Trump floats eliminating U.S. income tax and replacing it with tariffs on imports

return2ozma@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 361 points –
Trump floats eliminating U.S. income tax and replacing it with tariffs on imports
cnbc.com
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Every penny they make is taxed to Uncle Sam

There is no where near a 100% income tax rate LMFAO. Obviously nonsense claims do not make a good argument.

If he campaigns on this,

MAKE INFLATION GREAT AGAIN

I think they mean they tax based on their total income not they collect the entire income

Canada does the same thing for people abroad

Marginal tax rates are based on adjusted gross income, type of income, and amount of income. Common adjustments include tax credits, tax free income adjustments, and deductions.

All of those still take into account your total income

Even if he meant that his hyperbole is still wrong. Every penny is not taken into account since all amounts are rounding to the nearest dollar.

No they don't. The standard exemption for fiscal year 2024 is $14,600 for every single filer, regardless of total income. The first $14,600 is literally not taxed.

There's also many credits that do not take income into account at all.

Brackets are how your total income is broken up. Your total income is still relevant so they know when to stop taxing

That's a very different statement than "every penny you make is taxed".

A tax at 0% is still a tax, I feel people are purposively missing the point rather than debate them

It's literally exempt from taxation, that's why they call it an exemption.

Idk about you but I get it back through tax returns which would suggest it’s not exempt, just 0%

For comparison; Churches are exempt and don’t pay tax then get it refunded

That's...not how that works

I'm an IRS certified tax preparer, please trust me that you've got it wrong. There are brackets, but they are (mostly) only applied after all the exemptions, credits and deductions. That's why you hear about things like "gross income", "adjusted gross income", and "modified adjusted gross income".

The lowest tax bracket is 10%. That bracket is only applied on income from $0 to $11,600. If you make only $12,000 that year, then before that tax bracket is applied, all of your income is already exempted. It's similar to a tax bracket, but it's not, because exemptions are different for different filers. And reductions and credits further complicate things. Your adjusted income is often very different than your gross income.

You are literally not required to file taxes if your income falls below this threshold. It would be dumb, because you'd probably get some money if you did file, but all of your income is exempt.

Practically speaking, there's not much difference between exempt income and a tax bracket of 0%, but the semantics of the statement "every penny is taxed" requires some clarification especially when there's a portion of your taxes literally called an "exemption".

This has gone on too long, you don’t seem to know what you’re talking about

You just seem like you got mad at them saying everything is taxed but had no way to address it so you resorted to nitpicking when it’s perfectly clear what they are saying

If you do have any clue about taxes then perhaps instead of ranting to me. You could argue to them about expats still paying taxes to the US based on their whole income rather than a portion of it

Like I said, it's the ridiculousness of claiming "every penny is taxed" when there's a literal dollar-amount exemption. I'm not addressing his broader point, because the other poster already did. I'm just addressing the "what you said is ridiculous" portion.

It's somewhat accurate to say "every penny they make is taxABLE to Uncle Sam" which is different from saying 100% tax rate. Americans living outside the US still need to file a tax return and report all their income, and pay tax on it to the US, even if it is from a foreign source. That said they could claim the foreign tax credit if they paid tax to a foreign regime on that income already, or the foreign income exclusion under some circumstances which would reduce their taxable income to the US.

It’s somewhat accurate to say “every penny they make is taxABLE to Uncle Sam”

It's completely meaningless but hyperbolic to say that because that's the way taxes work in every country. No country randomly ignores random amounts of income from taxation. Also, there is the concept of tax exempt income and the fact that pennies and dollar fractions are completely ignored on tax forms.

Calm down professor. The US is one of the only countries in the world to tax worldwide income, even if they are a nonresident of the US. That is NOT how it works in every country.

Here's a pretty good article about it from the WSJ if you want to educate yourself on the subject: https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-WB-34630

The US is one of the only countries in the world to tax worldwide income, even if they are a nonresident of the US.

We all know that and this is not what is being discussed genius.

That is NOT how it works in every country.

Taking into considering "every penny" of your income IS how it works in every country.