Originally Posted by Xanathos
So today I got accosted by one of these Occupy Seattle dimwits as I was getting out of my car for lunch. This idiot runs up to me and says "Pay your fair share, man!". I dunno, I guess I was overdressed for the area? Not sure how he figured out I was someone to target. Anyhow, so I turn to this cat, and I go "And what exactly is YOUR fair share?"
He gave me a blank stare for a moment, and went "What do you mean?"
"Well, as you're here living in a tent at 12 o clock on a Wednesday afternoon, I can only assume that you are part of the 47% of this country that pays precisely 0% towards the tax revenues the Feds take in. What's your fair share?"
"Hey man, I pay taxes. I pay sales taxes and property taxes and gas taxes!"
"Sales taxes are local taxes - none of that goes to the government. And you pay property taxes? In a tent? Really? What's the tax rate for a tent on the campus of a community college? And do you even own a car?"
He didn't like that last comment. At all. Started screaming. Said how money to the government all goes to the same place, so it doesn't matter if its state or federal - it goes to line the pockets of the rich. That, on a percentage basis, he pays more in taxes than I do relative to his income. How he lost his job working at a warehouse "so some executive could enrich his own bank account".
I was impressed with his ability to blurt out multi-syllabic words, but nonetheless, was tired of this, so I went to lunch. Then I decided to do some math, and scribbled out some calculations on a napkin:
-A quick Google search revealed that the Federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon
-Assuming a vehicle that contains an average 16 gallon tank, that requires a fill-up on the average of once per week and
-Assuming that a "career" as a warehouse worker is worth $10/hour.
(.184*16)*52=$153.09
$10*8*5*52=$20,800
$153.09/$20,800=.0073, or .7%
I finished up lunch and, oh joy of joys, this "protester" (bum) was still out near my car. I walked past and said "7 tenths of 1 percent". He looked at me and went "Whaaat?".
".7%. That's what you claim your "fair share" is" according to the fuel taxes you pay relative to what you would earn...you know, if you actually had a job. My fair share is already 35%, which you claim isn't high enough, and your fair share, according to you, is .7%", and I handed him the napkin. He looked at it like it was written in Sanskrit. Or Greek, since he probably majored in Sanskrit in college, which explains why he has no job prospects or success. Then he started screaming something about how I deserved to be locked up with the banker fraudsters and how change was comin' and blah blah blah. Started with some line about how that's still more on a percentage basis than Jeff Bezos pays for his gas tax. To which I pointed out that Jeff Bezos actually pays an income tax, and got in my car.
So there you have it, folks. The answer to the question nobody who ever screams about "fair shares" ever talks about: THEIR fair share, according to them. Less than 1%, with everyone else footing the rest of the bill to subsidize all the services they use.
The "nobody is paying their fair share but me" crowd. What a group.
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