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
1365 Views
I'd be happy to tax top "earners" more and suffer Europes economic "collapse. "
- 03/09/2009 04:30:31 AM
806 Views
The US will never work with socialism.
- 03/09/2009 04:40:21 AM
886 Views
Re: The US will never work with socialism.
- 03/09/2009 04:58:47 AM
872 Views
I don't think the mistrust of the government is really all that overblown
- 03/09/2009 05:04:34 AM
794 Views
It's advanced beyond what it was during the Revolution, I think.
- 03/09/2009 05:18:22 AM
840 Views
I would say it's grown with the government
- 03/09/2009 05:23:52 AM
821 Views
The key is that government shouldn't be heavily involved in personal lives.
- 03/09/2009 05:58:39 AM
846 Views
Re: I don't think the mistrust of the government is really all that overblown
- 04/09/2009 03:30:23 AM
756 Views
How much more can we really tax the wealthy??
- 03/09/2009 04:41:14 AM
758 Views
A lot; before Reagans "reforms" we already taxed them less than any other industrialized state did.
- 03/09/2009 05:06:00 AM
837 Views
I hear a lot of socialism coming from you.....
- 03/09/2009 05:19:08 AM
691 Views
Re: I hear a lot of socialism coming from you.....
- 03/09/2009 05:40:32 AM
787 Views
Nice non-answer answer.....
- 03/09/2009 05:52:04 AM
784 Views
You want detailed answers that require detailed data I don't have.
- 03/09/2009 06:06:55 AM
850 Views
Here are some facts and analyses.....
- 03/09/2009 02:40:22 PM
923 Views
The Heritage Foundation, huh?
- 03/09/2009 03:01:17 PM
928 Views
- 03/09/2009 03:01:17 PM
928 Views
The non-working wealthy? Please quantify.....
- 03/09/2009 03:31:58 PM
876 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
786 Views
You're so full of shit on this issue I don't know where to begin.
- 04/09/2009 03:15:55 AM
881 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
973 Views
Less than 200 people were said to be US persons with Swiss accounts
- 04/09/2009 04:16:24 AM
776 Views
And yet account for many millions of dollars; what does that say...?
- 04/09/2009 04:21:57 AM
764 Views
It's statistically insignificant and your hyperbole is reminiscent of screaming guests on CNN.
- 04/09/2009 02:07:31 PM
706 Views
Well, look at this way:
- 04/09/2009 02:24:03 PM
842 Views
That's not a solution.
- 05/09/2009 02:39:12 AM
852 Views
The Soviets weren't socialist, or even communist, so it's a false comparison.
- 05/09/2009 03:09:06 AM
784 Views
Okay, now you've just gone into Kool-aid drinking territory.
- 05/09/2009 04:32:07 AM
902 Views
Communist THEORY is predicated on democratic participation at every level,totally absent in the USSR
- 05/09/2009 04:55:00 AM
1016 Views
Ever heard of the 20-80 rule?
- 04/09/2009 04:28:54 AM
687 Views
Top earners? Please define.....what income and how much more? *NM*
- 03/09/2009 04:52:25 AM
523 Views
That would be open to definition, and should change with inflation.
- 03/09/2009 05:13:02 AM
950 Views
What is your justification for taking over 50% of anyone's income?
- 03/09/2009 05:28:22 AM
900 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
932 Views
Still no comment on the fact that 40% of Americans don't pay any income taxes?
- 03/09/2009 02:32:12 PM
828 Views
To what 40% do you refer?
- 03/09/2009 02:42:55 PM
692 Views
Dude, you are not making this easy.....
- 03/09/2009 03:38:01 PM
735 Views
No one "gets money from the IRS. "
- 04/09/2009 02:55:02 AM
736 Views
Actually with EIC you can get money back that you never paid in.
- 04/09/2009 02:56:43 AM
735 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
783 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
862 Views
Yet another example of your ignorance on tax policy.
- 04/09/2009 03:19:39 AM
687 Views
The word I notice is "welfare"
- 04/09/2009 03:57:01 AM
815 Views
I wouldn't say that's what it means....
- 04/09/2009 04:02:40 AM
795 Views
It's what welfare means to me...
- 04/09/2009 04:32:17 AM
811 Views
I was just talking about EIC as a form of welfare, not welfare welfare. *NM*
- 04/09/2009 04:45:13 AM
458 Views
It's a credit for people who file a return on income that's been taxed.
- 04/09/2009 04:19:57 AM
733 Views
It is only for the WORKING poor, yes.
- 04/09/2009 02:12:55 PM
737 Views
Mean it may be, but hardly illegal.
- 04/09/2009 02:31:16 PM
749 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
358 Views
Excellent post - the US government is not capable of running HC.....
- 03/09/2009 04:40:19 AM
682 Views
It depends on your level of cynicism
- 03/09/2009 05:38:53 AM
851 Views
when have they ever cut the fat?
- 03/09/2009 08:35:36 PM
771 Views
This doesn't make sense to me.
- 03/09/2009 08:33:18 AM
793 Views
The key phrase is "should be. "
- 03/09/2009 09:38:15 AM
963 Views
In fairness, most Europeans don't seem to realize what ObamaCare is.
- 03/09/2009 02:34:01 PM
824 Views
As far as most people I know are concerned, opposition to ObamaCare isn't the issue.
- 03/09/2009 11:04:36 PM
919 Views
It's hard not to be horrified with a government as wasteful as ours
- 03/09/2009 11:24:59 PM
692 Views
For Americans who don't understand why Canadians like their public healthcare.
- 04/09/2009 04:23:11 AM
824 Views
Correction
- 04/09/2009 04:44:32 AM
798 Views
Re: Correction
- 04/09/2009 05:05:11 AM
924 Views


*NM*