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If they do all that, they surely pay quite a bit in taxes albeit more towards the benefit of the local and state governments. But you want them to pay more in federal income tax. So, what would you consider to be a fair share for an average American whose adjusted gross income is in the bottom 50% (about $15K)?
The point is that they do all that with money they could be using to feed themselves, buy health care, shelter themselves, etc.
Yes they do. They have cell phones, get their nails done, smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. They just choose to play the victim rather than pay their fair share.
I don't consider that group as poor. They are basically low income people that don't have their priorities straight. The truely poor people don't have money for none of those things you mentioned.
If you are a high income earner, you've received the greatest monetary reward society has the to offer. In return for recieving the reward you should contribute more to society than those that aren't rewarded as much.
Also because you are wealthy your contribution to society is liable to have less of an impact on your overall living circumstances than somebody at a lower income level.
Now if you are selfish or simply don't give a damn about your fellow citizens you definitely won't feel this way, which explains in large part the Conservative mindset.
I got the greatest monetary reward becasue of my hard work and skills that bring, that otehrs don't have....so society did not reward me, my hard work did....try crying elsewhere. Just becasue I am tired of being overly taxed you think that means someone doesn't give a damn...shows how little understanding you have...
I would never understand the "nobility" and "virtuous" that are often attributed to the "poor"....
those who were poor (me) had two options....wallow in our own misery or do something about it.....don't you get sick of irritating bosses yelling at you? don't you get sick of losing your money before you even get it? (bills stretching back months meaning as soon as your paycheck gets here its already gone)...don't you get sick of pinching every single penny?..(I have literally made purchases based on a 50 cent difference between a generic food and higher quality ones, really, I didn't have 50 cent to spare at that time)...and this might sound really materialistic and shallow but don't you get sick of always walking pass things you can't buy?...(and being a technophile made that really suck)
have you ever ate bread, just bread because you didn't have anything, not even cheap store brand meat to buy?...yeah, been there, done that...so how come I get to have a frig full of expensive local, organic food today?....let me tell you, it sure the hell wasn't the "I may be poor but at least I am a hard noble worker" attitude.....
anybody can take a heavy hammer and nail it into a piece of wood all day...yes that is "hard work" but is that work even valuable when there are millions, hell billions of other people can do the same thing?...dammit, I could get monkey to do that, I don't even need a human...hell, I could get a machine to do it, I don't even need a living thing to do it...so why the hell should I expect a wage of 20$ an hour to sledge a hammer?...
so Eric, put down that fu*king hammer....its time to "work smart"
one of the things about being a technophile (fancy word for geek...or is it nerd?...well that's a thinker) anyways one of the things of being a technophile is you have an interest in computers and for me the specific aspect of that was the programming...I took a class at my local trade school and I wanted to finish early, I mean real early because I was 21 and at the time all you want to do was party, game, and chase some skirts..anyways, to finish I had to eat, sleep and drink nothing but code and math...on the train to work and back home and all the time in between...2 years later I finished....
I went to craiglist and other places and soon found these people who were looking for freelance programmers to work on a project..a month later they gave me a $1000 dollar pay...do you have any idea how rewarding that was?...to work that hard and long, having no idea was this the right move and to get that paycheck?....it would have taking me 3 months to make that much money before...I build my resume and skills so that I could take on more lucrative projects and deals while simultaneously putting my money in interest-bearing accounts, traded in the Forex (until the us regulated that to the point of being unprofitable, free-markets my as*) and I did something so risky that I lost sleep after I agreed to doing the deal because that was well beyond my experience...I got into venture capital...I was 24, what the hell was I doing?...but it was too late..amazingly that netted a 5 times ROI...
So sorry if I'm not too sympathetic to the "noble" poor....sorry if I want to keep more of the wealth I risked to make...sorry I didn't sit around with my hands out hoping someone would feed me....sorry I did something and didn't need to go to some fancy expensive college to do it...sorry I can see the limitless opportunities (well what the govt didn't regulate to out of existence yet, I miss the forex) ...
I have no problem paying taxes....I love this country and I know things need to be payed for...I understand that....but I am not going to accept paying for your life just because you think you are entitled because you "need it" more or somehow think you work "harder" then me so you should get whats mine...I pay more taxes then what your annual salary is and somehow you want more?...I like my Rolex and Benz, sorry don't feel guilty about that.....I understand you are hungry, so why not ask me for help instead of demanding it?...why not try to work with me instead of trying to take from me?...Why are you treated special and hold sacred because you are poor, but those who chose not to be are somehow looked down and frowned upon?...
(I think its the heavy govt regulation that has created this crony-capitalism and corporatism along with massive corruption, unaccountability and incompetence that keeps many people down and the elites stealing the wealth from the people...but that is for another thread..)
But this may be a waste...until you have been so poor that you had to eat ketchup packages you got from 7-11 because they are free and then become so wealthy that you can dine at the finest restaurants, until you have lived a life at both extremes, you may never get it..
Rags to Riches story. Man these are old. You are not the people we are talking about. My guess is that you are not in the top 1%, if you were you would probably have someone write this for you.
P.S. a great many of us have been poor in the past. I had to eat jam sandwich. It is not what you think. It is one piece of bread jammed between two other pieces of bread.
I had opportunities that I took advantage of, the goal is to keep those opportunities available and provide a level playing field for achievement.
Thats crap. Lets take the money from the wealthy and give it to the leaches...yea, right..a load of crap..
If they do all that, they surely pay quite a bit in taxes albeit more towards the benefit of the local and state governments. But you want them to pay more in federal income tax. So, what would you consider to be a fair share for an average American whose adjusted gross income is in the bottom 50% (about $15K)?
No, I want them to pay THE SAME. As in percentage. But you want certain Americans to pay MORE.
Firstly, they can get better jobs. If that means getting off their couches and get educated or skilled, then do it. Fair share? The same percentage. It's called "equality".
FYI - the non-poor also pay quite a bit in taxes on their cell phones, etc.
He made a lot of it by buying that that was surrounded by government owned land driving up the value.
Again, you are confusing private property (movable property created or purchased) with non-renewable property where the government controls the "creation" and disposition of property. I am not talking about property created by man.
Another means of silently lessening the inequality of [landed] property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions or property in geometrical progression as they rise. -Thomas Jefferson
TJ never advocated taxing land as reparations to Indians or for the privilege of owning land. It simply never happened.
TJ never advocated taxing land as reparations to Indians or for the privilege of owning land. It simply never happened.
Where did I say reparations?
It is not for the privilege of owning, it is for the protection by the government. They record and keep your title so others can't come use your land, they battled Indians to keep them from killing settlers and homesteaders. Paying for that protection is just a fee.
You keep focusing on TJ, why not deal with what other classical liberals said? What is your spin on those two?
Ground rents are a species of revenue which the owner, in many cases, enjoys without any care or attention of his own. Ground rents are, therefore, perhaps a species of revenue which can best bear to have a peculiar tax imposed upon them. [RIGHT]--Adam Smith
Men did not make the earth.... It is the value of the improvement only, and not the earth itself, that is individual property.... Every proprietor owes to the community a ground rent for the land which he holds. [RIGHT]--Tom Paine, "Agrarian Justice," paragraphs 11 to 15
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