• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher taxes?

Should the rich pay higher taxes?

  • Total voters
    69
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

VanceMack said:
We arent in massive debt because we dont take in enough taxes...we are in massive debt because congress spends money like crack whores. We are in debt because 50% of the public pays ZERO in income tax and in fact gets free money via the EIC. We are in massive debt because there are far too many crippled and dependent little ****s in this country that insist the government needs to take care of them and incessantly whine and bitch and moan about how unfair the world is. Meanwhile people of every race and nationality come to this country legally or otherwise and manage to bust their ass and find success. You didnt fix ****...you are the illustration of the problem.
Click to expand...

Please calm down. You have a wonderfully logical point; it's what a lot of people have been trying to say for ages, but people won't listen to you if you start cursing. It makes people get defensive instead of paying attention to your argument.

I don't think that all of the unemployed people would be particularly unhappy about getting a job. If people who wanted to start up a business were allowed to let it grow by any means possible--including having "the rich" buy their stock, etc., then jobs would be created. Given the opportunity, a few of those businesses would become sufficiently large to provide a considerable number of jobs. Entrepreneurs take a risk, but if you throw Ping-Pong balls at a wall with a hole in it, some will go through, and we should try to make that hole as big as possible.

I know a lot of poorer people who have good skills and excellent work ethic, which is wasted when they go to work as a Hy-Vee cashier instead of participating in a growing business--or end up not working at all.

Has anyone here considered that the jobless would be in better health if they were working for the pay they get? If they got out, worked a little, even stocking shelves, then they'd be better off health-wise.
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

TurtleDude said:
the rich pay far more taxes than "their programs" cost. The poor and middle class handouts are not funded by the taxes from those who want them
Click to expand...

Wait the middle class got a hand out?
My family is middle class and we never got a hand out!
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

Catawba said:
How are your taxes unfair compared to the working class?
Click to expand...

Hey, you're the one who said everyone ought to have fair and equal treatment. So when do I get what the poor get without paying a penny in income tax?

Or is this another liberal attempt to make the wealthy foot the bill?
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

Catawba said:
If you are as wealthy as you like to claim, you already do pay a lesser percentage of your total income in taxes than I do, and you whine that you want more and more breaks.
Click to expand...

What percentage of your total income do you pay in income taxes, taking into account tax credits and breaks?
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

can i get a job? :D
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

Happy Days said:
Sorry to come late to the party, but has anyone considered that instead of taxing hard working Americans to death the government could try to curb it's wasteful spending and stop spending money it doesn't have?
Click to expand...

I have suggested many times that we need to stop spending almost as much as the rest of the world combined on our military and quit starting optional wars.
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

TurtleDude said:
even would mean the top one percent would be paying one percent of the income tax
Click to expand...

Only far right libertarians think that. We would have a failed country in a heartbeat if we did that.
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

TurtleDude said:
I don't buy the from each according to their ability as od you
Click to expand...

You don't want a middle class.
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

VanceMack said:
So we can kill off the Pelosi Health Care plan and all those social spending programs that are driving the country into massive debt. I like it!
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the GOP idea for a health insurance mandate?
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

TurtleDude said:
the rich pay far more taxes than "their programs" cost. The poor and middle class handouts are not funded by the taxes from those who want them
Click to expand...

Same old unproven crock you continually dip into. The poor and the middle class didn't push for increasing our military spending to almost as much as the rest of the world, and the poor and the middle class didn't push for 30 years of tax breaks for the rich. Those are responsible for most of our debt.
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

TurtleDude said:
ah the class envy argument
Click to expand...

Ah, the spoiled rich brat argument.
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

Cephus said:
Hey, you're the one who said everyone ought to have fair and equal treatment. So when do I get what the poor get without paying a penny in income tax?

Or is this another liberal attempt to make the wealthy foot the bill?
Click to expand...

What handout are you talking about????
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

Cephus said:
What percentage of your total income do you pay in income taxes, taking into account tax credits and breaks?
Click to expand...

You have to look at all the federal taxes, not just income taxes, and I pay a higher percentage of my total income than the rich who's income comes primarily from investments. That's what needs to be fixed.
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

Actinium said:
It's a good point, but consider who's buying the more expensive stuff.
Click to expand...

he's also wrong because he refuses to account for the broadening of the tax base to include our illegal populace and underground economic actors.
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

VanceMack said:
We arent in massive debt because we dont take in enough taxes...we are in massive debt because congress spends money like crack whores.
Click to expand...

Crack whores tend to be very frugal with most of their spending... They have to have most of their money left over to buy more crack.
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

Catawba said:
Ah, the spoiled rich brat argument.
Click to expand...

wrong-its opposing the poor poor pitiful me loser argument
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

Catawba said:
You have to look at all the federal taxes, not just income taxes, and I pay a higher percentage of my total income than the rich who's income comes primarily from investments. That's what needs to be fixed.
Click to expand...

No you don't, that is a lie that has been debunked constantly, Those of us making more than a million are paying total federal taxes of about 30% rate, someone like you is less than 15%
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

Payroll taxes are for all intents and purposes income taxes just like the federal income tax is. The federal government operates on a unified budget. For all intents and purposes your payroll taxes pay for the same federal outlays that income taxes pay for. In fact, surpluses in payroll taxes subsidised deficits in general outlays prior to the recession. Prior to the recession, payroll taxes payed by the poor and middle class subsidised the income tax cuts on the top bracket.
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

I don't think most people understand how the tax brackets are structured. They hear that the top tax bracket is 35% and think that the zillionaires should be paying 35% of their taxable income. That's not how it works... Say your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) was a half million dollars ($500,000) and you're married filing jointly....

The first $16,050 is taxed at 10%.
The next $49,050 is taxed at 15%
The next $66,350 is taxed at 25%
The next $68,850 is taxed at 28%
The next $157,400 is taxed at 33%
Anything over $357,700 is taxed at 35%

In this simplistic example the actual net tax rate would actually be 29.32%. Not 35%.

I stumbled into some interesting individual income tax data published by the IRS in the fall of 2010 for tax year 2008. It summarizes all the individual tax returns that had a positive AGI (and therefore taxable income).

The top 1% paid taxes at an average rate of 23.27%
The next 4% paid an average rate of 17.21%
Those in the next 5%-10% paid an average of 12.44%
The next 10%-25% paid an average of 9.29%
Those down in the 25%-50% range paid an average of 6.75%
And the bottom 50% averaged just 2.59% tax rate

The average taxes paid by everybody combined was just 12.24% of AGI

In theory, a couple filing jointly with an AGI of $50,000 would pay 13.4% in total income tax.
In fact, the top 50% of 2008 filers (including the zillionaires) paid an average of just 13.65% in taxes...

What's with that?

The Tax Foundation - Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

Catawba said:
Good then it should not be a problem for you when the tax breaks on the rich for investments and inheritance are eliminated. Without the working class, you would not have as much wealth to pay taxes on. I understand you feel entitled to continuing your temporary tax breaks, but this feeling will pass with time.
Click to expand...

I am about to punch you in the fackin face.

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A WORKING CLASS. If the people who comprise it now do not want that status, they can quit - others will come up to take their place. Quit acting and arguing like it's some tablecloth you can yank out from underneath that will cause all the wealthy dishes to fall and break. This whole pro-proletariat bullsnot is really beginning to irk me. I have to put up with it from all these damned teenaged socialists and pseudo-Marxists. I can't take another source.

Workers of the world unite...and shut your yaps.
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

As Jon Stewart said, "Please call now to help these poor, helpless, going instinct super rich, by calling now to make sure their taxes dont go up from 35% to 39.6%.. So please call now."
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

The joke made more sense when I realized you meant "extinct".
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

Gipper said:
I am about to punch you in the fackin face.

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A WORKING CLASS. If the people who comprise it now do not want that status, they can quit - others will come up to take their place. Quit acting and arguing like it's some tablecloth you can yank out from underneath that will cause all the wealthy dishes to fall and break. This whole pro-proletariat bullsnot is really beginning to irk me. I have to put up with it from all these damned teenaged socialists and pseudo-Marxists. I can't take another source.

Workers of the world unite...and shut your yaps.
Click to expand...

Yea,things are going to be a lot better for your under Dicator Perry, Hope you will be happy.
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax

What's going to change for me? Is my office going to lose or gain a little air conditioning? Is my desk going to be bigger or smaller? Will I lose or gain a couple dollars in my direct deposit account every 2 weeks?

Quite honestly, I'll just be thrilled when that piece of crap is out of office. Get some corporations hiring again, and then maybe I'll jump to a better ship with a higher salary.
 
Re: Are you part of the majority of Americans who feel the rich should pay higher tax



For those interested in cutting costs, the elderly have come up with a few ideas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom