That's a good example of why I say the rate has to be set to cost of living.
Joel Send a noteboard - 03/09/2009 05:50:16 AM
FYI - come live in central NJ. My wife and I make more than $250k and we live well, but I doubt no where near you think we do. Add one or two kids to the pile.....wife stops working or we start using day care.....our extra monthly money goes bye-bye very quickly.
I despise class warfare.....I did everything right, worked my ass off in college and business school, took chances, and you know what, I am very good at my job.....better than almost anyone else.
40% of Americans don't pay ANY INCOME taxes.....and I am not paying my fair share? Care to comment on this?
I despise class warfare.....I did everything right, worked my ass off in college and business school, took chances, and you know what, I am very good at my job.....better than almost anyone else.
40% of Americans don't pay ANY INCOME taxes.....and I am not paying my fair share? Care to comment on this?
That's one of the reasons we have progressive taxation, after all, and I'm told it's far less progressive than in Canada, just as an example. To elaborate, and this is second hand, I'm told that up there the rate of taxation varies not only with overall income, but on which part of it is being taxed, meaning that the highest rates are only assessed against that part of income that's above the particular threshold. It's more complicated, but I think it may also be more fair, because, rather than paying (just hypothetically) 50% of your $250k in taxes, you'd pay a lower rate on most of it and only pay 50% on, say, the $50k you earn above a $200k threshhold for 50%.
Honestly, given inflation over the past 30 years I think $250k is too low a threshold for the highest earners. I'd assess the highest taxes on those who are independently wealthy, which you certainly aren't. Turn it around: Why should you pay the same (or, in many cases, far less) tax as someone whose most onerous duty is opening interest statements on money inherited from their great-grandfather? And the same principle applies to the middle class in general: Every loophole, every tax shelter, every write off for the independently and opulently wealthy is another dollar out of middle and lower class pockets, either in the form of reduced services or higher taxes.
But, for the record, I despise class warfare, too, and the thing I despise most about it is that, as Warren Buffet famously said, his class is winning. It's only when that status quo is threatened that we hear about the horrors of class warfare, but it's being waged every day.
Honorbound and honored to be Bonded to Mahtaliel Sedai
Last First in wotmania Chat
Slightly better than chocolate.
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LoL. Be well, RAFOlk.
Last First in wotmania Chat
Slightly better than chocolate.
Love still can't be coerced.
Please Don't Eat the Newbies!

LoL. Be well, RAFOlk.
For Europeans who don't understand why Americans are against ObamaCare
- 03/09/2009 04:24:35 AM
1319 Views
I'd be happy to tax top "earners" more and suffer Europes economic "collapse. "
- 03/09/2009 04:30:31 AM
763 Views
The US will never work with socialism.
- 03/09/2009 04:40:21 AM
834 Views
Re: The US will never work with socialism.
- 03/09/2009 04:58:47 AM
830 Views
I don't think the mistrust of the government is really all that overblown
- 03/09/2009 05:04:34 AM
747 Views
It's advanced beyond what it was during the Revolution, I think.
- 03/09/2009 05:18:22 AM
789 Views
I would say it's grown with the government
- 03/09/2009 05:23:52 AM
772 Views
The key is that government shouldn't be heavily involved in personal lives.
- 03/09/2009 05:58:39 AM
801 Views
Re: I don't think the mistrust of the government is really all that overblown
- 04/09/2009 03:30:23 AM
718 Views
How much more can we really tax the wealthy??
- 03/09/2009 04:41:14 AM
699 Views
A lot; before Reagans "reforms" we already taxed them less than any other industrialized state did.
- 03/09/2009 05:06:00 AM
794 Views
I hear a lot of socialism coming from you.....
- 03/09/2009 05:19:08 AM
654 Views
Re: I hear a lot of socialism coming from you.....
- 03/09/2009 05:40:32 AM
743 Views
Nice non-answer answer.....
- 03/09/2009 05:52:04 AM
750 Views
You want detailed answers that require detailed data I don't have.
- 03/09/2009 06:06:55 AM
806 Views
Here are some facts and analyses.....
- 03/09/2009 02:40:22 PM
874 Views
The Heritage Foundation, huh?
- 03/09/2009 03:01:17 PM
882 Views
- 03/09/2009 03:01:17 PM
882 Views
The non-working wealthy? Please quantify.....
- 03/09/2009 03:31:58 PM
832 Views
So you accept the CBOs assessment the House healthcare bill will be $1 trillion over the next decade
- 04/09/2009 03:02:13 AM
742 Views
You're so full of shit on this issue I don't know where to begin.
- 04/09/2009 03:15:55 AM
841 Views
Re: You're so full of shit on this issue I don't know where to begin.
- 04/09/2009 03:59:21 AM
932 Views
Less than 200 people were said to be US persons with Swiss accounts
- 04/09/2009 04:16:24 AM
730 Views
And yet account for many millions of dollars; what does that say...?
- 04/09/2009 04:21:57 AM
725 Views
It's statistically insignificant and your hyperbole is reminiscent of screaming guests on CNN.
- 04/09/2009 02:07:31 PM
663 Views
Well, look at this way:
- 04/09/2009 02:24:03 PM
788 Views
That's not a solution.
- 05/09/2009 02:39:12 AM
799 Views
The Soviets weren't socialist, or even communist, so it's a false comparison.
- 05/09/2009 03:09:06 AM
737 Views
Okay, now you've just gone into Kool-aid drinking territory.
- 05/09/2009 04:32:07 AM
862 Views
Communist THEORY is predicated on democratic participation at every level,totally absent in the USSR
- 05/09/2009 04:55:00 AM
975 Views
Ever heard of the 20-80 rule?
- 04/09/2009 04:28:54 AM
651 Views
Top earners? Please define.....what income and how much more? *NM*
- 03/09/2009 04:52:25 AM
505 Views
That would be open to definition, and should change with inflation.
- 03/09/2009 05:13:02 AM
904 Views
What is your justification for taking over 50% of anyone's income?
- 03/09/2009 05:28:22 AM
859 Views
That's a good example of why I say the rate has to be set to cost of living.
- 03/09/2009 05:50:16 AM
882 Views
Still no comment on the fact that 40% of Americans don't pay any income taxes?
- 03/09/2009 02:32:12 PM
790 Views
To what 40% do you refer?
- 03/09/2009 02:42:55 PM
651 Views
Dude, you are not making this easy.....
- 03/09/2009 03:38:01 PM
690 Views
No one "gets money from the IRS. "
- 04/09/2009 02:55:02 AM
697 Views
Actually with EIC you can get money back that you never paid in.
- 04/09/2009 02:56:43 AM
691 Views
It MIGHT be possible with the EIC, but in practice few people get more than they paid.
- 04/09/2009 03:43:36 AM
743 Views
I don't know, I've known plenty of people that have gotten more back than they paid in
- 04/09/2009 03:46:29 AM
817 Views
Yet another example of your ignorance on tax policy.
- 04/09/2009 03:19:39 AM
644 Views
The word I notice is "welfare"
- 04/09/2009 03:57:01 AM
770 Views
I wouldn't say that's what it means....
- 04/09/2009 04:02:40 AM
757 Views
It's what welfare means to me...
- 04/09/2009 04:32:17 AM
766 Views
I was just talking about EIC as a form of welfare, not welfare welfare. *NM*
- 04/09/2009 04:45:13 AM
439 Views
It's a credit for people who file a return on income that's been taxed.
- 04/09/2009 04:19:57 AM
696 Views
It is only for the WORKING poor, yes.
- 04/09/2009 02:12:55 PM
682 Views
Mean it may be, but hardly illegal.
- 04/09/2009 02:31:16 PM
708 Views
No real comments, just 100% agree with you....plus the $12 trillion is terrifying to me. *NM*
- 03/09/2009 04:33:39 AM
331 Views
Excellent post - the US government is not capable of running HC.....
- 03/09/2009 04:40:19 AM
638 Views
It depends on your level of cynicism
- 03/09/2009 05:38:53 AM
806 Views
when have they ever cut the fat?
- 03/09/2009 08:35:36 PM
734 Views
This doesn't make sense to me.
- 03/09/2009 08:33:18 AM
745 Views
The key phrase is "should be. "
- 03/09/2009 09:38:15 AM
919 Views
In fairness, most Europeans don't seem to realize what ObamaCare is.
- 03/09/2009 02:34:01 PM
784 Views
As far as most people I know are concerned, opposition to ObamaCare isn't the issue.
- 03/09/2009 11:04:36 PM
878 Views
It's hard not to be horrified with a government as wasteful as ours
- 03/09/2009 11:24:59 PM
654 Views
For Americans who don't understand why Canadians like their public healthcare.
- 04/09/2009 04:23:11 AM
775 Views
Correction
- 04/09/2009 04:44:32 AM
758 Views
Re: Correction
- 04/09/2009 05:05:11 AM
876 Views


*NM*