The only way to get the government out of debt is to print our own money and let the banks fail. We can't even pay the interest on the national debt, so that is not even a realistic discussion. Flat taxing does not necessarily mean a tax increase, it would however eliminate a shit ton of bureaucracy, wasted resources and a tax system that revolves around people cheating their way out of paying money. Whats the point of having an income tax if everyone gets out of paying what the gov't thinks they are going to receive in tax money?


^now that i think about it, i think everyone who i've ever heard grumble when a tv turns on and seinfeld is on has been vagina.


I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

[Edited on April 24, 2012 at 10:07 AM. Reason : ]

4/24/2012 10:04:58 AM

I agree that a flat/sales tax doesn't mean a tax increase; I was just saying I don't agree with any tax increase (e.g. Buffet rule). I'm not smart enough to know what exactly has to happen to pay off the debt, but I do know that we can't tax our way out of it and controlling spending is vital to at least slow the bleeding. An no matter what, any tax system will have loopholes; however, it seems that income tax programs are too easily defeated and even the Buffet Rule is likely riddled with loopholes even though it "closes" some. I think it's harder to cheat/game a sales tax system.

[Edited on April 24, 2012 at 10:09 AM. Reason : .]

4/24/2012 10:07:45 AM

Quote :

"print our own money and let the banks fail"

i thought thats what we were doing?

4/24/2012 10:08:31 AM

hahahahaha no every dollar in your pocket belongs to a private bank.

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

4/24/2012 10:09:18 AM

it makes more sense to me to be taxed on what i buy. if i want to own a car i'll pay taxes on it. if i want to drive a car i'll pay taxes for public roads. that shit makes sense to me.

income tax however, is just kind of a pain in the arse. but for now, i will live with it.

4/24/2012 10:09:45 AM

agreed. and it's a very progressive tax and can easily be created to lessen the burden on the truly poor. Just don't tax/have a lower tax for things like basic groceries (which NC already does, or did at least). The rich spend lots of money; they can't help it, thus with a sales tax, they'll pay a ton in taxes. They'll pay taxes on capital trades, sales, purchases, etc.

4/24/2012 10:12:00 AM

There is nothing wrong with a flat income tax. I like the idea of only a sales tax, but the majority of things that i buy other than food, gas, etc, i buy online and its way too complicated to tax. If
I bought something online, then you could say that they should just tax me for using a service of the internet to purchase things, but i would already be paying tax on buying the internet in the first place.

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

4/24/2012 10:13:10 AM

I don't think online purchases are difficult to tax, you just pay xx% in sales tax, which the company must levy, as with any purchase. Overseas purchases may be more difficult though, but really, how many people are going to do that?

4/24/2012 10:15:13 AM

I've probably spent more money on guitar shit from over seas than i have spent on anything else in my life. Also how do you deal with used things? Does it just get taxed over and over again because someone is providing the medium for you to sell it? What about shipping, would i pay a shipping tax on the shipping only once it is continental?

I like the concept but logistically i don't think it could work. The world is too global and too complex

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

[Edited on April 24, 2012 at 10:20 AM. Reason : What about gift cards?????? WHAT IF I BOUGHT GIFT CARDS ONLINE?]

4/24/2012 10:16:57 AM

Quote :

"I like the idea of only a sales tax, but the majority of things that i buy other than food, gas, etc, i buy online and its way too complicated to tax."

A sales only tax is way harsher on poor people.

If you make $20k/yr, buy $10k worth of taxable goods (groceries, household items, etc), and sales tax is 20%, you're paying 10% of your income.

If you make $200k/yr, buy $50k worth of taxable goods (5x the amount), you're paying 5% of your income.

4/24/2012 10:22:55 AM

Its not an income tax so your argument is completely invalid. There is no reason to make any correlation between the amount you make and the amount you would pay.

The typical counter to your argument is:

If the 200k person only buys 10k in goods why should they be forced to pay more taxes? Why should they be penalized for having a higher paying job? Thats a hard question to answer imo. but fuck that shit flat tax

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

4/24/2012 10:25:12 AM

My unpopular opinion:

Officially naming your kid something different than what you plan on calling him/her. I've got into some heated arguments over this one.

Examples:

- Giving your kid a random family first name with the intention on calling him by his middle name.

- Making your kid a "III" [third] in anticipation of calling him "Trey."

- Naming your kid a really long name in anticipation of calling them a shortened version of that name (Bill/Williams, Bobby/Robert, Jon/Jonathan, Liz/Elizabeth, etc).


IMO....name your kid whatever the fuck you plan on calling it.

4/24/2012 10:28:09 AM

Other than trey i didn't think people did this. Typically nick names exist because nobody wants spend more than .0324 seconds calling a bratty ass 3 year old by name.

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

4/24/2012 10:30:01 AM

the income tax violates your 5th amendment rights. where the fuck is their warrant to see all my personal financial papers? yes i know there was an amendment for it, still BS though

4/24/2012 10:31:57 AM

oh, heres another one. sex education starting um, in kindergarten. i mean not a whole lot of info at that age but at least let them be aware of 'appropriate' vs. 'inappropriate' touching from strangers. no joke.

4/24/2012 10:32:37 AM

[Edited on April 24, 2012 at 10:38 AM. Reason : damn double post]

4/24/2012 10:37:03 AM

^^^^ Really?? Shit happens all the time.

And I'm okay with nick-names. What I don't like is when the parents do it intentionally....so right out of the womb they are calling their spawn by a different name.

[Edited on April 24, 2012 at 10:37 AM. Reason : .]

4/24/2012 10:37:05 AM

Quote :

"Its not an income tax so your argument is completely invalid. There is no reason to make any correlation between the amount you make and the amount you would pay."

It's the equivalent of an income tax when all of your taxed expenditures go toward essential items, such as food.

4/24/2012 10:38:33 AM

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

[Edited on April 24, 2012 at 10:41 AM. Reason : lol fuck it]

4/24/2012 10:39:48 AM

i, too, am a proponent of a flat income tax rate. everyone from bill gates to bums on the street should pay the exact same percentage of their income in taxes. if this is a "nation of equality", then it shouldn't be any other way.

"b-b-b-b-bill gates doesn't NEED that much money!!1!"

I don't give a fuck. it's not my job or the government's job to tell someone how much money they should have. the rich would "pay their way" in taxes by paying more because they make more.

/rant

4/24/2012 10:49:48 AM

Quote :

"And I'm okay with nick-names. What I don't like is when the parents do it intentionally....so right out of the womb they are calling their spawn by a different name."

Totally my plan to call my son (if I ever have a son) by his middle name.

4/24/2012 10:52:05 AM

Quote :

"Totally my plan to call my son (if I ever have a son) by his middle name."

So my question is...if this is your plan, why not switch the first and middle names?

I plan on using family names with my kids (if I ever get to that point), but I will be putting them in their middle names (if I don't plan on calling my kid that name, obviously).

I just don't see the point.

[Edited on April 24, 2012 at 10:58 AM. Reason : .]

4/24/2012 10:58:16 AM

Because my husband is the 11th in the line of people with the same first and last names, but a different middle name. I refuse to call my son and my husband the same name. But I'm not going to be the nagging wife that goes against their family history for the sake of it.

4/24/2012 10:59:51 AM

problem with a flat tax is the govt still needs to know your income. a sales tax would keep them out of your business and saves billions of dollars in wasted time calculating income which is not straight forward for business owners and corporations.

[Edited on April 24, 2012 at 11:01 AM. Reason : d]

4/24/2012 11:01:15 AM

^^Mr. Beethoven and Young Beethoven

or just have daughters


[Edited on April 24, 2012 at 11:02 AM. Reason : ]

4/24/2012 11:01:40 AM

See, totally creepy to have a son/husband and call him by the same name. MIL does it, and I'm still all awkward trying to figure out what to call my FIL.

[Edited on April 24, 2012 at 11:02 AM. Reason : Lord help me if I have daughters.]

[Edited on April 24, 2012 at 11:03 AM. Reason : call, not fall.]

4/24/2012 11:02:32 AM

I am called by my middle name. Mary Elise. Grandma is Mary Eleanor, called Eleanor, and she was named after her mother, Mary, not sure of middle name, but she was called Mary. Mom's name is Rosemary. Guess it is just the female version of passing down a name. My sister and her daughter both go by their middle names as well.

4/24/2012 11:03:13 AM

mary is a baller name imo

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

[Edited on April 24, 2012 at 11:09 AM. Reason : so is eleanor ]

4/24/2012 11:07:47 AM

And that is why my opinion is unpopular

I'm also not the biggest fan of passing down the same first names. I don't mind keeping the family names (I will be passing down my mother's maiden name...as a middle name)...but I'm in the camp of kids having different first names than their ancestors.

4/24/2012 11:09:38 AM

My nephew is named after his two grandfathers, and his little brotha is a Jr.
I don't think I could name a human being.

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

4/24/2012 11:11:06 AM

I like my name. It was a mild inconvenience in college. All my school records k-12 were marked to call me elise after an incident on my first day of kindergarten because I didnt respond when the teacher took attendance. When college came around I had a slight brain fart on the first day of classes and almost didnt respond.

4/24/2012 11:11:44 AM

+1 for mary. i like that name, too.

4/24/2012 11:15:57 AM

4/24/2012 11:18:09 AM

i mean mary is my middle name so i have a little bit of a bias but still

I'm Krallum and I approved this message.

4/24/2012 11:18:48 AM

Quote :

"See, totally creepy to have a son/husband and call him by the same name."

my dad and i have the same name. i don't think it's creepy at all and neither does anyone else in my family.

4/24/2012 12:24:45 PM

I don't like cold ketchup, but I do refrigerate it.

4/24/2012 1:04:23 PM

Quote :

"my dad and i have the same name. i don't think it's creepy at all and neither does anyone else in my family."

To each his own. I'm not going to coo the same name to my son that I yell out during sex. See, that's what makes it creepy right there.

4/24/2012 1:06:57 PM

If I have a son I want to name him my last name. That doesn't seem too contentious but a few people have thought it weird. I may even consider it for a girl.

4/24/2012 1:13:20 PM

^Depends on what your last name is.

^^ Better than calling your sons name out during sex if they had different names...

4/24/2012 1:15:20 PM

My last name is Sawyer.

4/24/2012 1:17:43 PM

Word. The only risk you run is people thinking you're obsessed with that dude from Lost.

4/24/2012 1:18:59 PM

sounds like a baby hipster name

4/24/2012 1:19:05 PM

Quote :

"If I have a son I want to name him my last name. That doesn't seem too contentious but a few people have thought it weird. I may even consider it for a girl."

Love it, and this is actually the middle name for the "son" I was talking about above (my maiden name).

4/24/2012 1:28:55 PM

My dad, brother, and female dog all have the same name.

4/24/2012 2:10:21 PM

I believe I am among the top 1000 golfers on the planet. People think I'm crazy, but I think if I quit my job and practiced full time, I could get a tour card. I'm too chicken to quit right now though.

4/24/2012 2:53:08 PM

Quote :

"My unpopular opinion: Officially naming your kid something different than what you plan on calling him/her. I've got into some heated arguments over this one. Examples: - Giving your kid a random family first name with the intention on calling him by his middle name. - Making your kid a "III" [third] in anticipation of calling him "Trey." - Naming your kid a really long name in anticipation of calling them a shortened version of that name (Bill/Williams, Bobby/Robert, Jon/Jonathan, Liz/Elizabeth, etc). IMO....name your kid whatever the fuck you plan on calling it."

I agree for the most part. I go by my middle name, but that wasn't the original intent of my parents...it just evolved into them calling me by middle name after a couple of years. But if your kid is a III and you plan to call him Trey it could easily be to avoid the confusion of having three people with the exact same name.

And as someone who goes by their middle name, I do not plan on calling my kids by their middle name...it's just too confusing and can be a pain. Especially since my middle name is Mitchell and I go by Mitch. So not only do I go by my middle name, but a I go by a shortened version of it. First names are easier.

[Edited on April 24, 2012 at 3:08 PM. Reason : dd]

4/24/2012 3:05:08 PM

my mom told me the story of my name. She named me katharine after my granny, she said mostly because she wanted to call me katie. Maybe she wanted me to have a family? I have asked her many times why she didn't just name me katie to begin with. There is no good answer 'cept to let my paperwork as an adult be fun and so I can be called kathy the first 2 weeks of classes every semester.

4/24/2012 3:08:17 PM

in a class of more than 30-40 students, i often won't bother to let the professor know that i prefer to be called by my middle name. i assume with that many students, the professor probably won't remember anyway. so sometimes i'll forget which name i am known as in that class (first or middle) and then i won't know which name i should put on assignments...it leads to confusion quite often.

4/24/2012 3:18:38 PM

Quote :

"The only risk you run is people thinking you're obsessed with that dude from Lost."

This is what pops into my mind when I bring up wanting to name my son 'Boone'. I just think it's a kickass name.

4/24/2012 3:45:21 PM

there is no God

4/24/2012 3:46:20 PM