Taxes, time to pay your fair share
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I got this info fresh from the Wall Street Journal, not some looney blog or web site. These are my words, not a cut-n-paste. - after the tax breaks we had early on in Bush's first term, you'd think that the majority of the taxes would have switched from the rich to the middle/lower class if you listen to all the whiners in the house and congress. In reality, just the opposite happened.
The top 1% of earners ($350,000 and up) pay 39.4% of all taxes (this is the highest this number has ever been).
The top 5% of earners (175,000-350,000) pay 59.5% of all taxes.
The bottom 50% of earners pay 3% of all taxes.
After working a bunch of OT the last few weeks I get my check and see that the govt is taking about 46% of my hard earned OT money. What a scam. And now comrade Clinton and others keep talking about raising taxes. It's really starting to p/ss me off.
DaveH
'94 Supra- 7.77 @ 176mph -
shes a cunt (hillary), just like her bitch(bill). i think ill move to canada if she gets office.
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Again, I say time for a flat (percentage rate) tax. I've never been opposed to this, I think BOTH parties manipulate the taxes too much.
However, things to be considered are this:
the top 1% control something like 60% of the money in the country (percentage may be off a bit, can't find the chart that actually breaks it out...had it bookmarked, but can't find it....grrrrr)
Oh, and the reason you get taxed like a madman on OT is because OT pay is considered "supplemental income" under tax law and you, solely, are paying for your Federal, State, FICA, Social Security & every other income based tax. Your employer is not contributing their normal matching funds (where applicable) towards your income tax when you earn OT. Also since you are getting OT, you automatically jump to the highest tax bracket and your exemptions pretty much go out the window. However, most of that money will be refunded when you file your taxes.
DO NOT READ THIS AS ME SAYING I AGREE WITH THE WAY THE TAX LAW WORKS!!! this is just the explanation that was presented to me when I asked why over 1/2 of my commission checks are lost to taxes (ok, it was like 46% + my 401k put it to like 61% or something since I'm sure the question will be asked.)
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torbs;190726 wrote:
www.fairtax.orgworst idea ever.
Those earning the lowest would be paying the largest percentage of their income towards this tax, thereby pushing them farther into poverty. Great idea. Either that or the formula for determining taxes owed would be some bizarre formula.
From what I gather, the amount you pay in sales tax would be determined by how much you earn. However there will be no income tax to be filed to determine how much you actually made. And if there was a required statement of earnings, the amount of loopholes that would be exploited until the system was nailed down would be absolutely astronomical and have a severe negative impact on our economic system in this country. IOW, if you think people cheat on their taxes now, I guarantee it will be worse with this system.
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DaveH - how much do you make anually (on average) would you say? And did you get paid for the overtime with a seperate check or was it included in the regular hours?
Also, How come you hate hilary so much? Think happy thoughts, didn't you ever watch "Hook"? I don't hate bush, I think there's no reason to hate someone you can't do anything about. (you can vote, yeah, but that's about it).
If you really want to complain, you need to lobby the government somehow. Like go to washington and see some senators.
Don't be angry when hillary wins, because you can be happy you voted for a republican and you made a difference, just not a winning one. lol, pwnt.
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You gotta love MN state taxes. :icon_cheese:
I don't know if you are a econ major Jim, but even people who study this stuff for a living can't really tell for sure what tax cuts do or don't do for an economy. I don't see how you can positively say it did NOT help the economy. We had some tax cuts, the economy is doing very well (especially considering the circumstances around the world).
Jim;190727 wrote:
Between state and federal taxes, I paid ~50% of my total income last year.But bush's tax cuts did NOT help the economy despite what you may think....
DaveH
'94 Supra- 7.77 @ 176mph -
Tax Cuts always help the economy by definition.
Economics is the study of choice. Leaving more of their money in peoples hands gives them more choices. Ergo, they're better off.
Said somewhat differently, economics is a distributed intelligence problem. The more distributed the decision making, the more optimally the system functions and the faster it converges on an optimal allocation of investments towards goals.
Somewhat less abstractly, we usually see icnreased levels of spending, saving, investment, and charitable giving when there are tax cuts. The correlation-vs-causation disclaimer comes into play, but the theory is sound and the observations fit the theory.
Left leaning individuals tend to have a blatant disregard for economic theory since it paints them as head-in-the-sand ostriches in such vivid bright colors.
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Tax breaks for the rich, to stimulate the economy is a false idea... the trickle down theory, by which data (and history.. think regan) proves does not work:
http://www.faireconomy.org/research/TrickleDown.html
More on failure of trickle down econ:
http://clyburn.house.gov/statements/cc010301bushsotu.html
More on supply side econ:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/06/opinion/06bartlett.html
Well, a good portion of those circumstances that cuase economic instability around the world are caused by the US, but besides that, in terms of domestic policy, any growth in the economy, cannot be attributed to the tax cuts, as that growth (compared to similar periods) would have been higher without those tax cuts.
More from a VERY conservative publication:
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2007/3/20/president-bushs-tax-cut-suicide.html
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/02/b1425171.html
Eitherway, don't get me wrong, I don't the government taking half my money to waste it on stupid shit, but I do think there are better solutions then what Bush has offered us...
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Jim;190784 wrote:
Tax breaks for the rich, to stimulate the economy is a false idea...Right -- tax breaks for the rich are a false idea. Since the rich pay the majority of taxes, I encourage you to suggest any reduction in taxes that some fuckhead wont spin as "tax breaks for the rich"
The economy exploded under Reagan, and the income tax rates under Carter were atrociously high.
The links you offer speak only of "the highest" tax backet. When you find a peice of legislation that only discusses the absolute top-most bracket exclusively, do let me know.
But all of this is beating around the bush. High taxation is just plain immoral. The less taxation we do, the more just our government is.
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Zero;190741 wrote:
DaveH - how much do you make anually (on average) would you say? What does it matter? And did you get paid for the overtime with a seperate check or was it included in the regular hours? I'm sure he gets paid on a single check w/ a seperate line item for OT.Also, How come you hate hilary so much? He's a republican...he has to Think happy thoughts, he's a republican, he can't didn't you ever watch "Hook"? I don't hate bush, I think there's no reason to hate someone you can't do anything about. (you can vote, yeah, but that's about it).
If you really want to complain, you need to lobby the government somehow. Like go to washington and see some senators. Good luck with that, you better have deep pockets if you think a single person can lobby gov't successfully
Don't be angry when hillary wins, because you can be happy you voted for a republican and you made a difference, just not a winning one. lol, pwnt. Not really, his vote will count in ND, since I am 99% sure that she won't carry this state
There, answered for Dave
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Jim, I find these links hillary(ous). They are socialists, of course they don't believe in reducing taxes. Direct quotes from the actual site:
www.faireconomy.org - We envision an economy where the distinction between “labor” and “capital” is blurred — where everyone contributes to society with their labor and everyone benefits from society’s financial growth.
I don't have much time to browse the rest on my lunch break, but to think that a socialist is going to say anything good about the Reagan years is silly.
Jim;190784 wrote:
"Well, a good portion of those circumstances that cuase economic instability around the world are caused by the US...^^^ Did you write that? Please explain what you are talking about. What economic instability are you referring to? And what specifially did the US do to cause it? Please write in your own words.
DaveH
'94 Supra- 7.77 @ 176mph -
I SWEAR BY MY LIFE AND MY LOVE OF IT THAT I WILL NEVER LIVE FOR THE SAKE OF ANOTHER MAN, NOR ASK ANOTHER MAN TO LIVE FOR MINE
-- The Oath, John Galt, "Atlas Shrugged"
Socialism is fundamentally broken. People that lean socialist are leaning towards brokenness. They are sad to listen to and watch, but tolerable so long as they wield no power. Unfortuneately, the practical aim of socialism is to concentrate power in the hands of the socialists -- one cannot acheive socialism without a centralized planning aparatus, and naturally those whom espouse socialism and are fucking stupid (ok: delusional) enough to think that it works at all are obviously delusional enough to think that they're the ones qualified to do the job.
Time and time this has shown to be false. It's not that "the wrong people" always get the power (they do), its that the system is completely unworkably broken. No matter who is "in charge" it will always fail, and always for the same reasons. But don't take my word for it, read "The Road to Serfdom", by F.A. Hayek, who shat out more economic knowledge than the average pundit website could ever hope to harvest or convey.
As an aside, if you've got a couple hours, this synopsis of Atlas Shrugged is a great way to get the gist of the story without reading the over 1000 pages of the actual book. The basic plot is that the hard working, thinking, enterprising, contributory members of society revolt against the lazy-in-power whom expect entitlement after entitlement. But it's not the kind of revolt you'd expect.
http://www.objectivistcenter.org/cth--1709-AtlasShruggedSynopsis.aspx
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tjamz;190713 wrote:
the top 1% control something like 60% of the money in the country (percentage may be off a bit, can't find the chart that actually breaks it out...had it bookmarked, but can't find it....grrrrr)If the top 1% control 60% then how could this government statistic be correct?
the top 5 percent of taxpayers paid more than one-half (53.3 percent) of all individual income taxes, but reported roughly one-third (32.0 percent) of income
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