Revenues: Where do they come from in a 0-0-0 World?

[C 4]

What are the good revenues in a free and sucessful society?

Federal?
State?
Local?

[jasonxe]

i think people contribute/donate. (im not a pro so i'll let someone else answer this)

[wgadget]

Tariffs, excise taxes...

[Endthefednow]

Welcome to the forum C4

Here is a little from Ron Paul`s Presidential Campaign sight.

As President, Ron Paul will support a Liberty Amendment to the Constitution to abolish the income and death taxes. And he will be proud to be the one who finally turns off the lights at the IRS for good.

Capital gains taxes, which punish you for success (and interfere with your efforts to hedge against inflation by purchasing gold and silver coins), should also be immediately repealed.

Struggling college students and those working to support their families would be greatly benefited and receive an immediate pay raise by eliminating taxes on tips.

As a congressman, Ron Paul has consistently endorsed legislation to let Americans claim more tax credits and deductions, including on educational costs, alternative energy vehicles, and health care. He also believes it is immoral to tax senior citizens twice by requiring them to include Social Security benefits in their gross income at tax time. A first step to eliminating that requirement would be to repeal the 1993 increase in taxes on Social Security benefits. Then we must abolish that tax entirely.

While a Flat Tax or a Fair Tax would each be a better alternative to the income tax system, Congressman Paul believes we would have to guarantee the 16th Amendment is repealed to avoid having both the income tax and one of these systems as an additional tax.

But there is a better way. Restraining federal spending by enforcing the Constitution’s strict limits on the federal government’s power would help result in a 0% income tax rate for Americans.

The answer to spending and debt is to return to a constitutionally limited government that protects liberty – not one that keeps robbing Peter to pay Paul.

[mainstream economist]

What are the good revenues in a free and sucessful society?

Federal?
State?
Local?

Let us fix the terminology first. 0-0-0 is 0 personal income tax, 0 corporate income tax, and 0 national sales tax.

What would be the remaining sources of revenue? For the federal government, here are some. Dr. Paul has a long-term vision that would phase some of these out as well, but that is not his immediate plan for the first 3 years.

User fees. Example 1: Toll roads. Example 2: Postal service. Main idea: If government is to provide a monopolistic service, collect fees from the people who use that service when they use it. This is consistent with the principle that no human being has the right to force another human being to pay his bills, which is what taxation does.
Social security taxes: While the social security system is a failure, it will at the very least cease to be as tyrannical once people are given the option to opt out. Those who stay in the social security system will essentially be paying in the present for their future social security payouts. In an opt-out system, social security taxes will more closely resemble user fees.
Tariffs: Duties on imports.
Excise taxes: Taxes on the sale of particular goods. Examples include taxes on alcohol, tobacco, firearms, various sources of fuel (such as oil and coal), etc.


In a 0-0-0 world, total revenues might be slashed by quite a bit. Fortunately, we don't need or even want the government to be in charge of spending that extra revenue anyways. Of course, 0-0-0 is a slightly longer term goal. Dr. Paul's proposed plan suggests starting with cutting the spending first and starting with more modest tax cuts, with the plan to move to 0-0-0 once that is successful.

Also, welcome to the boards!

[mainstream economist]

Also, this question seems like it would be more appropriate in the "Economics" subforum.

[Liberty4life]

Here's an idea, put the money in a bank account, every quarter take out 3% if your talking trillions of dollars that's quite a significant amount,.

Seems like if they wanted to the government could come up with a product they could sell, its not like they don't have start-up capital.

Sell bonds, sell collectors coins, there are lots of ways they could make money besides taking it from the people.

Ask yourself how did they get along without taxes before 1913. It seems during that time was when America was at its best.

Right now the Government is a victim of its own largess. Instead of learning how to be independent, they have learned how to
depend on the people for their revenue.

The people are learning how to be dependent on the government, weird situation, each parasitical entity depends on the other to live.

[Brian4Liberty]

What are the good revenues in a free and sucessful society?

Federal?
State?
Local?

Welcome to the forums!

Please read these threads for discussion of your question:

And the best tax is always the lightest - And that would be tariffs (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?326244-And-the-best-tax-is-always-the-lightest-And-that-would-be-tariffs)
How Was Government Funded before 1913 and IRS? (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?323424-How-Was-Government-Funded-before-1913-and-IRS)
How to fund the Federal Government without Income Tax? (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?320477-How-to-fund-the-Federal-Government-without-Income-Tax)

[ProBlue33]

I know, make all drugs legal and tax them at 30%.
User use, user pays.

[tremendoustie]

What are the good revenues in a free and sucessful society?

Federal?
State?
Local?

User fees, subscriptions, voluntary agreements and contracts. Good revenues do not come via extortion or threats of force. We all recognize such behaviors as immoral if perpetrated by average individuals, and they do not magically become moral for individuals who win elections.

That said, the federal government is most of the problem. Even if state and local governments keep taking money by force, their abuse doesn't hold a candle to what the feds do.

[Revolution9]

If they taxed shuffling papers from one bin to another pretending that it created wealth we could create either a large stream of revenue or shut down the most egregious of financial players.

Rev9