, it leaves the door open for someone like china to come along and eat our lunch.

just raise the fucking income tax on wall street. problem solved. the numbers are clear. we can have single payer and end up w net cheaper healthcare. the question is not how to add money, just how to rearrange the money that is already being spent.
no need to upend the economy, and no need to attach healthcare to a regressive tax that hurt retirees, too.

[librechik]

3. sounds good. let's discuss it with our Wall Street overlords.

0.1% to keep the sick off the sidewalks with their germy kids? Nah, they'll just step over.

[at140]

4. I have preferred transaction tax for decades

Install transaction tax on all Wall Street trades and get rid of capital gains tax

That will not only bring in more tax revenue, but eliminate all tax fraud instantly. It is a nightmare to keep track of all stock purchases from decades ago, dividend reinvestment purchases from decades ago, stock splits, stock.dividends etc.
IRS can't possibly check validity of all those complications.

Paying a simple transaction tax when buying and then again when selling practically eliminates cheating.

[RicROC]

6. good idea!

I like the idea that keeping track of all the stock transactions over the many years of buy&hold, would be made more simple with a transaction tax, and then eliminated the capital gains tax.

Conservatives complain that a capital gains tax is merely double taxation. But the tax is only on profits, so it is not double taxation.

If Corporation are considered to be 'people, my friends' to quote Mitt Romney, then they should pay the same income tax rate as people. Why should a private individual pay 38% and then the corp. pays only 12% in they ,in reality, don't pay any tax?

[Sgent]

7. That will also get rid of most stock transactions instantly

Most Fortune 500 companies already trade on non-US exchanges, and there's nothing preventing me from doing my trading in London or Frankfurt.

Currently, the US has the largest, deepest, most liquid trading in the world. If that starts to change it will reduce volume exponentially until the least sophisticated or the legally restricted (pension plans, 401ks) are the ones left trading in the US.

I don't know what the effects of that will be -- they maybe small, but I'm not sure what the benefit will be either compared to raising capital gains.

[at140]

8. Yeah it will get rid of automated computer trading

Good riddance. Back to real long term investing instead of churning millions of shares every minute using computer algorithms.

No wonder more people are out of the market directly.

[in2herbs]

5. The Robin Hood Tax, a tax on all Wall Street transactions regardless of how long or short a

period of time they're held was supported nationwide by nurses a few years ago. The Robin Hood Tax will be paid by the upper 1% more than the middle class and it will raise required funding.