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Do the Rich Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes in the United States?

Do the Rich Pay Their Fair Share?

  • Yes

    Votes: 58 48.3%

  • No

    Votes: 62 51.7%
  • Total voters
    120
kamikaze483 said:
I don't care what they do. That is up to them. Opportunity exists. If by "industrious" you mean figuring out how to eat and pay the mortgage...

My entire claim throughout this thread is that people like you would rather cast the blame of a bad situation on successful people, rather than taking responsibilty for their own lives and figuring out how to be successful themselves.

If you aren't "industrious" enough to figure out that there are ways to earn money while you are unemplopyed, and you are just sitting around blaming the rich for your predicament, then your situation is YOUR FAULT, because YOU are doing nothing to improve it. The governement isn't the answer to this country's ills. Personal responsibilty is.

If we cut off all the food stamps, welfare, and housing assistance, you would see just how "industrious" Americans would get. People all over this country are just wallowing in the "safety net." If it were removed, people would begin to see how life really is... that you better learn to be "industrious," because if you don't, you will starve to death. :lol::lol::lol:
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As someone who has actually been broke enough to be hungry not willingly, I will say it is an excellent motivational tool.
 
Tax System Seen as Unfair, in Need of Overhaul

Wealthy Not Paying Fair Share Top Complaint

"Public dissatisfaction with the tax system has grown over the past decade, and the focus of the public’s frustration is not how much they themselves pay, but rather the impression that wealthy people are not paying their fair share."

"The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Dec. 7-11, 2011 among 1,521 adults, finds that this sense of unfairness centers on the perception that wealthy Americans are not paying their fair share of taxes; 57% say this is what bothers them most about the tax system, while half as many (28%) point to the complexity of the system, and just 11% say that the high amount they have to pay is what bothers them the most."


Tax System Seen as Unfair, in Need of Overhaul | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press
 
Catawba said:
Tax System Seen as Unfair, in Need of Overhaul

Wealthy Not Paying Fair Share Top Complaint

"Public dissatisfaction with the tax system has grown over the past decade, and the focus of the public’s frustration is not how much they themselves pay, but rather the impression that wealthy people are not paying their fair share."

"The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Dec. 7-11, 2011 among 1,521 adults, finds that this sense of unfairness centers on the perception that wealthy Americans are not paying their fair share of taxes; 57% say this is what bothers them most about the tax system, while half as many (28%) point to the complexity of the system, and just 11% say that the high amount they have to pay is what bothers them the most."


Tax System Seen as Unfair, in Need of Overhaul | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press
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I guess this proves propaganda works!
 
longview said:
I guess this proves propaganda works!
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It just proves that a majority in the country understands that a consumer economy cannot prosper when most of the wealth is concentrated at the top, out of reach of most consumers.
 
haymarket said:
The term FAIR should be abolished in discussions about taxation. APPROPRIATE is a more apt term.

Yes, lets tax capital gains and inheritance at normal rates - but they need to follow the progressive schedule. Perhaps three or four basic rates starting at 5% for everyone who earns dollar one and topping at 40% for the top rate with a couple in between that. I would favor very few if any deductions - perhaps something for medical expenses if we do NOT have national health care but that would be about it.
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The inheritance tax is BRUTAL and LTCG taxation is grossly unfair unless adjusted for inflation. The inheritance tax makes passing a family farm or business from parent to child into a situation that OFTEN forces the sale of the asset passed down unaviodable. If a 10,000 acre farm is passed down and 3,000 acres must be sold simply to pay the taxes, it soon disappears, as would a bakery or small store. A house bought at fair market value, held for 12 years (with no additions) and then sold for fair market value is no gain at all, since you may not now buy any house worth more than the one that you just sold. The same is true of a stock, unless it has appreciated well beyond the general inflation rate.

Deductions and credits are NONSENSE since they are NOT based on income, but on how that income was spent, they are PURE social engineering. A federal income tax rate of 40% is insane, especially in light of it being 8x YOUR "base rate", as most businesses now operate at about a 6% to 10% profit margin. You would cry like a baby if 40% interest was charged on your credit card or car loan. You must be sure that, not YOU, but only some anonymous "rich guy", business or corporation would be taxed at that rate, but fail to see that they would simply raise the price of their goods/services to pass that added taxation cost along to YOU, or simply close up shop here and move to a more favorable place to do business. The rich did not get rich by being stupid. ;-)
 
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the amount they pay is unfairly high because our govenrment demands too much in total. I did not vote though as I am sure the question was designed to say they unfairly pay too little and I am not going to pad that asinine stat further.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
The inheritance tax is BRUTAL and LTCG taxation is grossly unfair unless adjusted for inflation. The inheritance tax makes passing a family farm or business from parent to child into a situation that OFTEN forces the sale of the asset passed down unaviodable. If a 10,000 acre farm is passed down and 3,000 acres must be sold simply to pay the taxes, it soon disappears, as would a bakery or small store. A house bought at fair market value, held for 12 years (with no additions) and then sold for fair market value is no gain at all, since you may not now buy any house worth more than the one that you just sold. The same is true of a stock, unless it has appreciated well beyond the general inflation rate.

Deductions and credits are NONSENSE since they are NOT based on income, but on how that income was spent, they are PURE social engineering. A federal income tax rate of 40% is insane, especially in light of it being 8x YOUR "base rate", as most businesses now operate at about a 6% to 10% profit margin. You would cry like a baby if 40% interest was charged on your credit card or car loan. You must be sure that, not YOU, but only some anonymous "rich guy", business or corporation would be taxed at that rate, but fail to see that they would simply raise the price of their goods/services to pass that added taxation cost along to YOU, or simply close up shop here and move to a more favorable place to do business. The rich did not get rich by being stupid. ;-)
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Are you considering the generous exemptions in the inheritence tax? One can protect ten million dollars from having a dollar of tax paid upon it?

As far as 40% being "insane" - the rate today is 35%. Do you believe that the additional five points suddenly takes it to insanity? We have had much higher rates in the last fifty years and we still had rich folks, still had job producers, and still had a healthy economy.
 
MoSurveyor said:
Because it's misleading and irrelevant.
Having more HS grads overall would just put more HS grads in the unemployment lines.
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There you have it folks. Mo Believes the answer to helping those without opportunity is to educate them less.

God damn, just when I thought it couldn't get any crazier. You have certainly kept it interesting Mo.

Should you just really go nuts with it Mo? Maybe an anti-education campaign? You could find the most unfortunate and easily swayed, and tell them to "drop the **** out of school you idiot, it's not helping, you could be working unskilled labor! You'd unclog those unemployment lines, you'd be national hero. You are a real visionary.
 
Catawba said:
Romney only paid 14%...............
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That is correct. It is also correct that:

Average_Tax_Rates.png
 
there is actually a ton of econ blogs out there. simply google your subject matter and search through - someone will likely have crunched the numbers already for you.

and remember - plagarism is the highest form of flattery! :prof
 
haymarket said:
Are you considering the generous exemptions in the inheritence tax? One can protect ten million dollars from having a dollar of tax paid upon it?

As far as 40% being "insane" - the rate today is 35%. Do you believe that the additional five points suddenly takes it to insanity? We have had much higher rates in the last fifty years and we still had rich folks, still had job producers, and still had a healthy economy.
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Ok now you backtrack YET AGAIN from your original postition. You stated "Yes, lets tax capital gains and inheritance at normal rates - but they need to follow the progressive schedule." YET NOW, you add on some conditions and exclusions AFTER having said "I would favor very few if any deductions - perhaps something for medical expenses if we do NOT have national health care but that would be about it." so we are NOW back to the endless mass of "tweeks" contained in the current messy tax code?

The 35% TOP rate is NOT anywhere NEAR 8X the 10% BOTTOM rate is it? Hint: 3.5 is WAY less than 8.

Basically you want MUCH more progressive rates and much more taxation of ONLY the richest 5%. While wanting MUCH lower rates paid by the bottom 75%. And want to keep all credits, deductions and exclusions for EVERYONE EXCEPT the top 5%. Hmm...
 
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cpwill said:
They love the tax code - their tax rate is negative, the tax code for them is a source of income.
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Billy the Kid said:
I'm sure the "destitute and the disabled" don't pay any taxes, what do you think?
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Make you case then to the people that you believe the way to address 3 decades of national debt due to tax cuts for the wealthy, excessive military spending, and financial deregulation, is to tax the destitute and the disabled.
 
Catawba said:
Make you case then to the people that you believe the way to address 3 decades of national debt due to tax cuts for the wealthy, excessive military spending, and financial deregulation, is to tax the destitute and the disabled.
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Did I say anything about taxing the "destitute and the disabled". No.


I smell a red herring.
 
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