I've got views on taxation that would get me crucified on reddit, but may have a more sympathetic ear on HN. Here's some examples:
1) Eliminating corporate taxes. Would increase employment, capital spending, and wouldn't leave too much of a dent in tax receipts.
2) Eliminating automatic payroll tax deductions. Have citizens actually write out a check every quarter. Very inefficient, but we'd start to see some major reforms in SS/Medicare as federal legislature starts to get calls from their constituents.
3) Cutting payroll taxes and offset revenue with energy taxes (gasoline and carbon).
I have read several times that many of the so called "socialist" European countries actually have lower corporate taxes than the U.S. (They have higher payroll and income taxes, of course.)
Offsetting other taxes with increases in energy taxes is close to the consensus opinion of economists, I think.
So, maybe too extreme for Reddit, but not so far out of the mainstream, perhaps.
Have citizens actually write out a check every quarter
Have you actually met any citizens lately? I think you're overestimating the average person's ability to manage their finances. You know that idiot buddy of yours who only takes out $20 at a time from the cash machine so that he won't spend too much? That guy is orders of magnitude brighter than most regular people. Average people have this amazing ability to spend all of their money whenever they have any of it.
So yeah, you and me would know that we needed to keep $60k in savings until April to pay taxes with. Nobody else is capable of doing that math.
1) Eliminating corporate taxes. Would increase employment, capital spending, and wouldn't leave too much of a dent in tax receipts.
2) Eliminating automatic payroll tax deductions. Have citizens actually write out a check every quarter. Very inefficient, but we'd start to see some major reforms in SS/Medicare as federal legislature starts to get calls from their constituents.
3) Cutting payroll taxes and offset revenue with energy taxes (gasoline and carbon).