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What is "a fair share of income"? The answer may shed light on an underlying philosophy.
I'll wait.
A fair share of income for the middle class would be something similar to what America used to be during the social democratic boom period of the 1960s, perhaps a little lower inequality. Democracy was strong during this period, the donor class were held in check and trust in public institutions was higher as a result. When inequality gets out of hand, the big money donor class hijack the political system and rig the economy to their benefit. Plutocracy is the result, the rule of a tiny rich elite.
We have to choose, either massive income and wealth inequality or democracy. We cant have both.
What i don't get, is why do Republicans hate on their fellow americans so much that they want to basically dump old people onto 'charity'.
You missed the point. The old people have already paid into SS and Medicare for decades. The people who need to be transitioned to having their needs met by private charity organizations are the public assistance recipients who haven't paid for their benefits.
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Isn't the entire point of having a country is that it would work toward the betterment of all?
Well, that's why I suggested we tax like Sweden, but the very people who want Swedish-style social program benefits don't want to pay the flat or regressive taxes required to fund it. Go figure.
Should be rather eye-opening why we can't have the kind of benefits other countries have:
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"The United States has by far the most progressive income, payroll, wealth and property taxes of any developed country. Scandinavian social democracies like Denmark, Sweden and Norway have quite regressive direct taxes, as do the Netherlands and Switzerland.
The disparity is even starker when you bring sales taxes into the mix, as VATs are an extremely important source of revenue for most European countries...
Prasad and Deng found that the progressivity of countries' tax codes is negatively correlated with the amount of redistribution they do. In English: The less progressive the [tax] code, the more progressive the system."
Pay close attention to what that scatter plot chart tells us... Note that the highest levels of government benefits and services are provided by countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Belgium) in which taxes are flat (everyone pays the same tax rate) or regressive (shown as the negative values, meaning a greater tax burden is placed on those with lower incomes). And note where the USA falls on the graph. The USA has the most progressive tax system and therefore is least able to fund progressives' societal goals.
Thanks for admitting that liberals are only charitable with other people's money.
We know that you and Republicans are not good citizens and not charitable (see Trumps tax returns), so we are helping you overcome those character flaws.
GOP Introduces plan to Massively cut Social Security
I am minimizing my contribution to SS because I think the politicians will steal it from us. One of the nice things about working for yourself is the fact that you can decide how much you put in.
GOP loves to cut revenue, and then cry about how we are running out of money.
Last edited by Finn_Jarber; 12-14-2016 at 09:05 AM..
We know that you and Republicans are not good citizens and not charitable (see Trumps tax returns), so we are helping you overcome those character flaws.
You're welcome.
Almost forgot: don't like, Leave!
Exactly, since liberals don't like America, they can leave.
And thanks for admitting that liberals are not charitable.
Baloney. Tax calculators will tell you that people making $300 000 pay roughly 31%-36% in effective payroll and local and federal income taxes. How much they pay in property taxes are not related to their income but add 2% ($6000) and the total is nowhere near the 53% in Sweden (plus 23% employer payroll tax which is part of the cost of labor and thus part of the compensation package).
And thanks for admitting that liberals are not charitable.
No it's YOU that doesn't like America.
We liberals are happy to continue the current SS and social programs that benefit our countrymen.
It's you that wants to hurt older Americans and poor Americans.
You know where the door is.
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