Seems like Clinton and Obama are geared at bloating the government again. I wonder how their plans CAN increase jobs; so far only talk of increasing taxes which goes against job creation. Isn't $40K the median US wage??? I heard that recently and it seems a bit low. My problem which the Democrat's idea of taxation is that they prefer to hit the "rich". I am not even looking at the super rich like CEO's of major corporations, or non working rich with inherited family wealth; I am talking about hard working individuals or couples who wanted a bit of the American dream, and better their family's lives. I think it is only fair to have a flat tax, as people/families that manage to make more are already paying more taxes in absolute amount; I do not think it is a fair thing to disproportionately tax them even more just because they are able to earn more; kind of punitive and discouraging, isn't it?
i think actually your # is a bit high. just makes you realize how bad many have it (usually of their own doing, but still bad.) and i consider 98k "rich" too. because its 6 times the poverty level.
I have issues with their plans for "redistribution of wealth"; I don't know what you can call it other than socialism. They sure are generous AT other people's expense. Someone sent me an email recently with the analogy of taking away some of the GPA from a hard working student with a 4.0 GPA, and giving it to some weaker, or less fortunate students with a low GPA to make things more even. How would the 4.0 student feel?
One of my favorite emails ever! About a kid who is a liberal telling his dad that he is evil and asuch. Then the father asks about his roommate and the kid says all he does is party and go out. Very popular but the boy is irritated that he gets all the attention and has all the fun but he is at home working and studying to do better at all times. The boys only defense is at least after this semester he is not going to be able to stay in school because of hs grades and slacking. The father suggests that his son take 2 points off his gpa and give it to his roommate, I mean that is only fair right? If you succeed you you should give what you ahve to others! Great story and joke! One of my favorites!
They can't bloat it worse than Bush and the republican party did in the last 8 years. OK, give us an example. More taxes on the middle class is not what they are saying. They want to restore the taxes that the super rich paid before all the Bush cuts. It just made them richer and put the nation deep in debt. This republican notion that you can spend like mad, while cutting income and never having to pay it off is INSANE and will lead to permanent inflation. It's already happening. This is not the case and it is why the AMT was created--because the wealthy can manage to evade taxes. A flat tax is fair, sure enough. It will make the rich pay their share and eliminate tax credits, deductions, depreciation, depletion allowances, and other tax evasion tomfoolery.
Please, show us one of these democratic plans for "redistribution of wealth" and point out what makes it socialist. I'm not talking about some conservative blogger's imagination and spin. I mean show me a Clinton or Obama quote where they talk about redistributing wealth and about using socialism to do it.
I'm so sick of hearing all this bull about the rich are overtaxed. People who make their money off of stocks and dividends pay less taxes as a percentage of income than those who earn all their money off of a payroll. That's a fact. People who buy into that crap need to do a little reading and quit getting all their information from Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reily, and Fox News. I heard Sean Hannity say that cutting taxes on the rich was great, because the rich would buy yachts, mansions, jets, etc. Why not cut them for the middle class, and let them buy cars, houses, eat out more, etc. If you give someone who already has 10 million dollars a million dollar tax break, he'll probably invest in the stock market, or just hoard it. Give the middle class a million dollar tax break spread among a bunch of people, boom, it's right back into the economy. you want to jump start the economy? Then eliminate the Bush tax cuts, and cut payroll taxes.
Red, your argument about the undertaxation of the rich seems to be centered over the ultra-rich that "live on inheritances and investments". I think you are referring to the lucky families like the Kennedys, Hiltons, Duponts, and also those insanely rich ones, movie stars in particular, you see on TV with their extravagant lifestyles, yachts etc. Those probably constitute the top 0.5 % if you put the cutoff of their income at 580,000 dollars(0.1 percent if cutoff at 1.6 million). Those are far and few in between, relatively speaking. However, how about the ones above the middleclass who work hard and are able to make a good living; depending on the income definition of middleclass, which can be at $79K to $100K as the upper end cutoff. Isn't putting extra tax burden on successful working people being unfair as that does seem punitive. I am far from being a tax or economics expert; but my simplistic understanding about tax credits, deductions, depreciation is that they are set up to help businesses and hence help creating jobs and investments; not necessarily set up purposely to benefit the rich, although they happen to be the group with the money to do this. Even the tax breaks for charitable/university donations are set up to encourage such; it is just that a lot of the super rich are doing this as part of their estate planning. These were set up by the government as they are felt needed. I do not see that as tax evasion. As to the US taxation, I cannot think of a country in the world that has a more complex tax code, and therefore spawn the industry of tax specialist in looking for loopholes and breaks. Why can't they have a flat tax system while eliminating all these deductions to simplify the system, and hence increased efficiency. I am fiscally a conservative, and I am of the school that you do not spend what you don't have. I agree that the government should always balance the budget , both Republicans and Democrats.
