Taxes: Supportive to some, desired by others, and absent for many
No one seems to like to bring up arguments in favor of taxes -- except perhaps policy makers -- but the Tax Policy Center notes there are ways of making taxes simpler to implement and fairer to those who pay them.
The exterior of the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. The head of the Tax Policy Center 鈥� a program overseen by the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution 鈥� said yesterday that there are ways to boost the economic prospects of middle class taxpayers, such as indexing tax credits to what he called "inequality."
Susan Walsh/AP/File
Tax policy could help the middle class. TPC director before the Senate Finance Committee yesterday and suggested several ways to聽 improve the middle class鈥� economic prospects: Increase聽 access to higher education and job training and consolidate and target education tax subsidies; slow the growth of聽health care spending; eliminate the carried interest loophole; and encourage retirement saving. He also proposed tax credits and other provisions are adjusted each year. Instead of indexing for inflation, he proposed indexing for inequality. You can watch the entire hearing .
But folks are shopping whether or not, or wherever, they鈥檙e paying taxes. , an online marketplace鈥檚 fee is up鈥� and the House Judiciary Committee internet sales tax: Impose the levy聽 based on the retailer鈥檚 home state rather than the consumer鈥檚 residence. But critics say it would be easy for online retailers to game such a tax.
And certain activities remain tax free. Prostitution is illegal (in states other than Nevada), unsafe, and untaxed. Yet, in just eight cities, it generated $1 billion in revenue in 2007, according to a landmark . Even Nevada, where prostitution is legal in rural counties, does not tax the enterprise. But the recent weak economy a sales tax for brothels, while some Nevada brothels recently to pay state taxes in order to help solidify their legal status in the state.
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