ii iv viii	Merry Christmas and Happy New Year NEW - In 2016 the 2-4-8 Tax Blend will become 2-4-8 Tax Choice The "choice" would allow all taxpayers to choose an income tax rate between 8% and 28% paired with a net wealth tax rate of 2% going down to zero. Wealth taxes paid would reduce Estate and Gift taxes (also set at 28%). This would encourage wealthy individuals to pay some net wealth taxes as a form of inexpensive life insurance.	Wealth 0% 0.5% 1% 1.5% 2%	Income 28% 23% 18% 13% 8%
		Business C - Corp	4% VAT 8% Income

Timothy Noah was a senior writer at Slate, a Washington reporter for the Wall Street Journal, and author of The Great Divergence: America's Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do About It (Bloomsbury).

... The distribution of income in the United States is skewed toward the rich, but the distribution of wealth is skewed much more heavily toward the rich. Why didn’t I write a book about that? ... Whereas median family income fell about 8 percent during that period, which covers the 2007-2009 recession and the first year of the present (weak) recovery, median net worth fell about 39 percent.

... If you own a house what you've really got (until you pay off your mortgage) is debt. About half of all households own stock (usually through mutual funds) but only about one-sixth possess stock holdings worth $7,000 or more. Eighty-one percent of all stocks are owned by by the top 10 percent. Overall, the top 10 percent possesses about three-quarters of all the wealth in the U.S. (By comparison, it possesses about 45 percent of the income.) So wealth is pretty much a non-issue for most people.

... But the U.S. government has never really been in the business of redistributing wealth in any direct way. Wealth is typically not taxed. Income is taxed. Taking away a person's wealth is expropriation. Taking away a person's income—some of it, anyway—is merely asking that person to pay his or her fair share to support the operations of government.

2-4-8 Letter to the Editor Response

Tax Wealth and Income for Sustainable Economic Growth

In "Income, Not Wealth" Timothy Noah wrongly contends the, “U.S. government has never been in the business of redistributing wealth in any direct way" and proclaims that taxing, "a person's wealth is expropriation". The tax code - (tax expenditures a/k/a “loopholes”) has redistributed income and wealth from the middle class to the top at a rate in excess of $1 trillion for over 20 years. Mr. Noah has to realize that people are taxed and income, net wealth and consumption are simply the measure of how much the tax should be.

A powerful and resilient tax blend can heal the economy by adding a VAT ($10 trillion sales base) and net wealth ($53 trillion individual base) to the income ($13 trillion individual and corporate base).

For Business: 8% corporate rate and 4% VAT - (“tax perfection” with no downside) 
For Individuals: 8% individual rate and 2% net wealth – (excluding $15,000 savings and all retirement funds)
 
A typical family would save or spend $640 more per month, business would add jobs to meet the increased demand and owners would reap handsome profit. This 2-4-8 Tax Blend is the only tax reform that creates sustainable economic growth with no government subsidy.

Eugene Patrick Devany, JD, MPA

www.TaxNetWealth.com

Massapequa Park, NY  

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Copyright 1985 to 2015 by Eugene Patrick Devany