Cut the Military by 10%...

[WCGreen]

Close the gap between the tax rate for capital gains and earned income...

Raise the top marginal income tax rate to 39%...

Limit the interest deduction for the second, third, fourth and etc "homes"...

Go after income siphoned into foreign tax havens...

Limit the deduction for CEO's to only 40% higher than the companies minimum wage. Anything after that will not be deductible by the company...

Limit the amount of stock options for senior executives...

If stock options are being offered to senior management, they have to be offered to every other employee...

Stock Options redeemed before 3 years will be taxed at 50%...

These are some of the proactive changes in the US Tax Code that I believe should be instituted in order to change the short term culture that has siphoned vast wealth to the the top of the top...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. These are good ideas...

Your voice should be heard.

K&R

[Gregorian]

2. Cut the Military by 90%

Then we'd be equal with the next biggest military.

[WCGreen]

6. That could be a goal, perhaps cut a percentage over a defined time frame...

Why, well there are a lot of contracts out there that millions of workers depend on as a source of steady income stream. If this was suddenly removed from the economy, we would certainly go into a deep recession.

[Gregorian]

19. I thought of that. We'll be lucky if they even pass the filibuster rule on Senate day 1 next year.

So much of what exists has huge mass.

You're right. Small increments. Too bad the world doesn't share our values. It could be a nice place.

[rustydog]

13. America spends sickeningly large amounts of money on the military complex

If we cut spending about 70% we'd still the largest military, the best-funded and armed military on the planet.

[edhopper]

3. Raise the income cap

on payroll tax.
Tax all income at the same rate. Salary, cap gains, interest, dividends etc...

[WCGreen]

4. You would have to do it over a few years since there are legitimate people

who have made long term decisions on the way the tax code is situated now...

[edhopper]

8. That would be fine

a three to five year transgression would work.

[trof]

5. And we'd still be the baddest asses on the planet.

[MrYikes]

7. Well thought out. cheers

I would add eliminate charitable deductions.

[LiberalFighter]

10. I would support charitable deductions but

prohibit deductions that go directly to a church intended for tithing. Let the churches form organizations that are dedicated to helping people. But the tithing that is generally used for wages maintenance of a church should not be deductible.

[LiberalFighter]

9. I would have the top tax bracket higher

and have more than just 2 at 33% or higher. We currently have 6 tax brackets (actually 7 when you count 0% as a tax bracket). We could have 10 or 12 tax brackets.

And tell everyone that says the tax code is complicated that they are full of crap. For most of us it simple. When it involves additional properties and income from investment it becomes more complicated. It's complicated when it involves more than just a few pages to file.

I would go for limiting interest deduction to just 2 homes.

[Kaleva]

11. Eliminate the home mortgage deduction. About 100 billion in tax revenue right there.

[Victor_c3]

12. 10% would be a drop in the bucket to DOD spending

I remember that in 2004 the military budged was roughly $420 billion dollars. I think the current budget is over $700 billion. We are due for some huge cuts.

The "modernization" programs that are being pursued just aren't necessary. The types of conflicts we have been fighting are against militaries that are equipped with, at best, 1970s era soviet weapons. There is a huge capabilities difference between what I had in 2004 when I was in Iraq and the weapons (or what was left of them) that the Iraqi military had. The difference between my equipment in 2004 and what they are using in 2012 is equally staggering. Any military that could compete with us in any fashion on the battlefield belongs to a country that is so tied to us financially and economically that the last thing they would ever consider doing is fighting a war against us. could you imagine a China declaring war on us? Where would they sell their manufactured goods?

Most of the burned out tank and armored vehicle hulks that I saw were from the 1960s or earlier. You wouldn't believe the number of T54/55 tanks (tanks from 1950s) that I saw burned out and laying around.

We just don't need to keep spending money on our military like we do!

[Egalitarian Thug]

18. $718B DoD in 2010. Total military expenditures for that year were in excess of $1.6T.

Of course, 2011 was higher ($1.7 T IIRC) and 2012 will be more still. Yet not one of "our" leaders will even mention this, let alone propose its reduction.

[mdohoney]

14. privatized army

how about just firing the privitized army such Blackwater aka xe

[WCGreen]

15. Works for me....

[Egalitarian Thug]

16. K&R This is one model for success. Now how do we get anybody that matters to push for it?

[ProudProgressiveNow]

17. K&R Well thought out! nt

[colsohlibgal]

20. Cut It By 50% At The Very least

We'd still be safe if we're competent.

Dwight Eisenhower rose to fame in WWII but his prime warning in his presidential farewell speech, January 1961, was about not letting the military industrial complex gain undue influence in the future. Obviously his worst fears have been realized.

It is the elephant in the room and that's maddening.

Cut it in half, institute a VAT, legalize pot everywhere and tax it, employ anyone displaced by the military cuts on the task of finally fixing our crumbling infrastructure - maybe come up with something more reliable than 19th century telegraph tech (poles and wires) for power transmission. Oh and raise the tax rates on the ultra rich to slightly less than half of where Ike had it.

That seems like a good start and it's not rocket science.

[JackRiddler]

21. Drop the empire and convert it to a domestic emergency force.

Clearly, hurricanes and such are a bigger threat to this country than the scattered plots of "terrorists" and dictators who almost always turn out to be installed and sponsored by the same military-intelligence complex that eventually kills them.

Stop making enemies worldwide.