It doesn't matter, it makes no difference when compared to thousands of dollars people pay into the system from income tax. Not at all, you have this all wrong. Again, it is the system that is unfair not the people. Yes, I think everyone should contribute to society one way or the other but I would prefer a system where everyone pays income taxes and no one is exempt or collects "free" services without contributing to the country. I totally acknowledge there are people who work their butts off making less that don't pay any income tax. That wasn't my point. I said rich or poor? I was trying to point out that politicians, rich or poor, anyone can hide money or cheat the system not just the rich. Over the years I have known people who did this that wasn't rich. There is also a double standard here when you talk about people in the Obama Administration that cheated on taxes. I have ignored the namecalling up until now. Why the name calling? Agreed Yes and no, I am not lumping everyone together here. Your definition of fair, freeloading or positive contributions might be different from someone elses. You may think its fair for the rich to pay more and someone else may not. How can you be a positive contributor when you pay very little to nothing? Warren Buffet's secretary paid more on her income tax than Warren Buffet paid on his capital gains or dividends because it had already been taxed 35% at the corporate level. Warren Buffet's dividends were then taxed a second time at 15%. His secretary's income was only taxed once. I agree with this article. Our view on financing government: When 47% don't pay income tax, it's not healthy for USA - USATODAY.com
Elvis Presley? I'm sure there are plenty of professional athletes.politicians that were poor of all races. There are many immigrants from various countries who came here poor, made a good living or became wealthy.
Agreed, though I do have to add that I think the taxes we're paying right now (those of us that are) are quite enough, if they would curtail the spending. Of course, they seem to have no intention of doing so. One thing I think they should do, though there's no easy way to do it, is make tax credits zero sum. If you have more credits than what you paid in, then the best you can do is break even. I don't believe in a system where someone who paid $3,000 in taxes gets $7,000 back. It's wrong and wasteful. I bet a little change like that in the tax code would save a big chunk that they could put to better use somewhere else. Of course, the ones that rely on that money for income would be mad, but if they didn't put it in, so what? Life sucks sometimes. Someone else worked for that money. Obviously, this is just my opinion and there would be tons of details to work out in the above scenario. It's not just that simple I'm sure. Bottom line is, the government in recent years that I can remember (like in the last 15-20 or so) has not done things like it should, and as a result they keep raising taxes to sustain their spending habits, and they keep spending to have an excuse to raise taxes. We're getting nowhere, and if it continues, this country will suffer badly for it. I believe the politicians honestly think that it's their money to spend as they please. I also think the congressional approval numbers reflect that. They simply don't care what we think. But for the most part, I agree with your post. Feelings on which administrations are at fault aside, if spending is not drastically decreased, then the taxes will be drastically increased to pay for it and it will just get worse and worse. This is why I don't particularly align myself with either of the two mainstream parties.
Continuing the discussion is a waste of time, but I will comment on this: Just as I'm sure you don't think this is name calling: I don't think what I wrote is namecalling.
Why would you say that?:dis: You can't acknowledge my point about Warren Buffet, you brought him up? You gave up to easy as I said I believe that article in the USA today I provided is right on the money. I think we have a bigger problem than people accusing the rich of not paying their fair share. So you don't think there is a difference in you calling me a ****ty thinker and me saying I thought you had class envy? Interesting!:grin:
There is no evidence that Republicans want to cut spending. They may want to cut certain programs, but they want to increase spending even more in other areas. The overall political problem can be summed up in this recent economist poll asking “If government spending is reduced in order to balance the budget, which of the following government programs should receive lower federal funding than they currently do?” (Respondents could pick more than one thing to axe.) Note that foreign aid, which is like pissing in a swimming pool, is the only item to have majority agreement. The next graph adds percent of budget in red: There are only a few budget areas where you could make difference making cuts, but none are real popular. You need real leadership to attack this, but there are extremely few politicians that have the courage to deal with this.
Well sure, you don't just cut ONE program and think it's going to help, you cut what you need to across the board, with heavier emphasis on the stuff you REALLY don't need. I know everyone here loves to hate Glenn Beck (even I can't stand him at times), but this week on his show he's been attacking the federal budget and what can be cut. He made some very good points about foreign aid (cut it completely) and the Department of Education, although I completely disagree with him on his National Defense plan - though there is definitely some fat that could be trimmed there. But like Red said, you can't have one party that refuses to cut taxes and another that refuses to cut spending. I've got no problem with paying taxes and I'm not necessarily going to scream for lower taxes. But I do have a problem with raising taxes to attempt to lower the deficit when you won't curb spending as well. That is where I have a problem with taxing the rich more because they make more. To me, that's like going out and buying more because you have more money. Can you afford it? Probably. Is it smart? Not always. When times are tough for any of us here economically, what do we do? We probably eat out less, don't take vacations, cut back on buying things that are nice to have but that we don't need. Why can't the government show the same discipline?? Unfortunately, there is no middle ground without pissing off your political party. I think it's great when Democrats break ranks and vote with Republicans. Likewise, I think it's great when Republicans break ranks and vote with Democrats. Obviously, there is always more behind the scenes, but whatever happened to TRUE bipartisanship (and not just gathering a bunch of Republicans and Democrats together and saying you had a bipartisan discussion)? John McCain. for instance, is facing a Senatorial fight for his seat like he's never seen before - outside of the '08 Presidential Campaign. And why? Because he's "not conservative enough". That just kills me. And it's not just there. Hell even the Tea Party posterboy Scott Brown is taking flak for voting with Democrats.
