Economic policy was a huge reason for my support of Ron Paul, but alas. I am now undecided between McCain and Obama, though neither has given a straight enough answer on the economic crisis of the housing/credit industry, and what either plans to do about it, for my liking as a voter. And, of course, we still have Congress to consider to keep things tied up as they are...
I'm not qualified to comment on most of this, but one point:
The USA introduced PAYE income tax during WWII, and by doing so was able to pretty much fund the entire war. Income tax works because it is coming out of every pay check rather than a lump sum at the end of the year (which was the situation beforehand). Unfortunately, company taxes don't work like this - many starting businesses go bankrupt when they have to pay their first tax bill. If businesses also worked on a PAYE system, they would be more able (and possibly more willing) to pay their share.
M nice idea, but probably not viable. The nature of business is that calculating monthly profits to tax would be very difficult and possibly very expensive. With utility bills often charged quarterly and suppliers paid monthly in arrears etc, a monthly tax bill would be quite diffiuclt to calculate.
Its actually an advantage to businesses not to go down the PAYE route. Saves them money on their overdraft as everything is paid in arrears. A business which goes out of business because of their tax bill is one that was failing anyway, they had simply failed to recognise it.
I think something of the kind happened to the pound in 1914. When Britain went to war, it did not even imagine that among the most permanent results of the war would have been to make everyone divest from pounds and invest in dollars. Indeed, the impact of the massive inflow of funds from Europe to Wall Street in Autumn 1914 was such that for a long time there was a danger that the unprepared Americans might collapse under their very success. Well, I guess it took them only 94 years.
This is a cycle that repeats itself over and over again. I suspect we are approaching another tipping point. I wonder which currency will take over from the Dollar if that happens. The Euro or the Yen
( ... )
This implies that England wanted war. That is totally belied by the facts. Three parties wanted war: Germany, Russia and especially Austria, that did everything in its power to avoid a peaceful settlement. Even so, Germany could have avoided Britain's involvement (Britain, with big troubles of its own in Ireland, absolutely did not want to be involved in an European war) if they had kept their paws off Belgium. Oil was certainly a factor, but one has to remember that until well after the war, most energy generation and most transportation by land and sea was powered by coal, of which all the belligerant powers except Italy had far more than enough. Neither of the two world wars was "about" oil; they both were about the Austro-Prussian itch to dominate the known universe.
Comments 13
Economic policy was a huge reason for my support of Ron Paul, but alas. I am now undecided between McCain and Obama, though neither has given a straight enough answer on the economic crisis of the housing/credit industry, and what either plans to do about it, for my liking as a voter. And, of course, we still have Congress to consider to keep things tied up as they are...
Reply
Reply
The USA introduced PAYE income tax during WWII, and by doing so was able to pretty much fund the entire war. Income tax works because it is coming out of every pay check rather than a lump sum at the end of the year (which was the situation beforehand). Unfortunately, company taxes don't work like this - many starting businesses go bankrupt when they have to pay their first tax bill. If businesses also worked on a PAYE system, they would be more able (and possibly more willing) to pay their share.
Reply
Its actually an advantage to businesses not to go down the PAYE route. Saves them money on their overdraft as everything is paid in arrears. A business which goes out of business because of their tax bill is one that was failing anyway, they had simply failed to recognise it.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment