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What percentage of the lower classes is taking advantage of the system?

Which of the following is most accurate of the lower class citizens not paying taxes?

  • 0% are taking unfair advantage of the system

    Votes: 5 27.8%

  • 25% are taking unfair advantage of the system

    Votes: 5 27.8%

  • 50% are taking unfair advantage of the system

    Votes: 3 16.7%

  • 75% are taking unfair advantage of the system

    Votes: 3 16.7%

  • 100% are taking unfair advantage of the system

    Votes: 2 11.1%
  • Total voters
    18
M

MusicAdventurer

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I think there may be many people who think that those people who do not pay taxes are taking advantage of the system. Some think this because they think everyone should have to pay taxes. Some think this because they think certain individuals are purposefully using the system to their advantage, rather than bettering themselves etc. On the other hand, many people believe that a large portion of those not paying taxes are hard workers and have nothing against paying taxes if they could afford to. So lets see how people view this population; shall we? :mrgreen:
 
It would depend on your view of "take advantage of the system". If that means persons that receive some sort of benefit from the federal system and pay no or little federal taxes that would be much higher then say someone that abuses the system outright.

I chose 75% because I believe the number rests somewhere between 75-100. Every American benefits from tax funded federal services in one form or another yet a small percentage are truly disabled and I would not consider them to be taking advantage of the system.

If you are talking outright abuse and receiving added assistance from the government or using government services as a lifestyle subsidy when one could do without it, I would place that at nearly 50%.
 
I would say between 50-75%. I'm entirely fine with people who are absolutely physically and/or mentally unable to do any sort of meaningful work getting assistance, but that's a relatively small number of people. Lots of people are on the public dole, not because they cannot work, but because they refuse to work. I view that as abuse of the system.
 
MusicAdventurer said:
I think there may be many people who think that those people who do not pay taxes are taking advantage of the system. Some think this because they think everyone should have to pay taxes. Some think this because they think certain individuals are purposefully using the system to their advantage, rather than bettering themselves etc. On the other hand, many people believe that a large portion of those not paying taxes are hard workers and have nothing against paying taxes if they could afford to. So lets see how people view this population; shall we? :mrgreen:
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So...we get to decide what the "rich" can afford to pay, but those who are not rich get to decide what they can afford to pay?
 
tessaesque said:
So...we get to decide what the "rich" can afford to pay, but those who are not rich get to decide what they can afford to pay?
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It's the liberal way. :roll:
 
tessaesque said:
So...we get to decide what the "rich" can afford to pay, but those who are not rich get to decide what they can afford to pay?
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Simply expressing the opinions I have seen in order to spur debate :)
 
Lets be real, Although its purely ancedotal. Every single worker that works for me gets back way more than they paid in due to EIC loopholes etc. That is a huge portion of our tqax dollars being handed out. Most go to these shady Tax folks that specialize in gettting the max return. It is or should be impossible to get back more than what was deducted from your check, yet it happens every year.
 
Bigkat80 said:
Lets be real, Although its purely ancedotal. Every single worker that works for me gets back way more than they paid in due to EIC loopholes etc. That is a huge portion of our tqax dollars being handed out. Most go to these shady Tax folks that specialize in gettting the max return. It is or should be impossible to get back more than what was deducted from your check, yet it happens every year.
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I believe this is done for two reasons. 1.) to make up for unequal opportunity and 2.) I believe the more money you make, the higher your EIC is until you are out of the "poverty level" or something like that (correct me if I am wrong), this is done to encourage citizens to make more money.
 
Cephus said:
I would say between 50-75%. I'm entirely fine with people who are absolutely physically and/or mentally unable to do any sort of meaningful work getting assistance, but that's a relatively small number of people. Lots of people are on the public dole, not because they cannot work, but because they refuse to work. I view that as abuse of the system.
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With unemployment at 9.2%, I have difficulty believing that's a serious problem at this point in time. There are far more people who want to work than there are jobs available. As for the handful who ARE lazy...well, as long as there are others who are legitimately looking for jobs, it's probably better that they not compete for the available positions anyway.
 
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I believe it is more desirable to earn a meager wage, pay taxes, and not qualify for benefits, than it is to not earn a wage, not pay taxes, and qualify for benefits. My reasoning is that the person who earns enough but does not qualify STILL has more cash than the welfare recipient. This leads me to believe that most don't desire an income of welfare alone, and if given an oppurtunity to earn more through work and lose the benefits would go the working route. However there is the 10-15% of the population that would prefer to be lazy and receive less monies in exchange for getting to relax, because the little they do have is "enough" in their eyes so why work? So my response would be: 10-15% of all people on welfare are taking advantage and abusing the system.

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Obviously the two extreme answers cannot be correct so that leaves 25%, 50% or 75%

if you count children who cannot help it, then its probably 25-50%
 
I'd guess somewhere around 5 percent or so. I went ahead and voted 0, since that's closest.
 
TurtleDude said:
I'd say 30-40%
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When I'm talking about taking unfair advantage, I'm talking about welfare queens who live off government handouts without working, or even trying to work. They're really not that common.
 
atrasicarius said:
When I'm talking about taking unfair advantage, I'm talking about welfare queens who live off government handouts without working, or even trying to work. They're really not that common.
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different standards. but I don't think we will ever prove anything. lots of people who want to work right now are out of work-real unemployment is around 14-17%. Under the normal unemployment rates of 5% or so the number who are not working and should be are much higher. Right now I know people who are UNDEREMPLOYED in high numbers or unemployed. especially even college grads with good grades in marketable fields
 
atrasicarius said:
When I'm talking about taking unfair advantage, I'm talking about welfare queens who live off government handouts without working, or even trying to work. They're really not that common.
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Oh, I don't know. I see lots of cases where you get welfare queens taking care of each other's kids through IHSS. They don't count as being on welfare, which they would if they just watched their own kids (which most of the time they do), they just get paid for watching each other's.
 
If you people really believe that people want to live in poverty.. Then you are simply retarded!! I doubt there is anyone that wants to live in poverty.. There are always some criminals that want to take advamtage of the system.. Hell, even rich folks take advantage of the system.. So what is your point?? You either have the rich looking to not pay their fair share in taxes or the poor taking advantage of the sytem.. What is sad is that you have rich politicians actually trying to help the rich.. Not to mention some brainwashed people that also for some reason want to help them take advantage of the system.. But oh!! Those bad horrible poor folks are robbing us blind with the $800 dollars or so they get a month to live on.. We should lock up those poor folks shouldn't we?? Or just cut their benefits because you are just stupid enough to think that someone can live with no income..

What do you think costs society more?? If you say the poor then you are retarded again!!

Get a clue people!!
 
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5% so far have said 0%?

I shouldn't be surprised but I am. They must have a very different outlook on what is exceptable behavior in people then I do. That or the are very naive.
 
Baralis said:
5% so far have said 0%?

I shouldn't be surprised but I am. They must have a very different outlook on what is exceptable behavior in people then I do. That or the are very naive.
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It's more that there was no option for 0-25 percent. I don't actually think no one does it, I just think it's closer to 0% than 25%.
 
It's not taking advantage of the system, when the system is basically designed to be exploited in the first place. Don't hate the player, hate the game.
 
Baralis said:
5% so far have said 0%?

I shouldn't be surprised but I am. They must have a very different outlook on what is exceptable behavior in people then I do. That or the are very naive.
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31.25% have actually said that 0% are taking advantage at the time of this post.. They would also be correct.. Nobody wants to live in poverty..

Nobody is poor and wants to take advantage of the system.. Give them an education and a job and help them not be poor is the best answer.. Criminals attemp to sell benefits cards, and get benefits when they aren't eligable..

Trashing the poor is a horrible and stupid thing to do.. Unless you have either been poor or are currently poor. You don't have anything to say about them.. You have no idea what it is like to live their life and try to take care of their families.. If you want to kiss the butts of the rich and polish their knobs then fine.. They are just as much a criminal as the poor.. They just have armies of attornies to get them off.. It isn't the poor that attemps to evade paying taxes.. You remember that..
 
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DemonMyst said:
31.25% have actually said that 0% are taking advantage at the time of this post.. They would also be correct.. Nobody wants to live in poverty.. The

Nobody is poor and wants to take advantage of the system.. Give them an education and a job and help them not be poor is the best answer.. Criminals attemp to sell benefits cards, and get benefits when they aren't eligable..

Trashing the poor is a horrible and stupid thing to do.. Unless you have either been poor or are currently poor. You don't have anything to say about them.. You have no idea what it is like to live their life and try to take care of their families.. If you want to kiss the butts of the rich and polish their knobs then fine.. They are just as much a criminal as the poor.. They just have armies of attornies to get them off.. It isn't the poor that attemps to evade paying taxes.. You remember that..
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I have absolutely nothing against the poor. In fact I would be considered poor myself. I make between $15K-25K per year yet I ask no one for help nor do I receive any assistance. I make due with what I make and I expect others to do the same. I could probably qualify for aid on my lesser years but I feel it is only right of me to either make of my situation what I can or strive to improve it, not ask others for assistance simply because I can. What I do have an issue with is people that could make due without assistance but chose not to because it is available and then refuse to better themselves.

I do agree with StillBallin75, our current system is just asking to be abused and should be heavily reformed. The problem many have with this view is they are so blinded they feel that reforming aid means you hate the poor, that or what we consider basic needs differs greatly.
 
DemonMyst said:
31.25% have actually said that 0% are taking advantage at the time of this post.. They would also be correct.. Nobody wants to live in poverty..

Nobody is poor and wants to take advantage of the system.. Give them an education and a job and help them not be poor is the best answer.. Criminals attemp to sell benefits cards, and get benefits when they aren't eligable..

Trashing the poor is a horrible and stupid thing to do.. Unless you have either been poor or are currently poor. You don't have anything to say about them.. You have no idea what it is like to live their life and try to take care of their families.. If you want to kiss the butts of the rich and polish their knobs then fine.. They are just as much a criminal as the poor.. They just have armies of attornies to get them off.. It isn't the poor that attemps to evade paying taxes.. You remember that..
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the poor dont have to pay any taxis so why would they try to evade paying them if they dont pay any
 
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