Nope. And that's not because I envy the rich. I just think that if you work hard and earn your income, you shouldn't be penalized for that. If you were born into money or got a fat inheritance, you shouldn't be penalized for being lucky, either. The greatest thing about this country is (and hopefully will continue to be) the fact that you can almost get whatever you want if you work for it. The worst part about this country is the fact that there are people who seem to think that they should get whatever they want but not have to work for it and even worse, criticize those who have more than them. Don't like something about your life? THEN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
How? By not being upset that the get the occasional break? More power to them but, either way, it's no skin off my back.
Sometimes I tend to think you have never written a check of size to the united states treasury. When you do your tune will change. Just bc a person makes more doesn't mean they can give away more. And if that is even an argument then those not paying should give up more, like voting.
Let's assume the average tax burden is 10K. Why do you think a person making 20,000 should pay 50% of their income as taxes and the person making 2,000,000 should pay 0.5%?
Ah, you think I'm on welfare, eh? You might be surprised. :lol: Your ignorance of my personal income is completely beside the point. I just believe that all kinds of income should be taxed the same. The republicans don't want interest, capital gains, and dividends to be taxed at all. The very rich got a huge break when their primary income source was reduced to 15%. The middle class, whose income comes mostly from salaries and business profits, get to keep paying full price for the bulk of their income. When I'm talking about the rich, I'm talking about the really rich, not the 6-figure upper middle class incomes, of which I am one, believe it or not. I'm talking about the 7, 8, 9, and 10-figure income guys, . . . like you. :hihi: The richest 400 taxpayers (average $345million income) made less than 7 percent of their income from salaries. The republicans think its grand that these people only have to pay 15% tax on 97% of their income. If they get their way, they will make this income completely free of taxes. Think about it. The idle rich essentially get a free ride with huge incomes and their gardener who works by the sweat of his brow for low income and has no savings, must be taxed on 100% of his income. Middle-class people, even those like me who have better-than-average savings and investments, get the tax break on less than 10% of their incomes. A flat tax would be a workable solution, but it must consider all kinds of income and it must at the same time eliminate the complex tax loopholes, breaks, deductions, exemptions, and credits that allow certain classes of income earner to avoid paying their share. The top 1% of households earn 23% of all gross income. It owns 35% of the national wealth. It received two-thirds of America's total gain in income from 2002-2007 after implementation of the Bush tax cuts. Despite its claimed "tax burden", the top 1% continues to pull away from everyone else, largely due to tax cuts. And they have cleverly convinced working middle class republicans that their taxation interests somehow coincide. I don't blame the rich for trying to get the best deal for themselves. I blame people like you for not trying to get the best deal for the middle class.
And you haven't even addressed the social security/medicare effects. The first 106,800 gets hit with a 15.2% fixed rate. Because of the way it's managed (i.e. there really isn't a lock box out there with 2.5 trillion in it), this is a highly regressive fixed income tax. Those tax cuts were financed by the surpluses here. The rest of the operating budget was in the red. Now that the payouts are starting to pass the payins, they want to cut payouts. So in effect the tax cuts were a massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the rich. Peak effective tax rates are experienced by those who are at the SS cutoff.
That's what I am talking about. Sounds like we all agree, guys that work for their money deserve a fair tax. Those that get money through loopholes, wheeling and dealing (measures that common people can't even pretend to have access too), well, maybe they pay a "bit" more. Funny, how this applies to those at the top and at the bottom of the income ladder. Look who is left, holding the "hot, tax potato." That is a great post Red, though I am sure you will be chided, without regard to facts, by the "warriors of the rich." The last paragraph is the key. I have addressed it before, and will again. hwr
