The Big Ideas Project

Tax all the income of people who have assets over $300,000. This includes making mandatory reporting of wages outside of our country. If money is made there and taxed there, it should be TAXED AGAIN in the United States! Those who do do not report it should have 5 year mandatory prison sentences without chance of parole.

Submitted by the answertothegap in Taxes & Budget Dec. 29, 2014, 11:38 a.m.

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#1211

123 votes

SS needs to be expanded and raised for those over 65 and permanetly infirmed. It is a right that we have paid for and NOT an entitlement. This is nothing to play around with by the House.

Submitted by Sandra L G. from NC in Taxes & Budget Dec. 11, 2014, 12:35 a.m.

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#1228

120 votes

Fair taxing of 1% in part for full funding of existing agencies such as EPA and FDA to inspect/fine/prosecute fraud and other violations in food industry, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and general consumer safety.

Submitted by Jane Leatherman Van Praag in Taxes & Budget Nov. 17, 2014, 7:58 a.m.

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#1228

120 votes

5% Usury Income Tax on All Private Banks. Use proceeds to fund Public State Banks and Credit Unions.

Submitted by Timothy Salt in Taxes & Budget Dec. 29, 2014, 2:05 p.m.

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#1239

119 votes

If all government employees and elected official were to be required to contribute to Social Security/medicare, and medicaid. They would not be so inclined to try to get rid of it. 2. End all payments of health benefits and retirement programs to elected officials, They should pay for their own, the same as every other American 3. End all payments after these elected officials leave office. These payments put a drain on our economic health.

Submitted by Barbara K. from FL in Taxes & Budget Dec. 11, 2014, 1:46 p.m.

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#1245

118 votes

Return to pre-1970 tax rates, adjusted for inflation, that would have tax rate of 90% on incomes over $5 million.

Submitted by Pietro Poggi in Taxes & Budget Dec. 10, 2014, 9:03 p.m.

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#1277

113 votes

Congress SHALL BE PROHIBITED NOW AND FOREVER MORE from in any way writing into annual, crucial national budget legislation bills ANY SPECIAL INTEREST-driven legislative proposals and/or propositions that directly benefit and serve Wall Street's amoral, self-centered, self-serving, Big-Banking (i.e., THIEVING!) interests. Permitting these criminals to dictate any national budget-affecting laws only further undermines and sabotages THE PUBLIC'S and THE NATION'S best economic interests... PERIOD!

Submitted by Steve M. from CA in Taxes & Budget Dec. 19, 2014, 7:26 a.m.

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#1283

112 votes

Tax derivatives. Tax a few pennies on every electronic stock trading transaction

Submitted by yes in Taxes & Budget Dec. 11, 2014, 4:38 p.m. 1

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#1293

111 votes

Corporate Executives are paid 90% in their own Companies Stock. These are Not awards or Options but Contracted Guaranteed Annual Income. IBM Executives are paid in "Performance Service Units" aka IBM stock, keep the stock for 365 days plus 1 day and then cash in for real dollars as to be taxed at 15 to 20% to avoid 39% ordinary Income tax rates. This form of tax avoidance compensation in Corporate America also incentivizes Corporations to "Buy Back" their own shares to "boost the stock price".

Submitted by Mike in Taxes & Budget Dec. 11, 2014, 8:44 a.m.

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#1308

109 votes

Eliminate the distinction between income from different sources. Have a standard deduction and progressive rates. Aggregate earned income, income from capital gains, income from inheritance, gifts, winnings, etc. This should correspond with eliminating the cap on Social Security taxes and equality between corporate and personal tax treatment.

Submitted by danvk in Taxes & Budget Jan. 13, 2015, 10:56 p.m.

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#1319

108 votes

Tie congressional pay to the average working wake. Than you would be working for us. If our pay stagnates so does yours. If our pay goes down so does yours.

Submitted by Richard Dunn in Taxes & Budget Jan. 4, 2015, 11:12 a.m.

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#1319

108 votes

$1500 automatic deduction for all veterans for life on tax returns.

Submitted by Jmar in Taxes & Budget Dec. 10, 2014, 11:45 a.m.

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#1319

108 votes

Since corporations have been designated as individuals, tax them at the individual rate we pay.

Submitted by Barb in Taxes & Budget Dec. 18, 2014, 9:49 p.m.

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#1328

107 votes

Eliminate tax exemptions for religious organizations.

Submitted by ejgon in Taxes & Budget Jan. 8, 2015, 11:41 p.m.

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#1334

106 votes

Eliminate Property Tax, on one personal residence, for each adult. This will align us with Article 17 of Elanor Roosevelt's Universal Declaration Of Human Rights which states 1. Everyone has the right to own property, and 2. No One shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.(Prop. Tax is Arbitrary)

Submitted by Brian Z. in Taxes & Budget Dec. 10, 2014, 12:48 p.m.

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#1342

105 votes

Make all credit card interest deductible. For regular people, credit cards are often the private version of the public safety net they don't have, and credit card interest is the very high tax many citizens pay to have someone care about them in times of often desperate need, when the US government has abandoned them. Taxing income that just goes straight back out to such "private taxation" amounts to double taxation on our poorest citizens.

Submitted by Kent Pitman in Taxes & Budget Dec. 26, 2014, 2:50 p.m.

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#1348

104 votes

We should raise capital gains taxes to 30% for the first million dollars and up to 40% for multimillionaires and billionaires. No evidence exists that lower capital gains taxes creates more jobs for middle class people. Lower capital gains taxes are inefficient and promotes more wealth inequality.

Submitted by Rex_in_Minnesota in Taxes & Budget Dec. 12, 2014, 5:52 p.m.

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#1348

104 votes

Fix out of date SSI rules and limits which were except for the savings limit not changed since 1972 when Pres Nixon signed SSI into law, like the Burial Limit of $1500 and the equally bad Life Insurance limit of $1500.00, both should be removed, the savings limit should be raised to $10,000($15,000 for couples) from the current $2,000($3,000 couples) limits that was last raised in 1989, plus revise the rules to make it easier to leave SSI gracefully either in whole or in part like HR1601/S2089.

Submitted by Disabled SSI Recipient in Taxes & Budget Dec. 10, 2014, 4:46 p.m. 2

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#1354

103 votes

Replace Capital Gains tax with a tax policy that strongly favors domestic (US) reinvestment. It used to be that when people had capital gains, any lower rate meant investors would naturally invest here at home. Today's multi-national corporations freely locate plants abroad at expense of US jobs, to avoid taxes, and to dodge labor and environmental regulation. The US citizenry shouldn't be subsidizing such practices. Tax breaks should reward and encourage trends we want/need.

Submitted by Kent Pitman in Taxes & Budget Jan. 10, 2015, 12:30 p.m.

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#1354

103 votes

Treat each financial transaction on the stock exchange taxable as ordinary income if not held longer than one year. On any algorythm driven transactin require a one minute delay in its execution to defeat monopolistic advantage of having algorythms and flash transactions.

Submitted by nokoch in Taxes & Budget Dec. 10, 2014, 9:01 p.m.

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#1354

103 votes

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