Thread

1. valleyer · 1790820524 · focus · HN ↗

   Oy. I'm no fiscal conservative, but the US federal government absolutely needs to balance its budget. Otherwise, it's bound to either choke on interest payments, devalue the dollar, or both.

   Unlike most Trumpists, I see the the problem as a revenue issue, not expenditures; unlike many non-Trumpists, I doubt "tax the rich" is going to be enough to plug the hole.

   Government healthcare payments would be a good start -- it seems likely that the amount most employees already (effectively) pay for health insurance could fund equivalent government coverage with some money left over to help pay for other government expenses.

   1. bshaughn · 1790820958 · focus · HN ↗

      A good faith cooperate tax would solve most if not all of our deficit, and arguably increase our GDP growth.

      A 5% revenue tax on the fortune 500 would get us half way there. I could not quickly get a number for total revenue of more than the fortune 500, but I would not be surprised if a 3% VAT would cover the entire deficit. We lose so much tax revenue due to all the loop holes deliberately left in the corporate tax code.

      On top of that, ban stock buy backs entirely, that way more of the record breaking profits have to go to wages or other means of investing in the business.

      1. trescenzi · 1790821183 · focus · HN ↗

         Right there’s a lot of easy answers mechanically but they are challenging politically. The longer we wait to do anything the better they’ll look though that’s for sure.

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.