You'd think the Conservatives on this board would tell Cicero just WHO those 50% that pay no taxes actually are...
~ The Disabled, mentally, physically and emotionally... they make little or nothing so pay little or nothing in tax. ~ Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Tess... along with all the other middle class and poor on Social Security. They make a few bucks on interest income and those lucky enough to have an actual pension. They make nothing taxable, so they pay no tax. ~ Kids... those who are working at Dunkin Donuts and living at home with their parents. They make little so it's not taxable... ~ Single moms with no child support who's husband abandoned his kids... She doesn't even make enough to pay child support, and relies on her family or friends to babysit while she works 25 hrs a week. ~ The unemployed... great idea there. Tax the unemployed, yet ignore the 1400 US Millionaires who pay nothing. ~ Students living at school, earning part time dollars to pay for books, tuition, etc... Not exactly a font of Taxable Income there...
Cicero wants to tax em all! All those freeloaders with no job...TAX EM! Grandma & Grampa on SS...TAX EM! The Disabled...TAX EM! The Unemployed...TAX EM!
But those 1400 US Millionaires... How did Cicero put it??? OH Yea: "The middle class pay more since taxing the 1400 rich will not solve the problem." (A True Conservative!)
You forgot to add generational welfare families, mothers who can't stop getting pregnant (which is why I am all for gov't paid birth control), and people with ummm, non-taxable jobs, like the drug trade. Plus add all of the under the table income which we all knows goes on in droves, and you have a lot of people that SHOULD be working and paying taxes
"Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock out the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like it is victorious." - Author Unknown
~ The Disabled, mentally, physically and emotionally... they make little or nothing so pay little or nothing in tax. ~ Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Tess... along with all the other middle class and poor on Social Security. They make a few bucks on interest income and those lucky enough to have an actual pension. They make nothing taxable, so they pay no tax. ~ Kids... those who are working at Dunkin Donuts and living at home with their parents. They make little so it's not taxable... ~ Single moms with no child support who's husband abandoned his kids... She doesn't even make enough to pay child support, and relies on her family or friends to babysit while she works 25 hrs a week. ~ The unemployed... great idea there. Tax the unemployed, yet ignore the 1400 US Millionaires who pay nothing. ~ Students living at school, earning part time dollars to pay for books, tuition, etc... Not exactly a font of Taxable Income there...
If the make-up of the 50% of America is as you described, America is in bigger trouble than I originally thought. The top 50% needs to work that much harder to pay for such a large number of social dependents. Maybe Obama can pass a law making a full time private employment 50 hours per week.(excluding unionized workers and bureaucrats of course, they work a maximum 36hrs, the balance of the time will be campaigning for democrats)
Re July 31 letter, “‘Of the wealthy, by the wealthy, for the wealthy,’” by Richard Beller: I feel the need, once again, to call into question the need for liberals to continue to say the wealthy have to pay their fair share. In response to Beller’s letter, how much more should the wealthy pay? Just like our president, none of you liberals will say how much more the wealthy should pay, just that they should pay more. How much more? The top 1 percent pays 39 percent of the federal income tax. How much more should they pay? Should they pay 50 percent? 60 percent? What are you going to do when the wealthy move off-shore? Just like Obama, you won’t come out with a number, just a slogan. He didn’t have a health care plan, he didn’t write the failed stimulus plan and he doesn’t have a budget, but he knows the right is wrong. The next step will be to decide how much money individuals can make. Instead of saying the wealthy need to pay more, why don’t you just come up with a salary you feel is enough. That is just what our socialist president has said. This country is great because of the opportunities that everyone has. Everyone has the chance to make a living; it is up to you and how hard you want to work. To think taking from someone else will in any way enrich your life is sick.
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Stop Coddling the Super-Rich By WARREN E. BUFFETT Published: August 14, 2011
OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.
While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors.
These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.
Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.
If you make money with money, as some of my super-rich friends do, your percentage may be a bit lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your percentage will surely exceed mine — most likely by a lot.
To understand why, you need to examine the sources of government revenue. Last year about 80 percent of these revenues came from personal income taxes and payroll taxes. The mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. It’s a different story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot.
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends.
I didn’t refuse, nor did others. I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.......................>>>>..................>>>>....................................http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08.....siness&seid=auto
OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.
While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors.
These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.
While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors.
These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.
Warren Buffett and the rest of the "tax me" rich are F'ing hypocrites. NOTHING is stopping them from figuring what they SHOULD pay and then writing a check payable to the Treasury Department. They will gladly take their money.
"Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock out the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like it is victorious." - Author Unknown
Warren Buffett and the rest of the "tax me" rich are F'ing hypocrites. NOTHING is stopping them from figuring what they SHOULD pay and then writing a check payable to the Treasury Department. They will gladly take their money.
What Warren is saying is that the system is UNFAIR, and the advantage is to the rich who pay half of what many working Americans pay. This isn't about 'donating' to the system. It's about everyone paying THEIR FAIR SHARE! The richest man in the world pays 15% tax, while his staff pay 30-40%... The rich are getting a "FREE RIDE" while the middle class pay for the Rich Tax Cut, and the Poor have services cut. ~ " A tax cut for any one group (with out a like spending cut) is a TAX INCREASE for everyone not in the group"~ A tax cut for the Rich is a Tax Increase for the rest of us.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
What Warren is saying is that the system is UNFAIR, and the advantage is to the rich who pay half of what many working Americans pay. This isn't about 'donating' to the system. It's about everyone paying THEIR FAIR SHARE! The richest man in the world pays 15% tax, while his staff pay 30-40%... The rich are getting a "FREE RIDE" while the middle class pay for the Rich Tax Cut, and the Poor have services cut. ~ " A tax cut for any one group (with out a like spending cut) is a TAX INCREASE for everyone not in the group"~ A tax cut for the Rich is a Tax Increase for the rest of us.
NO, what Warren is saying is "I think the tax rate for rich people like me is unfair, BUT I won't pay what I THINK is my fair share until the government orders me to do so" His actions speak louder than words. Sitting there wringing you hands about not paying enough is a cop out...If he feels so strongly about it, then cut a check... what's so hard to understand?
"Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock out the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like it is victorious." - Author Unknown
NO, what Warren is saying is "I think the tax rate for rich people like me is unfair, BUT I won't pay what I THINK is my fair share until the government orders me to do so" His actions speak louder than words. Sitting there wringing you hands about not paying enough is a cop out...If he feels so strongly about it, then cut a check... what's so hard to understand?
I'm sure that Warren could afford to send a few million to the US Govt. That's not the point. His article is about a fair tax system, and about shared burden... not about a rich man making a donation. Again, the middle class are paying for the Rich Tax Cut...
IMO, if the tax system is fair to all, then most Americans don't mind paying their fair share. If one group unfairly gets a tax break, then the rest of us will have to kick in more to pay for their tax break.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
I'm sure that Warren could afford to send a few million to the US Govt. That's not the point. His article is about a fair tax system, and about shared burden... not about a rich man making a donation. Again, the middle class are paying for the Rich Tax Cut...
IMO, if the tax system is fair to all, then most Americans don't mind paying their fair share. If one group unfairly gets a tax break, then the rest of us will have to kick in more to pay for their tax break.
I agree... but I think the Tax system needs to be completely overhauled so there are no deductions allowed. Back to Warren, I still say that what I get from his comments are "I know what the right thing to do is, but I won't do it unless required" My wife works with Attorneys, they're all big time liberals. At the holiday party they hold, they always say how they should pay more taxes. Last year I waited until they started with the mantra and then pulled out US Treasury business cards I printed on my computer and told them to send them a check.
"Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock out the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like it is victorious." - Author Unknown
here's an idea....keep your mouth shut....stay off my back....stay out of my pocket....you have what you have and keep what you have....I have what I have and keep what I have......
Dont patronize me......FLAT TAX AND NO FEES
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
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