Gore Calls For An End To All Payroll Taxes, Wants Pollution Taxes Instead

[owl]

According to the article, it'd be a swap. The pollution money would totally replace payroll taxes.

 

Although I suppose SS reform is a different issue entirely.

[JUDE]

... I'd like to know whether he thinks I'm going to eat tasty trees from the forest ...

 

If Gore can figure out how to get the cheesy powder from Cheeto's to stick to those trees I'll be right next to you gobbling up a couple of Blue Spruce.

[Mr. Heartbreak]

Yeah, there's got to be something missing there ... if my SS payroll tax no longer goes to SS, what am I going to get for SS when I retire? (... he asked, naively believing that he will get what those annual statements tell him he'll get ...)

 

If Gore can figure out how to get the cheesy powder from Cheeto's to stick to those trees I'll be right next to you gobbling up a couple of Blue Spruce.

[caliber66]

Seriously, though, is there some kind of plan for what happens if polluting companies actually clean up their act? How do you keep revenue up? Punish companies that get cleaner by raising pollution tax rates?

 

Anyone interested in taking a stab at this?

[bjorn_skurj]

A tax on Internet bulletin boards?

[embiggen]

Anyone interested in taking a stab at this?

 

perhaps the companies/factories that have to produce some waste as a part of the process of what they make, would pay a perpetual tax because of the kind of product they make.

 

honestly, I don't see income tax ever going away.

 

but, I do think it is a good idea to have a pollution tax. something has to be done about the state of the earth and it's atmosphere, water, etc, and if a tax will help, I'm for it. but I really don't see it bringing in the same revenue as income taxes though.

[mpolak21]

While we're on the subject, regardless of what he says, Diddy did NOT invent the remix. GIVE A HOOT!

 

This one was to good to go unnoticed.

 

--Mike

[quarter23cd]

I like this idea a lot, in theory. I have no idea how it would play out in reality, however. Given that current payroll taxes are based on fairly concrete numbers, this calls up questions of who would be doing the emissions measurements, how often, and how do we ensure accuracy and reduce loopholes and/or corruption in the process?

 

Again, I love the idea in theory and I'd love to see a plan to make this work. As for the questions about "What if everybody cleans up their act?"--well, that woud be wonderful (given that that's the whole point of this thing) Somehow, running into that "problem" still seems doubtful, tho.

[caliber66]

Yeah, it seems unlikely that it would cause polluters to clean up their act, but there's no way in hell I'll get on board with this thing unless there's some kind of plan for what happens if they do.

 

Like you said, it's a great plan, in theory.

[MrRain422]

I would imagine that, if it got to the point that pollution was so low that the revenue from such a tax was not enough, then they'd either re-institute the payroll tax, or generate the tax revenue in some other way. It's not as though Gore is proposing that this will be the final tax plan ever.