Wealthy Brace for Obama Taxes

What ever happend to equality for all. Why is it that the rich are going to pay more than the poor. Lets give everyone the first $35k earn tax free. Then anything above that would be taxed at 25% across the board. So the poor get a break (stay the same) and the rich/middle class and cooporation all get hit the same. hmmmm.... wait I think that may be to logical

Brian of CA 4:20PM December 05, 2008

I just have to laugh.

I am glad all you folks out there are telling me to not be proud, and to eat some "humble pie". I am glad you are so proud to tell me how much, and what percentage of the money I earned should be taken away (and given to the likes of you).

I think we should have a tax on all the "windfall" handouts that ya'll will be getting. SO the gov't can tax me, and then tax you. You should be very happy about that, because then you will STILL have nothing (as you haven't seen fit to go earn it yourself) AND the gov't, with whom you are so in love with, will have even MORE money to NOT give to you.

Just wait and see what happens (not yet, as it would really tank the economy, wait 2-3yrs) when you raise marginal rates high enough that the only folks left in this frigging country who PAY taxes, decide it is not worth the effort, and they act like ya'll, with the other 18hrs/day they would have otherwise worked (supervising you (course not any longer, since they closed the store, and canned you)).

With some of your "free time", why don't you learn something. Look and see what fraction of ALL income taxes the rich pay. I'd be curious to hear your answers as to what percentage the rich are "supposed" to pay. Better yet! Pick the percentage first, then look it up (the IRS data meathead). Your "fair share" will be something like 100% (+/- 20%). Even if you taxed the rich at 200% of their income, you couldn't nurse all these folks at the teat. America used to mean freedom to create, earn, generate...with the benefits of all individual's actions bettering society. Now it is virtually two camps, elite super-rich who really don't "earn" their money at all, and 75% looking for a handout form the gov't.

Your standard of living is going to drop, a lot. See what happened to the average Joe during the 1970's, or any other similar time you chose to have the rich "pay their fair share...spread the wealth, ad nauseum..." and you'll learn that you shall be the biggest victim of all. And you don’t even have a pension now. Did you save enough in your 401K? No, too bad, guess the gov't is going to have to bail you out again. Oh, you DID save enough? Good, you're going to be the rich guy, welcome to the giving-it-to-the-gov't club.

And to think…I was planning on moving to MO! By the time I get there, this wipe will be Governor! They’ll love him, can’t lose.

When there's a single thief, it's robbery. When there are a thousand thieves, it's taxation. ~Vanya Cohen

Smegma of NJ 10:57AM November 29, 2008

A lot of these folks like myself making the 250k per year busted our butts to get to the point of owning our own successful businesses. I was not born to rich parents but went to a great university (hookem horns) and learned all i could till i had the contacts and trusts of clients to start my own CPA firm. I took all the financial risk at the beginning, meaning if my firm failed i could lose everything i had and my employees would have to find new jobs and i would rather them help foster growth in our firm and reward them. The Founding Fathers never intended the USA to be a nanny state that rewards slackers,ie(food stamps, Hud housing subsidies, AFDC), these courageous people carved out of a wilderness and their own sweat, a system providing a country with the OPPORTUNITY TO SUCCEED, not the guaranteed outcome many expect the wealthy to provide. The Top 10 pay a little over 60% of the income taxes and our corporations pay the second highest tax in the world. The poor and middle class are not covering their share, Food Stamps, AFDC, HUD benefits should all be taxed. The Poor and in a lot of cases, they are lazy and are killing America. Middle Class needs a substantial increase in taxes also.

You have never had to cover payroll, pay taxes on employees, cover health expenses, not to mention God forbid an employee files a frivolous lawsuit against you. It is very expensive to employee folks in America, tort reform would help, plus now adays everyone wants paid but they are lazy workers. I do not blame corporate America for shifting jobs overseas, try to get an American to work hard they will call in for a hangnail these days.

The "Great Society" made America lazy. People are supported for basically being "dead weight" to society. Instead of shippping our jobs maybe we can ship them to China. Until America dumps these "Nanny State" ridiculous programs, we will continue to fall in the Developed World.

Dan of TX 7:29PM November 20, 2008

What would you do with a $300,000 salary? It is very doubtful that anyone would save most of it. The bulk of it will be spent on goods and services. Those goods are manufactured by skilled labor (hopefully in USA!!!), distributed by professional drivers, and sold by local retailers. The services that the rich buy are provided by other skilled workers in various industries, ranging from craftsmen who deck out their houses with incredible trimwork to the servicemen who are hightly trained to repair their luxury cars. Those folks are also benefitting from others' properity. Of course this is a simplified "trickle-down" economics theory that some have called bunk, but doesn't it make sense? If you have money don't you spend at least a portion of it? Let's say you now earn $250,000, with the other $50,000 being distributed by the government. What happens? You spend a little less and maybe mow your own grass instead of paying the neighborhood kid or other lawn service. The government will now pay the people who are now under-employed because their services are not needed enough to support their family.

As far as taking a look up from the wallet, the "rich" folks obviously don't look at their wallet enough because they SPEND all the money they earn! This is a part of what created this mess - people spending more money than they have, and taking on more debt than they can afford. The "prosperity" we had in the early 2000's was not real, in that people were buying way too many goods and services, hedging their bet that they'd have more money later to pay it all off. Now that the future is here, there is heck to pay.

In my opinion the problem isn't the trickle-down effect. The problem is the creation of non-existent "investments" that have no underlying value, such as credit default swaps or synthetic collateralized debt obligations, selling these nonsense vehicles to anyone who would buy, including school districts, companies, and foreign governments.

Does anyone remember the day when eating at a restaurant was a once-a-month event? It seems now that eating at home is a once-a-month event! (sorry - useless tangent)

My view: capitalism and trickle-down got broken when there was no one to protect the little man (most of us). In 1999, deregulation allowed the greedy whores of Wall Street to run free, thus betraying the core values of these two ideas. Trickle-down economics work when there is governmental oversight but not intervention (unless required to ensure fair practices). Capitalism also works when there are rules to keep the greedy at bay. Once the controls were released, the Gordon Gecko's of the world became the masters of our future. Obama can help get us back on track, however I believe he will douse the flame until it is extenguished completely, running us afoul of Socialim.

K of FL 4:09PM November 18, 2008