Place a 1% surtax on assets excluding personal residences and retirement accounts. This would be a
1% tax per year on stocks, bonds, CDs, money market accounts, etc. At present these assets probably exceed $100 trillion in the United States. This
would bring in $1 trillion per year and the
$15 trillion debt would be paid off in 15 years as the interest on the debt is included in the year to year federal budget expenditures. This way,
those that have the financial ability to pay the debt off will be paying it. No one else is going to pay it off but those that can afford to whether
it is by increases in income taxes or an asset surtax. If anyone thinks that a debt of this magnitude can be paid off by cutting expenses, think
again. It is just too huge. The interest on the debt alone is $500 billion per year. The proceeds of the surtax would be allocated STRICTLY to paying
off the national debt and could not be used for any other purposes. While the national debt is being paid off by the asset surtax, the year to year
budgets of the federal government which are funded by income taxes will have to be balanced by budget cuts preferably and/or income tax increases. As
the debt is paid off this will free $500 billion per year over time by reducing the amount of interest we are paying on the debt each year. This extra
money could be used to either fund programs or be used for tax cuts. After the national debt is paid off the asset surtax would be eliminated. The
effect on consumer spending would not be as great as some might think because there would be no income tax increases associated with the asset surtax.
It is also interesting to note that two thirds of the national debt is owed to our own citizens and entities and not to foreign citizens and entities
so two thirds or $10 trillion of the $15 trillion when paid off will remain right here in the United States.
Even Freeloaders should like this!
blog.heritage.org
(visit the link for the full news article)


