Reply #1: Don't tie any tax to fixed dollar amounts [View All]

[Warpy]

Instead, reinstitute a progressive tax structure that would tax disposable income rather than subsistence income, and tie it to the median wage. Adjust the rates every 6 months in times of rapid inflation or deflation, every couple of years otherwise. Rigidly adhereing to dollar amounts is what sank the old progressive income tax, a tax which had worked very well for this country until the oil shocks and resulting double digit inflation began to kill the middle class.

Remove the laughably low cap on earnings subject to FICA. In fact, remove it completely. We need disincentives to executive greed, and corporations are not going to want to match FICA contributions on outlandish multimillion dollar salaries.

Revamp the formula for determining the poverty line, below which there should be no taxation, period. The current formula assumes 1/3 of the family budget is for food, and relies solely on food costs to determine poverty level. Inflation in housing especially has driven that down to 1/6 of the average family budget, and the poverty level we have now is more of a destitution level.

Your other suggestions are good ones.