Taxes

God damn, people here are comfortable spending other people's money.
Heyabbott doesn't get any more protection from the military or any more benefit from schools than someone making half as much money, but somehow his and his wife's work ethic, expertise and results require that he chip in much more, at a progressively higher rate. What would be wrong with simply going flat-tax, where everyone chipped in 7% (or whatever number folks agreed upon) of each dollar earned -- above a certain floor based on bare necessities?

And if progressive tax rates are so swell, why is there a ceiling to protect the super-rich? Just keep that gouge going up, up, up and see how the elites from both sides of the aisle squeal.

Everybody needs skin in the game. And it's not for government to take excessive amounts of folks' dough and sprinkle it around. Anyone can be the hero spending the other guy's dollars.

 

The wealthy have their own benefits to having extra "skin in the game" by paying more in taxes. They're allowed to buy more "speech". If they want a flat tax rate, then there can be a small maximium flat amount that anyone can spend on a candidate or election. Say, $1,000 per candidate, $10,000 per election deal. No loopholes. Deal? After all, that'll guarantee that everyone has a reasonably equal chance at promoting a candidate.

 

Taxes are supposed to pay for schools, and though I don't know this is the case all around the country, several counties here in Florida now push ballot referendums to add another penny to the sales tax. Quit wasting money in the first place and you wouldn't have to do this.

 

I'm about as anti-tax as anyone, but this is just false.

It's exactly the government's role, as spelled out in the Constitution.

 

Outing alert: heyabbott is the father of this University of Michigan student.

My family’s household income is $250,000 a year, but I promise you I am middle class. I live in a $2 million dollar house, but I promise you I am still middle class.

Jesse Klein: Relative wealth - The Michigan Daily

 

MC, I'd be very interested to know whence comes this Constitutional sanction for redistribution.

 

Are we sure heyabbott didn't mean to put this on the "First-world problems" thread?

 

Historical interpretations of the general welfare clause aside, most taxes are "redistribution" in one way or another.

 

maybe 1,000 mostly from the state

I am old enough and reltively smart enough, and darn it people like me, to understand what my taxes go for and I do hope that I will get my money's worth from my social security contributions, which I have paid towards since I was 14 years old, same with medicare/medicaid.

I don't complain about the teachers, the cops, the firefighter, most of the roads and infrastructure. Military? y]thats a sink hole o political spending, it could be cut 10% easily. Oh but that would hurt private defense contractors who would then hurt workers. Essentially then billions of dollars of tax money is going to pay workers for defense programs that arent required. Thats part of the real welfare state. The Ospry. Unneccessary super fighters, an additional carrier group. All have constituencies that pay good money to keep unneeded projects going. It's not the welfarre to poor people, its the government support of large private industry. Its so ingrained its needed, but the biggest welfare cheats are the fuel industry through weird depreciation and rightoffs.

All too many people and entities don't pay their fair share to such a large extent that relatively speaking I pay disproportionatly high taxes. I have been lucky enough so far that I have remained continiously employed since 1988. My wife took 4 or 5 years off but has been other employed since 1989. How about a little break? The mortgage deduction is no break, the market has taken that into consideration for 40 years. Prices reflect the deduction, remove the deuction and you wipe out middle class accumalation of unrealized gains.

I could use the money I earn more than anyone else needs my money

[please forgive spelling, typing on the phone is hard]

 

No, you really don't. If you want to say that a 20% tax rate is too high, fine ... but you pay about average.

 

The people that make 5 times more than I do not pay 5 times more taxes. The people that make 10 times what I make really don't pay 10 times more. They cap the SS tax so rich people don't contribute nearly as much, proporationately, as I do.
They essentially killed middle class deductions, by upping the % to dedeuct medical expenses. Tuition should have some sort of deduction. Student loan interest should be dedctable. But business car leases for executives are not taxed as income and a business expense for the company.

So much unfairness to the real middle class. People who work everyday at hourly/salaried jobs and folks who own small businesses and services.