Originally posted by telerion I commented on this a while back. I was pointing out that many of the low-income hicks that bitch and moan at tea parties and the like aren't really paying much in taxes. Needless to say the rightwingers here didn't pick up the article and run with it.
It should be noted that this is an uncharacteristically high number. It is so high this year becaus ...[text shortened]... his us vs them paradigm, unless you're making well above 100K, you're probably a taker.
maybe a lot of them are insurance agents or dependants thereof.
So to the rightwingers who embrace this us vs them paradigm, unless you're making well above 100K, you're probably a taker.[/b]
How long is this sustainable? In fact, can you seperate spending from taxation even though taxation is held back for now just so they can make promises not to raise taxes simply to get elected? Obama plays this game as did "W". Future administrations are going to have to raise taxes on the "little people" whether they want to or not due to the spending of admistrations before them. Heck, even Obama jokes around about not being given the funds to pay for "W"'s entitlements he created.
Originally posted by normbenign If the bottom 40% doesn't pay some taxes, they have no stake in paying government's bills. Considering income taxes only, it is nearly 50% that pay no taxes, or pay negative taxes, that is get direct refund of tax money they never paid. This 50% has no interest in proposals to reduce taxes, as they pay none or less than none.
We have come to accept p ...[text shortened]... ted States is to avoid becoming a third world welfare State, the Zimbabwe of North America.
Everyone pays a sizeable amount of federal taxes. Even if you don't pay any "income tax", you still have to pay the taxes for Social Security and Medicare - and nobody gets any deductions on this unless they make MORE than a certain amount of money. And most people who currently don't pay any income tax aspire to someday being able to make enough money so that they will be paying income tax. Or else they care about the taxes their boss has to pay so that he/she doesn't have to fire anyone.
As for government "breaking it's promise" by raising the retirement age -- if We the People in 2009 decide to change the Social Security policy that We the People enacted in the 1930's, there's nothing in the Constitution preventing us from doing so. Every law can be changed (and even the Constitution itself if all the hoops get jumped through).
When the bottom 40 - 50% pay no income tax, the pyramid of tax paying is too steep. We are abusing those who contribute most. It is bad economic and bad policy to create new programs and make only a small percentage of people pay for them.
Originally posted by zeeblebot 1) Takers Vs. Producers: "In 1985, just 16.5% of filers paid no income tax." Today, "roughly 120 million Americans – 40 percent of the U.S. population – are outside of the federal income tax system."
This sentence exemplifies the dishonesty of the writer.
120 million Americans are 40% of the TOTAL population. And he compares this number to 16.5% of FILERS.
So this means he's including the (roughly) 60 million Americans that are under 15 and 40 million that are above 65 and very likely retired (I don't know if those retired before 65 outnumber those that are not retired after 65, but I doubt this will change much) plus everybody with a disability, stay-at-home mothers, etc.
(If you want the numbers search in Wolfram Alpha.)
Originally posted by zeeblebot http://townhall.com/columnists/JohnHawkins/2009/11/10/4_reasons_the_american_dream_will_be_over_unless_we_act
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
4 Reasons The American Dream Will Be Over Unless We Act
by John Hawkins
"Make no mistake about it, this generation is a generation of thieves and the people who stole their parents and their children’s mone ...[text shortened]... ay the bills and the people who live off of the fruits of their labor.
...
I'd like to know where you are getting these numbers of yours. 😏
Originally posted by FMF 240 years into your "As Good As Capitalism Gets" project, and half the working people in your economy don't earn enough money to qualify to pay tax? Good grief.
*Spoken in Mr. Makay's voice from South Park: "It's the best system we've got, mkay. It's not perfect, but it's the best we've got... mkay."
takers vs. producers
13 Nov '09 01:05
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