Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
1. I don't have a problem with rolling back some of the Bush tax cuts, but Obama doesn't share my opinion obviously.
2. Our bigger problem is overspending, not undertaxing. At this point, both options need to be utilized but the spending is the 800lb gorilla.
3. Flat taxes are regressive. Guess which type of taxes sales taxes are?
Where are the highest sales taxes in the country?
Seems like these bastions of the democratic party need some OWS protestors to remind us why exactly they are hosing the poor for the benefit of the 1%?
I do agree, we need to cut spending as well as change the tax structure. I also agree that flat taxes would be regressive if implemented right now, but after at least a decade, it wouldn't be viewed that way as the incomes and the economy would naturally adjust to it. I don't know what that reality would look like however.
Large cities tend to be Democratic and large cities tend to be dense with expensive to maintain infrastructure. I don't think there's a link between high sales taxes in cities with the fact that they are Democratic. Density = Democratic and liberal because in order to survive and function, no other ideology works.
Here in mostly conservative and very un-dense Phoenix, they voted to add 1% to the sales tax to fund schools. Hard to believe that Republican dominated Phoenix would vote itself a tax increase! While I support education, I was completely opposed to an increase to make the rate 9.3%, which is ridiculous. Wouldn't you know, there's suspicion that the city officials used that money for other purposes. But sales taxes are increasing because the economy is so bad, there's few other avenues for municipal revenue generation.
I can't believe that no one has addressed this yet...
The flat tax is not fair. It is basically the opposite of a progressive tax. Those who earn less end up paying on a MUCH higher percentage of their income. Those who earn more end up paying on a much LOWER percentage of their income.
So at 20% a poor person pays a 20% tax.
And if a rich person spends 50% of his income, his tax is about 10%.
And the richer a person is, the smaller this percentage becomes because he can't spend all that he makes.
How much of a poor person's paycheck is spent on food, shelter, transportation, schooling, gas, etc.? Very close to 100%. How much of a rich person's payched is spent? That of course varies greatly, but it's absolutely NOWHERE CLOSE to 100%. The rich might buy more. They might pay for more expensive things. But more disposable income means that they have more income to SAVE and INVEST! Making them even richer, where they will have even MORE money to save and invest.
The flat tax is oppressive towards the poor. It wipes out any chance they have to save for the future or to save to help to pull themselves out of the gutter.
bs
a true flat tax taxes evenly
you make 10k..you pay 1000 (based on 10%) you make 1 million you pay 100,000
but taxing income is just stupid since a good portion of income is never reported to begin with
I don't consider myself rich, but I hire people for various jobs because they are useful to me. Demand creates jobs. Have you never hired ANYBODY to do ANYTHING? It will also help if you answer my question, where I asked you if you felt being useless compared to now (assuming you make more now).
talk about childish. im talking stable jobs. im guessing your hiring a kid to mow your lawn. does that feed a family of four?
2. We want people to pay a fair share of the burdens of government. This fair share is not only higher in absolute terms, but also higher as a percentage, for those who are rich beyond the dreams of avarice than for people who are just scaping by.
so what is the "fair share" of the rich? the top 1% take in 19% of the income and pay out 39% of the taxes collected by the federal government. how much more is their "fair share"? the top 10% pay out 70% of the taxes collected by the government. again, what is their "fair share"?
as to the people just scraping by, how many of those people own a big screen TV? an X box? more than one car? and how much credit card, and other, debt do they have?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus
it taxes capital gains at a lower rate than wages.
rich people earn most of their incomes in the form of capital gains. Capital gains are the "rich incomes which are going untaxed."
you do realize that capital gains taxes are lower to encourage investment in the country right? and not just in the stock markets either, but in real estate, as well as other investments. raise the capital tax and those investments go away. also many of those investments are in 401(k)s and other retirement programs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lambogojo
whats wrong with a tarrif? maybe if usa made goods were similar price as the cheap china goods. then people might buy more american made products. better yet. make the union stop complaining about their low pay. i know people who make $22 an hour driving in a bolt into ford trucks. tell me how that helps the economy????
tariffs can be a good thing, but we need to be very careful in what tariffs are added and how much. the smoot-hawley tariff act actually hurt the US economy when it was instituted back in 1930. we raised tariffs on goods coming from overseas, and in turn other countries raised tariffs on US goods, which made them far more expensive and demand dropped, and that hurt the US economy because our factories were not producing the same amount of goods they were before the depression.
you do realize that capital gains taxes are lower to encourage investment in the country right?
In global economy? But then, you might have some proof that demonstrates this relationship between such tax rates and investments as beneficial to USA over the decades, which I will look forward to seeing.
you do realize that capital gains taxes are lower to encourage investment in the country right?
i'm familiar with that argument and i don't buy it.
Quote:
and not just in the stock markets either, but in real estate, as well as other investments. raise the capital tax and those investments go away.
Real estate lives and dies by debt issuance, not by capital gains taxes. Same with stock markets. As a society we do not benefit when working people are tax penalized, and owners are tax advantaged.
You use income in your example to explain how great the fair tax (on spending) is and then say don't use income?
ONLY THE POOR spend 100% of their income!!!!
Try again...
You make 10k... you spend 10k, you pay 1000 (based on 10%).
You pay 10 % of your income to the IRS.
You make 1 million... you spend 100k, you pay 10k.
You pay 1%... ONE PERCENT of your income to the IRS!!!!!
After spending and tax payment, ($110,000) you still have $890,000, which you can invest. You can at least put it in the bank, where you will earn interest.
How exactly is that fair????
EDIT: And by the way, I went to your website and played with that calculator that compares current taxes to their tax. EVERY combination I put in, from my income, to poverty income, to millionaire income... EVERY SINGLE ONE said I would pay less.
HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???
SOMEONE has to pay more. I even played as if I was a skeezy billionaire. I ended up with 36 million more money to play with.
1. Taxing rich people has nothing to do with "punishing" them, no matter what you conservatives claim.
Have you ever seen the movie Vacation where Chevy Chase's character asks the mechanic, who just fixed his car, how much the repairs cost? The mechanic answers "How much You got?". I can only assume that you think this kind of pricing is acceptable.
Quote:
2. We want people to pay a fair share of the burdens of government. This fair share is not only higher in absolute terms, but also higher as a percentage, for those who are rich beyond the dreams of avarice than for people who are just scaping by.
Because the rich drive on the golden roads and diamond studded bridges that the people who are just scraping by aren't allowed to?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
