Reconsidering Corporation Tax, from a liberal perspective

[scottishlad1987]

well we agree on more than i first though we would when i heard that you were on the left. anyone who can back up their beliefs with actual policies has my respect and attention.

[RevolutionaryJam]

@scottishlad1987 I think I'm pretty centrist these days I'm interested in what might work/setting the right priorities, thanks for waching the videos, hope you get something out of them and stay tune :-) feel free to leave more comments

[DarkangaelBrokenwing]

good points

[RevolutionaryJam]

@DarkangaelBrokenwing thanks, my latest tax policy is to abolish income tax and replace it with a tax on land ownership, since 69% of the land in the UK is owned by 0.66% of the population, they did nothing to earn that land.

[AlanCom1]

The tax code is actually 67000 pages. I don't know where you got the 17000 figure.

[RevolutionaryJam]

must have been a typo in my notes, oh well, whats 50,000 pages between friends lol

[cris750]

I meant "he" will take part...

[cris750]

However, Ralph Nader will take part in the interest of Labor. Probably I will take a role in how Labor issues in conjunction with environmental issues will be addressed and follwed. Or rather Nader-like protections for Labor interests.

[cris750]

I have also came up with three types of corporations but concentrating on perserving the Home nation market. Adam Smith himself emphasized in preserving the Home market versus the Foreign market for human labour.

[cris750]

I have came up with a system where there would be 0% percent corporation tax (or an agreed single digit adjustable FLAT tax between nations). However, the corporation would have to concentrate on the LABOUR volume on both sides of the exchange: Home vs. Foreign nation(s). My hypothesis is directly in agreement with Adam Smith's obervation concerning the role and origin of the corporation tax.

[idasputem]

5* Very well organised and clearly explained scenario, THANKS.

Except with the "How The Game Is Played" diagram, even when I went full screen I couldnt read much of the writing in the diagram sections. I really wanted to know too.

But overall I think you have a great idea to abolish corp tax.

So many self employed people even ASK ME to give them any reciepts I HAVE so they can use them as their own as if they'd paid for them, and give them to an accountant to write off as business expenses. Pah!

[RevolutionaryJam]

hey send me an message with your email and I'll send you the diagram, i myself am very sorry this didn't come out more clearly

[globaldominationproj]

Because we have tax demands addressed to us in capitals it means we are considered corporations ourselves. Or we are assets to the government who have over-borrowed and created mountainous national debts so that each individual now has to pay back that debt with interest on top - see Zeitgeist II - whereas the big corporations don't. Is it the difference between wealth creators and overheads?? Thanks Ant for the vid.

[antiparticlesteve]

Good vid bro, don't hate the player hate the game.

[ejbh3160]

The thing I still find hard to accept is the 'bonuses' some of the corporate gluttons take home. Paulson (US treasurer who's just been given 700 billion to play with) used to work for Goldman Sachs before it went pop.. he took home 500 MILLION from that 'job'? And they all do it! Ten years of unregulated bonus corporate 'culture' & we get recession! Guess why? Who the heck needs hundreds of millions anyway? IMO its a compulsive psychological disorder when people think they need that much money!

[RevolutionaryJam]

yeah you're right so many of the CEOs who ran their banks into the ground made incomes in the millions of pounds over the last year! they should have to pay for their own crisis, why should the common man?

[blujufirst]

Quite simply we have no power to stop them doing as they please. And worst of all the vast majority of common people have not even the slightest inclination to try and do something about it.

[RevolutionaryJam]

looks that way :-(

[imafishgod]

Antony, you are our revolution! So glad you're back at it sweet jam! Peace♥

[RevolutionaryJam]

hey thanks :-)

[rumpelstillskin65]

wall street bailout find out who your congressman/senators are vote them out get a sign for who is running agianst them put it in your yard vote these crooks out of office and dont forget OBAMA / MCCAIN WHO BOTH VOTED FOR IT(VOTE NADER) wages yes for the people NO for congress vote NO new world order, NO cfr, NO war, NO illuminati, NO fema camps. tired of the lies year after year they dont do crap for the people when they get in office. enough is enough stand up and say NO VOTE THIRD PARTY

[uberjim83]

Obama voted against the war, and I'm pretty sure they haven't voted on the illuminati, fema camps or NWO yet (though the concentration camps we erected in WW2 are still fully operational and staffed, just in case).

[daniel987878]

He voted for the bailout like Mccain. He recceived heaps of donations from Goldman too.

[RevolutionaryJam]

I also support Nader for president

[Felix1085]

good video.

looking for the truth is the first step in finding it.

I am not educated on the tax code, but I know that few corporations pay tax. That just doesn't seem right to me.

Keep up the good work.

[endertrask]

government bureaucracy will generally not. I also don't believe the government should take my money to pay for someone else, when I worked hard for that money. Also, if I'm not widening the gap between the rich and the poor, why should I pay into a kind of redistribution of wealth? I think you and I differ a lot on politics, but I like your videos because I like to hear the other side.

[RevolutionaryJam]

I agree that if you work hard for your money you should be able to keep it or at least most of it, but if it was "appropriated" ie. through dividends, interest, rent etc. (unearned) it should be taxed at a higher rate since you did not contribute any labour

the thing is we live in a civilisation and so one way or another we need to cooperate, some things are better provided by local government, eg. public transport, otherwise the market cant provide all the necessary routes cheaply enough

[endertrask]

you are right, tax laws definitely favor corporations! While i do think it is good to encourage free enterprise, I think there is something unbalanced about the system, seeing as the fact the rich always get richer and the poor always get poorer. I'm not sure pure capitalism would fix it, nor pure socialism... but finding a middle ground may be hard. The problems with socialism (at least economically) is the fact that the market will (usually) always know what price good should be, whereas a

[RevolutionaryJam]

I don't agree with pure capitalism or pure socialism, right now we have a middle ground but we have the WORST of both instead of the BEST of both

I believe in small and localised government so you can see exactly where your tax money is going and the transparency to make sure it is well spent

why should the basic essentials of life like food, water and energy be left to market forces where they can charge us whatever they want for it or not pay the farmers enough to get by

[RevolutionaryJam]

also another point "The problems with socialism (economically) is that the market will... know what price good should be, whereas a government beaurocracy will not"

is not entirely sound, because the market chooses the price on what people are ABLE to pay, ie. it comes down to hom much democracy you can afford, it is not focused on providing the best possible product, only the most saleable which isn't necessarily the best for society, I'm really glad you enjoy the vids and its good to differ

[endertrask]

good point. I agree. I think local government is the best, and the federal government should be as small as possible. Also, yes the market can't provide for everything either :) I would be weary of the government setting any prices though

[RevolutionaryJam]

I understand that criticism, it would be better if the PEOPLE were participating in the "price", for example, instead of subsidising farmers local government could offer them a wage for their produce (which they can choose to take or not) and that would encourage sustainable farming, not overfarming to produce as much as possible to sell it

I recommend the book "it doesn't have to be like this" you can get it dirt cheap on amazon, it's very educational

[uberjim83]

Damn straight! If capitalism worked, McDonald's wouldn't be popular.

I'm for high corporate taxes because a corporation is an artificial construct; people have rights and needs etc, whereas a corporation is an intangible thing that exists purely for the benefit of people (shareholders, owners etc). As such, I believe corporate profits should be taxed more heavily than individuals. Then again, I think nobody should be able to give himself a bonus unless he owns the whole company anyway.

[HappybugPopcorn]

Interesting video, but I would like to suggest slowing down the word pace. It's relentless, no visual breaks, and really it's very much a piece of WRITING. It could be better adapted to video, so the experience becomes more than just reading as fast as you can through a complex subject. I think you could have an outstanding video if you can take more advantage of the visual and motion possibilities of video.

[RevolutionaryJam]

thanks I'll keep that in mind for future videos

[Katoi5]

Corp taxes should be abolished or very small. Not because I love corps or anything, but because the tax bill will always be paid by the consumer in the end, not to mention the paychqs we get from them. Taxing every individual is fine, but taxing corps is greedy on the gov's part since everyone who runs a corp is an individual anyway. Having lower corp tax rates would benefit us if it attracts more business, creates more competition and thus drives down prices.

[Katoi5]

Problem w/ corp tax is the possiblity of double taxation. Since all of our income comes from corps (or gov) in one way or another, that income is taxed on the personal level, so it wouldnt make sense to tax that income again on the corporate side, so allowing corps to deduct wage expense is for good reason. As for the other expenses, if u imagine ur a small business, u can only pay tax on what is left to spend at the end of the year, so taxing gross sales would put u out of business for sure.

[RevolutionaryJam]

All good points.

[purplepixelations]

honestly tax is wrong no matter how you slice it. However since I have to choose I would choose the fair tax.

[RevolutionaryJam]

in the UK that is considered a very far right position and almost everyone is agreed that there should be some form of taxation to pay for public services, the dispute is usually over the degree of taxation (it's far too high, even if some on the left don't realise this) and the form it takes (currently lots of loopholes and bias in favour of the wealthy.)

[WorldMarriage]

Advocates claim that a natural-resource-value tax a la Henry George can't be passed on by landlords. Being that natural resources have not been earned, and that an individuals' land value has been raised by the community making improvements around said land, ecolibertarians claim that taxing the use of natural resources is the fairest source of government revenue. It would also be cheaper for the government and easier for the businessman than doing the paperwork for sales taxes.

[RevolutionaryJam]

yes I think it's important that as a race we are prepared to repair any damage we do to the planet.

[WorldMarriage]

A problem with taxing land value is that it encourages all land to be used to maximum economic production, so I think that letting the government lease land is better, since they can give lower prices to people who will sustain its productivity through moderation rather than strip it through excess, but they can still never raise the price beyond market price, which I believe may be a necessary check on government power, whereas now they can raise our taxes with no limit except elections.

[RevolutionaryJam]

yes i have a lot of sympathy with your opinion

private ownership of corporate land is not always good because if i go to the shops my shopping is more expensive because the business owner must pay the landlord

the landlord DOES NOT CONTRIBUTE ANY LABOUR to the production of my commodities but gets rich of me buying them

this is particularly exploitative in the case where one company owns vast stretches of property in the CBDs of cities

[TimeWarp66]

RevolutionaryJam

Very well done good sir. This is a superb video. The only foreseeable problem with the implementation of the Fair Tax would be the discouragement of tourism. Tourists are not going to want to pay taxes that don't affect them lol. But I'm sure that can be worked out, tourists could receive some sort of visitation card that waves the tax when they purchase items here.

[TimeWarp66]

Oh and you forgot to mention the rebate thats given to everyone at the end of the year. Its a check sent by the government, up to the poverty line; as to not make this tax system hurt the poor.

[RevolutionaryJam]

I think this is just a broad suggestion since the specifics could be worked out later

You will notice this video hasn't called for the abolition of income tax as well, income tax is not unconstitutional in the UK and most people would consider it "mad" here to abolish it, I don't have a position on it at the moment.

Unlike in america where you earn over $96k you pay a LOWER percentage in tax than if you earn less, it is progressive here but I think too high for the middle class in society

[TimeWarp66]

If you believe in the income tax, you believe the government has the right to steel from you, you believe the government knows what is best for you, and that the government knows what to do with your money better then you do. No sir. I do not believe an income tax is compatible with a free society.

[RevolutionaryJam]

lol you know it's not very valid to say if you believe W you belive X, Y, Z especially when they are absurd claims

it's like a vegetarian saying if you eat meat you believe in the heartless, cruel and bitter slaughter of innocent animals for the selfish purposes of your dietary preferences

well no, actually, I just enjoy chorizo on my baguette :-/ the other stuff is an unfortunate consequence

[JohnSNeely]

Ant, this is a fantastic video with, as ever, some well made educated points, and some funky music into the bargain.

The whole thing really is a sick joke, and as always it is at the expense of the average worker. Why is everything always tipped so in favour of the rich? The more I look at things, the more I see that the world is truly screwed up.

[RevolutionaryJam]

Hey, thanks so much :-) glad you enjoyed it, and yeah, good ol' Stevie :-D

I think the reason it's tipped in favour of the rich is... they're the one's who tipped it!!! A lot of people look to the gov to solve those problems, but actually the government is often a weapon of the "bougoise" against the common man, they weild legislation to bias things in their favour,

regulation is good: when it suits big business not small, and welfare is ok as long as its for corporations not the poor!

[JohnSNeely]

Oh yes absolutely, Noam Chomsky even suggests that the government, or more accurately the whole democratic system in America was set-up to keep the rich in power, while giving people the illusion of "choice". It certainly looks that way today, government seems to be a power for the rich business's, who ...er... fund the politicians in the first place?

Though as I have said before, it is the fault of the few who control the many, or the fault of the many that let them?

[RevolutionaryJam]

I'd say a combination of both, people have to use what ever power they do still have (such as the stewardship of their income) to do whatever good they can. I'm all for people making youtube videos like this one with ideas on how society *should* be run, but without practical suggestions our movements are a lame duck

[Daveflex]

Dude you definatley have your head screwed on!!.. Your 100% right and you put your points across very well!! the "New world Order" doesnt want people like you out there saying this sort of thing, Its nice to know that there are some people out there that arent watching XFactor while eating gruel lol..peace!

[RevolutionaryJam]

thanks, I think it's funny how people are tricked into thinking corporation tax somehow taxes the rich and not the consumer, I certainly was!!!

Still not sure if Sales Tax is the final solution or not! Might hit the poorest members of society worse than the wealthier, but it's almost certainly a better alternative...

[egillelan]

Nice work, it turned out very well.

And I agree, the whole tax system is upside down.

[RevolutionaryJam]

thanks

[stone1home]

Howdy. You're familiar with the history of labor's struggle in America? It's epic, violent, heroic, and moving. They FOUGHT like hell for every right, and I mean fought with blood and bullets, bats, bricks and knives. And now every single advance they won is under attack. Give me a call sometime; we can talk about it. But passive or intellectual protest is proven pointless, as evidenced by three centuries of American history.

[RevolutionaryJam]

Please tell me more about it