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THE MATH
The five steps below explain the math behind the solutions on this site
1 - We're Using the Wrong Tax Base
We should tax the entire economy, not our income.
Today we tax income, even though the income we collectively earn, $22 trillion, is only a tiny fraction of the total payments in our economy. We should stop taxing income and tax payments instead.
Our economy is comprised of over $9,184 trillion in payments and the trade of financial assets as shown in this table.
By tapping such a huge base, the taxes you pay could be slashed by 100-fold and yet we could generate more revenue than we do today.
The Fed publishes this information in the BIS Red Book. Click United States in the link below, and look for Tables CTA1 and CTA2.
2 - The Power of Taxing Payments
If we taxed payments at 0.25%, we could eliminate every single tax we pay today, and yet generate four times the revenue.
3 - The Cost of New Benefits
Here's the cost of funding $24,000/yr in basic income, earned income credits, child care, free healthcare, and free college.
4 - We'd Have a Balanced Budget
The benefits above would cost $12 trillion, but they'd replace $3.3 trillion in spending. The new budget for the federal and all state and local governments would thus total $17 trillion.
A 0.25% payments tax would generate $23 trillion, so we'd have a $5.8 trillion surplus, as shown in the table.
5 - Your Reduced Taxes
Here's how low your taxes would be with a payments tax.
You'd no longer have to pay any federal, state, or local income taxes, Social Security taxes, capital gains taxes, sales taxes, or property taxes. And yet you'd receive basic income, free healthcare, and free college.
The math works. This can be done. To learn why this is possible, visit our page on taxation.
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