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Why not implement your view even further. Why not simply charge people who make over $75K more for everything they buy. While you're paying $4 bucks for #1 at McDonalds, the wealthy should be charged $8 for the same meal. How about gas? You pay $3 a gallon while the wealthy pay $6. Lets just double the price on everything for the wealthy. I mean hell, its not like they can't afford it. They seem to make so much and have big houses and fancy cars, why not just make them pay more for everything. If it doesn't cut into your budget, then obviously your not being charged enough.
Lets raise the minimum wage to 25.00 per hour so everyone who has no skills, has no effort and will not go the extra mile can have all the same toys as those who have gave effort, did whatever it takes and who has worked at being valuable to someone will be even.
If you are working 80 hours per week at min wage and still struggling, that is YOUR FAULT !
I work 60-80 hours almost every single week and make darn good money doing so, if I was making 7.00 per hour I would whine and cry like everyone else, but I spent years learning as much as I could so I could get raises.
There will always be rich, middle and poor. If you want to move up a level then YOU have do to something to do so. If you dont want to move up then stop the whining already.
PLENTY of opportunities in the country to make a very good wage, but..... you have to do something to get it, so that tossed out the most of the people right there.
Said it before say it again, wife had 27 employee at one time, the majority of them were NOT worth the time to open the door for them. They WERE NOT even worth min wage. Min wage should be 3.00 per hour to force the lazy butted people to learn a trade, a skill or knowledge to make my wife more money so she could pay them more money, but no, the lazy butts wouldnt even stay one minute after work because they were not on the clock.
Give me a break people.
I have seen in with my own eyes, I get a college worker to help me during the summer every year and each and every one of them have turned out to be fantastic people with fantastic paying jobs, why? Because they worked at it!!
If you poor and struggling, its your fault.
By the way, if your working 80 hours per week stop doing it, go on welfare and they will help you go to a technical college to learn a trade so you can make more money. Bet most of them wont take the FREEBIE opps to get a FREE education to better themselves but they sure will wait for that FREEBIE check to come in the mail.
First.. you are out of touch with reality if you think that middle wage earners are making minimum wage. Those making minimum wage are in the poor category. . there is the working poor, such as min wage earners and then there is the poor that don't work at all.
Middle income wage earners are the following: Nurses, Cops, Fireman, Teachers, Dental Technicians, Grocery Store and Store Managers.. etc etc. They aer your middle class!! The office workers that work at companies, etc.
Yes.. those with college degrees are also Middle Class!!
AS for me.. I've worked since getting out of H.S in many office jobs. I was one of those employees that was always picking up more and more work to do. AT one company I actually HELPED with my marketing input (without a degree mind you) build a very successful e-commerce site..Heck I was in charge of gathering all the product data and building the database categorizing all theproducts.. etc etc. Just about every job I had I enjoyed the work, never complained, stayed late if I needed too.. but it didn't really get me much further and I realized that i will spend the rest of my life working to make someone else rich. So I decided to work for myself..
it's not easy andprobably with patience and perseverence I will move up the ladder of the economy (but Ironically it's the fact tha small business can't really compete with the big guys and all the extra I have to pay for health insurance say that makes that even more difficult).
Those people that are middle class are working hard..and without them working for you, you wouldn't have your wealth...cause you can't do it all yourself.
Why not implement your view even further. Why not simply charge people who make over $75K more for everything they buy. While you're paying $4 bucks for #1 at McDonalds, the wealthy should be charged $8 for the same meal. How about gas? You pay $3 a gallon while the wealthy pay $6. Lets just double the price on everything for the wealthy. I mean hell, its not like they can't afford it. They seem to make so much and have big houses and fancy cars, why not just make them pay more for everything. If it doesn't cut into your budget, then obviously your not being charged enough.
That's silly .. becasue most of the stuff you purchse. LIKE mcDonalds is NOT a neccesity..that's why there is sales tax added to it.. However, without taxes there would be nothing funding the infrastructure of this country and it's neccesary to keep teh country running.
That's why those who can't afford a Lexus buy say a Ford.. etc. Heck , some don't even buy a car if they can't afford it!
I find it ridiculous that you cannot give me an income level where they can buy all they need, buy all they want, and have some to invest and still some more to sit around the house. Some of you say well, dentists and doctors have that kind of lifestyle and that is absolutely absurd as most of these professionals don't have that kind of luxury. You want to tax the wealthy disproportionately but group the well-off to the absurdly well-off in the same category and using the absurdly well-off to justify the disproportionate tax burden on the plain well-offs. It is absurd to think the well-off who work hard for their income as well as a spending an astounding amount of time for education throughout their lives to be able to practice. Then you go into the lifestyle of CEOs, athletes, and celebrities and use their lives to justify an increase in tax burden for the well-doers, when these uber-rich people shelter their money and pay an incredibly small tax burden already, they are not the same as the well-doers nor do they even pay the same percent as the well-doers. John Kerry's wife is paying... what 15% on capital gains only as she receives income from stocks dividends.. You want to go after the uber-rich? Stop lumping the professionals into their mix and making them the target of the largest tax burden of any group INCLUDING the uber-rich...
First. .. sales tax.. EVERYONE pays sales tax.. it's the same percentage across the board here..dont know about your county.. mine is 8.25% sales tax!
I pay property taxes too and it's pretty much proportional to the value of your house.
As for income taxes.. yes, theypay more becaues they make more.. Should someone making say $200K a year, pay $10K in income taxes while someone making $50K a year also pay that same $10K (just throwing numbers out there).
Again.. those taxes do not seem to put much of a cramp on your investments or lifestyle is all I'm saying..
And I believe Mrs. o1Snake did seem to get pissy or perhaps I was just reading as pissy.
But again.. I never discounted that you pay taxes.. but some people have ..okay. .heres 'a better word.. complained that they are not getting their rebate while others are.
I can tell you.. Ijust had aon oil delivery this morning for $547. I'm now in hock to the oil compahy for over $800 after just paying down $500 of my bill.. that's where my "rebate" check is going.. (techincally I'm not getting the check either because I have to pay taxes as Im' self employed.. but I do hope to deduct that from what I owe).
Just a little FYI, those who make 200k a year are paying a minimum of 76K in taxes. How about that. Do you really think 200K is a lot of money? Do you think that buys mansions and 5 BMW's and private planes? You are kidding yourself. That is not rich, wealthy or comfortable. People have to save all year just to pay Uncle Sam, the state here we pay 8.125% sales tax, no state tax per say and this year I think we paid about 3.6% of the appraised value of our house to the 2 counties we pay to even though we only live in one of them. So, add it up and tell me if $600 or $1200 would make a difference?
I say of course it does. I believe you may be a bit delusional to believe that we are all taking these fabulous vacations, eating cavier and drinking champagne every weekend. You are WRONG and really I sacrifice every birthday, holiday, anniversary (maybe you get the point) to work hard to try to get some money in the bank and every year pay what I consider a huge amount of taxes.
So, if I seem "pissy", look at the above an tell me how you think I should feel. Should I be happy that I pay over 75K a year and can't get my little ol' $600 rebate check?
I mean until you are making a million bucks a year, you are not comfortable and even then, they probably struggle with all the same things. There are very few people that do no worry or struggle with money.
We were always taught that if you work hard, you'll be able to play hard. Hard work will get you far in life...
I think, atleast in the middle class, that we are working hard and constantly having to work harder and harder to just stay in one place. no move up, no move down.. But as things go up and up and up we find ourselves, as the middle class, slowly slipping backwards it seems!
I think there is a point where you break through and it's not about just standing still and it becomes slightly easeir to move forward because of momentum. Middle class has no momentum and we're running out of steam!!
We were always taught that if you work hard, you'll be able to play hard. Hard work will get you far in life...
I think, atleast in the middle class, that we are working hard and constantly having to work harder and harder to just stay in one place. no move up, no move down.. But as things go up and up and up we find ourselves, as the middle class, slowly slipping backwards it seems!
I think there is a point where you break through and it's not about just standing still and it becomes slightly easeir to move forward because of momentum. Middle class has no momentum and we're running out of steam!!
I think the point I am trying to make it that I believe most of the people you believe are wealthy are more middle class. Maybe not in tax brackets determined by the Federal Government, but where we came from and how we live and struggle is the same.
So, maybe the misconception is based on how the government categorizes us and not by the realistic everyday financial burden that we bear.
Both of my parents are retired NAVY and if anyone knows, they were by no mean rich or wealthy not really even comfortable. But, that is the job they chose and it worked. But, there were times when both of my parents were gone for one thing or the other. For three years my mom lived in DC while my dad and I lived in NC. So, I know sacrifice and have lived with it my whole life wondering if one day my dad would not come home because of trouble with Cuba or Iraq. The person who took my mom's job in the Pentagon was killed on 911-that is a eye opener.
So, please take a look around and stop making assumption on how us rich folks are so happy and have nothing to worry about.
Just a little FYI, those who make 200k a year are paying a minimum of 76K in taxes. How about that. Do you really think 200K is a lot of money? Do you think that buys mansions and 5 BMW's and private planes? You are kidding yourself. That is not rich, wealthy or comfortable. People have to save all year just to pay Uncle Sam, the state here we pay 8.125% sales tax, no state tax per say and this year I think we paid about 3.6% of the appraised value of our house to the 2 counties we pay to even though we only live in one of them. So, add it up and tell me if $600 or $1200 would make a difference?
I say of course it does. I believe you may be a bit delusional to believe that we are all taking these fabulous vacations, eating cavier and drinking champagne every weekend. You are WRONG and really I sacrifice every birthday, holiday, anniversary (maybe you get the point) to work hard to try to get some money in the bank and every year pay what I consider a huge amount of taxes.
So, if I seem "pissy", look at the above an tell me how you think I should feel. Should I be happy that I pay over 75K a year and can't get my little ol' $600 rebate check?
I mean until you are making a million bucks a year, you are not comfortable and even then, they probably struggle with all the same things. There are very few people that do no worry or struggle with money.
I think your idea of "comfortable" and my idea of "comfortable" are two VERY different ideas.
For example...you probably have some nice little invvestments, 401K's and some savngs aside. You probably either own a nice place.. mabye small, but probably in a nice neighborhood with excellent schools. You also probably never have to worry about writing a check that will bounce because most of the bills you have to pay are easily covered. That's fine..
However.. I work adn my husband works long hours. My checkbook is usually at 0 because every penny I put in , goes right back out to pay the oil, electric, car insurance.. yes I have cabel (I have the triple package and need the net and phone to do busienss in my house.. but I save by having all three). I have an $800 / month insurance premium I have to pay that covers only me and my son.. no room for over $1000 for all three of us..yes, I've shopped around.. NO I can't take the minimum.. that would amount to being underinsured. I pay $600/month in property taxes.. actually probably slightly more.. yes, it's because of where i live BUT I am working to get OUT of where I live.. I grew up here and didn't move here by choice.. but am being squeezed out.
My mortgage is a little much.. buying this hosue was a big mistake.. but ithought I was making something ofa good investment.. guess I was wrong.. but I wouldnt' be much further ahead if I had to rent.. so it's whatever. I have a car and my husband has a car because he needs to drive all over LI for our business and I need to go get groceries and stuff and need a way to get around because my husband is never home! It's always hussle hussle hussle.
We don't take vacations..atleast not together.. I just go to see my mom in MT so she can see her grandson atleast once a year.. husband hasn't been on one trip since we got married 5 years ago..no honeymoon, but I got married in my moms backyard .didn't go into hock to get married.
I dont' have savings, dont have 401K.. can't afford to purchase life insurance.. I'll stretch our food budget severely by eating rice or whatever.. especially now as I paid down our large oil bill by $500 so that I can get another deliver of $547 just this morning..
If my car breaks down I cry.. I just had to domy brakes for $300 the other day.. what bill did I take that from to pay that!! eek..
ANd.. I DON'T make minimum wage, DON"t drive luxury vehicles, DON'T live in a McMansion! God forbid my husband gets sick and has to stop doing what he's doing for our business, never mind the fact that he doesn't have health insurance.
Perhaps if I got OUT of my house.. I'd be able to use what I'd save between a mortgage and rent to purchase additional insurance..but then there is a rental shortage on LI which means most likely I'd be living in someone elses basement or paying $1000 less to rent someone elses run down house.. which still woldn't leave me much extra savings.. caus remember.. I'm behind on all the bills..
Need I go on.. again.. there is NO comfort in that! None whatsoever.. and I do not make what would be minimum wage by any means!
ms 01 - If we implemented my proposed income tax you would be exempt because you were not making enough money. My deductible is around 250 k per year. My system makes up for this by taxing all income from all sources the same on a steeply progressive basis. Under my system you would be exempt and the Kerry’s would be paying at around the 80% level. I think you would use the 70 k responsibly and the Kerry’s would not really miss the taxes because I doubt if it would change their lifestyle.
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