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
1478 Views
I'd be happy to tax top "earners" more and suffer Europes economic "collapse. "
- 03/09/2009 04:30:31 AM
900 Views
The US will never work with socialism.
- 03/09/2009 04:40:21 AM
978 Views
Re: The US will never work with socialism.
- 03/09/2009 04:58:47 AM
975 Views
I don't think the mistrust of the government is really all that overblown
- 03/09/2009 05:04:34 AM
891 Views
It's advanced beyond what it was during the Revolution, I think.
- 03/09/2009 05:18:22 AM
938 Views
I would say it's grown with the government
- 03/09/2009 05:23:52 AM
916 Views
The key is that government shouldn't be heavily involved in personal lives.
- 03/09/2009 05:58:39 AM
944 Views
Re: I don't think the mistrust of the government is really all that overblown
- 04/09/2009 03:30:23 AM
849 Views
How much more can we really tax the wealthy??
- 03/09/2009 04:41:14 AM
852 Views
A lot; before Reagans "reforms" we already taxed them less than any other industrialized state did.
- 03/09/2009 05:06:00 AM
931 Views
I hear a lot of socialism coming from you.....
- 03/09/2009 05:19:08 AM
807 Views
Re: I hear a lot of socialism coming from you.....
- 03/09/2009 05:40:32 AM
881 Views
Nice non-answer answer.....
- 03/09/2009 05:52:04 AM
917 Views
You want detailed answers that require detailed data I don't have.
- 03/09/2009 06:06:55 AM
943 Views
Here are some facts and analyses.....
- 03/09/2009 02:40:22 PM
1026 Views
The Heritage Foundation, huh?
- 03/09/2009 03:01:17 PM
1021 Views
- 03/09/2009 03:01:17 PM
1021 Views
The non-working wealthy? Please quantify.....
- 03/09/2009 03:31:58 PM
974 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
876 Views
You're so full of shit on this issue I don't know where to begin.
- 04/09/2009 03:15:55 AM
975 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
1080 Views
Less than 200 people were said to be US persons with Swiss accounts
- 04/09/2009 04:16:24 AM
870 Views
And yet account for many millions of dollars; what does that say...?
- 04/09/2009 04:21:57 AM
884 Views
It's statistically insignificant and your hyperbole is reminiscent of screaming guests on CNN.
- 04/09/2009 02:07:31 PM
805 Views
Well, look at this way:
- 04/09/2009 02:24:03 PM
962 Views
That's not a solution.
- 05/09/2009 02:39:12 AM
948 Views
The Soviets weren't socialist, or even communist, so it's a false comparison.
- 05/09/2009 03:09:06 AM
877 Views
Okay, now you've just gone into Kool-aid drinking territory.
- 05/09/2009 04:32:07 AM
1040 Views
Communist THEORY is predicated on democratic participation at every level,totally absent in the USSR
- 05/09/2009 04:55:00 AM
1104 Views
Ever heard of the 20-80 rule?
- 04/09/2009 04:28:54 AM
776 Views
Top earners? Please define.....what income and how much more? *NM*
- 03/09/2009 04:52:25 AM
566 Views
That would be open to definition, and should change with inflation.
- 03/09/2009 05:13:02 AM
1043 Views
What is your justification for taking over 50% of anyone's income?
- 03/09/2009 05:28:22 AM
1001 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
1029 Views
Still no comment on the fact that 40% of Americans don't pay any income taxes?
- 03/09/2009 02:32:12 PM
920 Views
To what 40% do you refer?
- 03/09/2009 02:42:55 PM
784 Views
Dude, you are not making this easy.....
- 03/09/2009 03:38:01 PM
836 Views
No one "gets money from the IRS. "
- 04/09/2009 02:55:02 AM
832 Views
Actually with EIC you can get money back that you never paid in.
- 04/09/2009 02:56:43 AM
831 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
878 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
964 Views
Yet another example of your ignorance on tax policy.
- 04/09/2009 03:19:39 AM
793 Views
The word I notice is "welfare"
- 04/09/2009 03:57:01 AM
911 Views
I wouldn't say that's what it means....
- 04/09/2009 04:02:40 AM
896 Views
It's what welfare means to me...
- 04/09/2009 04:32:17 AM
902 Views
I was just talking about EIC as a form of welfare, not welfare welfare. *NM*
- 04/09/2009 04:45:13 AM
504 Views
It's a credit for people who file a return on income that's been taxed.
- 04/09/2009 04:19:57 AM
824 Views
It is only for the WORKING poor, yes.
- 04/09/2009 02:12:55 PM
834 Views
Mean it may be, but hardly illegal.
- 04/09/2009 02:31:16 PM
844 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
408 Views
Excellent post - the US government is not capable of running HC.....
- 03/09/2009 04:40:19 AM
778 Views
It depends on your level of cynicism
- 03/09/2009 05:38:53 AM
938 Views
when have they ever cut the fat?
- 03/09/2009 08:35:36 PM
884 Views
This doesn't make sense to me.
- 03/09/2009 08:33:18 AM
897 Views
The key phrase is "should be. "
- 03/09/2009 09:38:15 AM
1051 Views
In fairness, most Europeans don't seem to realize what ObamaCare is.
- 03/09/2009 02:34:01 PM
918 Views
As far as most people I know are concerned, opposition to ObamaCare isn't the issue.
- 03/09/2009 11:04:36 PM
1023 Views
It's hard not to be horrified with a government as wasteful as ours
- 03/09/2009 11:24:59 PM
781 Views
For Americans who don't understand why Canadians like their public healthcare.
- 04/09/2009 04:23:11 AM
910 Views
Correction
- 04/09/2009 04:44:32 AM
907 Views
Re: Correction
- 04/09/2009 05:05:11 AM
1047 Views


*NM*