What's My Fair Share?

"Taxes are inevitable, but they're always unfair."

Some time ago, I wrote a post about taxes. That post was about how Businesses Don't Pay Taxes, Customers Pay Taxes, and my point was about how much to tax those big bad oil companies. Considering that people all over the world pay so much in taxes, we're really idiots about the whole subject.

President Obama, borrowing a line from Bill Clinton in years past, says everyone needs to pay 'their fair share'. Isn't it amazing that ''their fair share' ends up meaning exactly whatever he wants them to pay?

So I got to thinking about my fair share. I wonder what that is? I already know that it's bogus to tax businesses. All that does is raise prices on the business' customers, which eventually means me (and you). So what is my fair share, your fair share and his fair share, and how can we tax everyone fairly?

To start, we have to look at different kinds of taxes. I think there are five. They are,

Income Taxes. A portion of the value each of us earns each year. Like payroll taxes.
Consumption Taxes. A portion of the value each of us spends each year. Like sales tax.
Asset Based Taxes. A portion of the wealth we have accumulated. Like property taxes.
Fee Based Taxes. Fees for services rendered. Like toll charges or drivers' license fees.
Fuck You Taxes. Taxes of opportunity. Like a traffic ticket for floating through a stop sign that shouldn't be there in the first place, or the tobacco and booze taxes.

Which of these types of taxes are fair? The answer is, "None Of The Above".

Since taxes aren't fair to start with, I think we should quit thinking in those terms. I think we should consider an asset based tax system to the exclusion of all other types of taxes. An asset based tax system would ensure that people who don't have anything would not pay taxes. The cost of the government would be borne by people who have much.

Hmmm. Then we could call those who pay taxes 'Nobility' and people who don't pay taxes 'Peasants'. Since the Nobility pays the bill, they should call the shots too, right? It''s only fair, isn't it? And those who don't pay taxes should show their respect to those who do, shouldn't they? Then we could have a revolution. A peasant uprising, like the French did in the late 1700's. I wonder if anyone still makes a good guillotine?

How about instead, we have a much smaller, less intrusive, less expensive government? Doesn't that sound a whole lot better?