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.
Just wanted to make sure progressives know I'm right there with them
You do realize that that wouldn't cover current expenses, right? The low-end generates very little revenue. The very rich pay about 16%. The middle pays ~25%.
What you are proposing, is essentially, cutting taxes in half (except for the poor, who get an increase) while bringing in half current revenue.
Don't be deluded into thinking this is a viable plan.
Hmmm... seems you need to go back and reread my posts. I don't post false information.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MTAtech
But the reality is that adding taxes to this group brings in very little additional revenue, while squeezing people who already live hand to mouth.
The reality is that the top 1% DO NOT earn the majority of the income. If you want to increase revenue, you MUST expand the tax base.
Take it from California, and other states...
Quote:
...the root of California's woes is its reliance on taxing the wealthy.
Nearly half of California's income taxes before the recession came from the top 1% of earners: households that took in more than $490,000 a year. High earners, it turns out, have especially volatile incomes—their earnings fell by more than twice as much as the rest of the population's during the recession. When they crashed, they took California's finances down with them.
Mr. Williams, a former economic forecaster for the state, spent more than a decade warning state leaders about California's over-dependence on the rich. "We created a revenue cliff," he said. "We built a large part of our government on the state's most unstable income group."
...Between 2007 and 2008, the incomes of the top-earning 1% fell 16%, compared to a decline of 4% for U.S. earners as a whole, according to the IRS.
Just wanted to make sure progressives know I'm right there with them
I think there should be a wealth tax on any rich person who complains about not being taxed enough. For example, Obama, Oprah, Warren Buffet, Russell Crowe have all complained about this and should be paying at least 50%. If they want to redistribute wealth it is time they practice what they preach.
Second, I do support closing tax loopholes. There is one where the rich can keep their money overseas to avoid taxation all together. It is no wonder they are moving companies and American jobs to China. The veterans in Afganistan, Iraq, and Libya make money overseas and don't have the pleasure of avoiding taxes. They receive combat pay. If the veterans have to pay on money they make from fighting overseas, then the rich should have to pay on the money they keep overseas.
what does this have to do with the price of tea in china?
When wealth inheritance is down, less in assets is held and bequeathed by the wealthy. Assets are saved for retirement needs by the working class, which is a HUGE segment of the population, as previously noted.
Can you provide numbers, say for 2001 and 2007 (or later)?
it's definitely a dubious claim, probably for FY2008 or something.
but i wasn't going to debate it, because it's also irrelevant. even if it were true it would have no bearing his argument.... which, if it's been lost in all the BS, was that American workers -- the bottom 90% -- own a "HUGE" portion of american wealth.
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.