Thread: Are you willing to pay higher taxes, and if so, for what?

Originally Posted by radcen

About what? That I don't share the same priorities? Probably. As wonderful as I think paying down the debt would be, I don't see it happening anytime soon, so my line of thinking kept the options in the real world regarding what possibly might actually happen and not the fantasies in our heads.

Polls are pretty worthless if they are based and set up based only upon ones belief.

Originally Posted by Hare

Then why aren't the poor contributing to the society they live in as well?

Because they're busy scraping out an existence for themselves on whatever money they have?

Success shouldn't be punished so that the government can piss away more money. Taxes are simply another form of servitude.

Success is hardly punished in this country. Those at the top of the income ladder command a higher percentage of America's income than in any other developed country. Furthermore, your success is rewarded because even with the additional taxes you pay on additional income, you still come out ahead.

It's very difficult to look at our tax code and conclude that the successful are punished. They earn more money (even after taxes), they can spend their money on whatever they want to spend it on, they can start businesses or charities with very few restrictions. And in fact if they feel like they are being "punished" there is nothing stopping them from simply producing less in the future. The fact that many people at the very top of our income ladders choose NOT to do this indicates to me that they don't feel punished, and it's not about the money for them. What drives a CEO or a movie star or a professional athlete to work long hours, year after year? Certainly not lack of money; I think they just enjoy what they are doing. If they felt like they were being "punished" then maybe they would stop. But in most cases they don't.

Originally Posted by Harry Guerrilla

It won't, at least in my case.
The government says I'm poor.

What a hypocrit you are harry, Im appalled

Originally Posted by Rhapsody1447

If you want to pay higher taxes what is stopping you? Just make your check out to the US Treasury. Why should everyone else have to pay higher taxes just because you want to?

nah I want you to make out a check...:P

Originally Posted by 1Perry

Polls are pretty worthless if they are based and set up based only upon ones belief.

Are you saying that you're actually gullible enough to believe the polls on this site are, or should be, somehow scientific and/or all-inclusive? Wow.

No, they are intended, along with the discussion in the thread itself, to gauge somewhat overall opinion and foster discussion. Nothing more, nothing less. If one possible answer was omitted, people are free to add it in the discussion, which they have. It should be obvious at this point that debt payment is an important factor to many people. Nothing wrong with that. Hence, the poll and the thread have served their purpose.

Originally Posted by radcen

Are you saying that you're actually gullible enough to believe the polls on this site are, or should be, somehow scientific and/or all-inclusive? Wow.

No, I stated what I thought of them.

Originally Posted by 1Perry

No, I stated what I thought of them.

Good answer.

Originally Posted by haymarket

Were you paying income taxes in 1900?

Were you paying income taxes in 1925?

Anyone has the right to talk to you about taxation as national public policy. You cannot tell them not to talk to you about that issue and expect anything but defiance and ignoring your demands.

Yawn, its time to end the parasitic attitude that the rich somehow have a duty to take care of those who do not bother to take care of themselves

Many here have mentioned tax paying status as a criteria, but a few have also mentioned property owning status. This begs the question...

Why is owning property still considered so important?

Yes, "back in the day", the fact that property owners were pretty much (but not exclusively) the sole financial supporters of government aside, it was also property owners who provided stability to society. I would argue that, while that is still the case to a degree, it is not near the same factor that it once was. Today, there are many varying factors that would compel a person or couple to not own property. Things like a constantly mobile lifestyle due to their career(s), them being better at saving for retirement through investing rather than home ownership, and many other possibilities.

Point being that a non-property owner could just as easily still be a productive member of society in today's world as a property owner.

Originally Posted by radcen

Are you willing to pay higher taxes, and if so, for what?

You can vote for more than one.

I am willing to pay for medical care, social programs, and infrastructure.