Taxes

Maybe we should ALL just pay 70%, or make that 80% of our gross income to taxes! I'm sure we could pretty much all survive on 20% of our income. Then the government would SURELY have all the money it needed to take care of everyone and everything!

Oh, but keep in mind that since we would ALL just be "scraping by" with the 20% take-home, NOBODY would be able to afford anything but the bare necesseties. So the companies producing goods would have to cut way back on production, which means less jobs would be offered, and prices for the goods would go way up to make up for the lack of sales. With less jobs available and goods costing more, more people would be out of work and in need of more government support. Also, with the thought of having to pay such high taxes, there would be no incentive for the ambitious people to work hard and take risks, just to be required to give away the majority of their profits. So eventually EVERYONE is broke, there are no jobs, there are no goods, and the government goes broke.

I know this scenario may sound far-fetched. But how far is too far?

Wouldn't it be MUCH better if the government gave incentives to those who are willing to go out and take the risks to be succesful and profitable? Then they could create competitive prices, sell more goods, and need more people to fill jobs to produce more goods. More people could go to work and pay taxes, so EVERYONE could then pay a SMALLER % of their gross income towards taxes and the government would get MORE money because more people would be working and paying taxes. The economy would be stronger, the government would be more powerful, and the people would be more proud and able.