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...after cashing their Social Security check that came in that government delivery service otherwise known as the USPS.
Actually, Social Security benefits don't come in the mail any more, but the larger point is spot-on. People who need help opening a can of sardines are nobody to listen to when it comes to matters of politics and economics.
Wherever did you get the idea that you can't soak the poor? What are the poor going to do about it?
Tax officials are already soaking the poor: Who buys cigarettes? Do you know what the tobacco tax rate is?
Same with gasoline tax. Wealthy people can afford electric cars yet they still get a tax subsidy. Poor people drive around in beat-up used cars that have been abandoned by wealthy people because of poor gas mileage.
Tax officials are already soaking the poor: Who buys cigarettes? Do you know what the tobacco tax rate is? Same with gasoline tax.
Most excise taxes take their biggest bite out of the poor. An exception might be the 10% tanning salon tax, but otherwise, it's pretty much the poor who are being soaked here.
You probably meant to ask how many of the dollars that accrue to China as the result of people in the US buying goods imported from that country have been invested -- in preference to all other available assets -- in US Treasury securities? The best currently available answer would be that $1,201 billion of Treasury securities were held by China at the end of August 2017. This compared to balances of $1,102 billion that were held by Japan at that time.
You can't soak the poor. Most "poor" people simply do not pay enough taxes. They take the standard deduction and get a good chunk of the taxes they paid back.
As Mitt Romney once said........47% of the country won't vote for me!
there are truly needy, but they are far outnumbered by lazy, unmotivated leeches. Sorry, you need to get a job, or a better job, I'm not paying for you being a sloth. Quit moaning and expecting other people to improve your plight. Grow up, man up.
My feeling is that if someone's family has generations of family members on welfare then they are all gaming the system.
If I lose my job then unemployment pays about $300 a week, I'm still broke, can't pay many bills so while I can buy food I'm not paying much else. So I collect for 6 months, maybe stretch it for a full year. At the end of the year I'm really broke and not much else is going on. The fix is GETTING ANOTHER JOB! No matter how long the benefits go, with no job the problem never gets solve!
My idea:
Benefits start at whatever minimum wage is ($10 hr then $400 a week) and is based on what you worked for the last 3 months. If you average 30 hours a week then you can only collect $300. After 6 months they get cut in half, after 6 more months they get cut off. No more benefits until you have worked a full year.
Food card ATM program (SNAP) is cancelled. You can visit local food centers that hand out basics (bread, milk, cheese, hot dogs whatever). The SNAP program is regularly abused, some reports even show it being spent at casinos/cruise ships/lottery tickets.
Nobody is happy on welfare anyway so why make it so easy to game the system! Handicapped (mental/physical) would be exempted. Children (minors) would be exempted as well.
Tax officials are already soaking the poor: Who buys cigarettes? Do you know what the tobacco tax rate is?
Same with gasoline tax. Wealthy people can afford electric cars yet they still get a tax subsidy. Poor people drive around in beat-up used cars that have been abandoned by wealthy people because of poor gas mileage.
Good points but then again how much gas is a poor person buying? Its not like they are going on cross country vacations with the family! Gas is also optional, taking the bus is an alternative to paying "the gas man!" If you are driving a Nissan Versa (can buy new for 11K, used for 1/2 that) how much fuel could you possibly burn in a car that gets 31/39 mpg. Car holds 10 gallons so a fill up is $25 a week, $3.57 a day).
The SNAP program is regularly abused, some reports even show it being spent at casinos/cruise ships/lottery tickets.
Those reports are FOX-NEWS-PHONY. I'm shocked that ANYONE would fall for them. Actual fraud rates in SNAP are very low, and most of what does occur is carried out by participating MERCHANTS.
I love how democrats like to bring up Denmark, Sweden, and countries like that as success stories. However, they never look at the nuts and bolts of how those countries work. The United States will never have the social safety nets that are in those countries because democrats want half of the population to be exempt from paying taxes. You can't generate the revenue needed for those social programs by just taxing the 1%. The first thing that has to happen, is democrats need to accept that ALL citizens have to pay taxes, on all of their income. So lets look at Denmark,
All income taxed at 8%, no standard deduction, no exemptions, no write offs. You earn a dollar, you owe 8 cent. Period.
If your income stays below $7,600.00, and your interest stays below $7,590.00, you pay no other taxes.
Mileage in excess of 24 kilometers per day for commuting, you get a 31 cent deduction per kilometer.
This is the federal taxes collected, very simple tax scheme.
Regional taxes(similar to state taxes in the U.S.)
Income from $7,601.00 to $63,895.00 pay a flat tax of 5.83%, which is in addition to the 8% federal tax. Total tax rate is 13.83%.
Income from $63,896 and higher pays a flat 20.83%, in addition to the 8% federal tax. Total tax rate is 28.83%
Municipal Tax
Income from $7,601 to $63,895.00 pays a flat tax of 23%. Total rate is now 36.83%.
Income from 63,896.00 and higher pays a flat 28%. Total rate is now 56.83%.
Denmark isn't finished yet, in addition there is a federal property tax of 1.6%, which increases to 3.4% on high dollar properties.
On top of this, people in Denmark also pay a 25% sales tax on all purchases.
This pays for their government healthcare, taxpayer funded college tuition for all, as well as technical school.
Denmark also has very generous welfare benefits, housing assistance, unemployment, and a federal pension for all that pays very well. They also have government provided daycare.
Businesses do not pay any income tax.
So in Denmark, even those on welfare pay taxes. Everyone pays, everyone benefits. Under this system, most lower middle class has very little disposable income, however it doesn't harm them because of the social safety nets, they don't need to save money.
Our current economy would collapse under this system. We are a country that is obsessed with materialism. In Denmark, most people can't afford to purchase a new car, not with the 25% sales tax. The same goes for homeownership. They purchase the cheapest home they can afford, because of the 25% sales tax, and 1.6% property tax. The Dutch are minimalists due to this.
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