I can’t help posting these links. I feel like I’m at war regarding who pays taxes in this country. The middle and lower classes keep taking it in the shorts because the ultra-rich claim it’s good for all of us if we continue to keep them ultra-rich: We’ve worked so hard for our money and you haven’t.
I feel like I’ve been bamboozled by multimillionaires telling me to drink their Kool-Aid. Well, I can’t drink this shit anymore. I’ve had it. (BTW, I like the word “bamboozled” and may use it to name out next dog. How cool would it be if our new dog escaped the yard and I had to drive through the neighborhood yelling, “BAMBOOOOOOOZLED, BAMBOOOOOZLED. Get your ass home NOW.”)
Here are two more articles that got my blood boiling. I guess this means I’ll never be invited to play golf with Donald Trump. Oh, well, I’ll be busy doing my taxes with Turbo Tax again because I don’t have a team of accountants to do them for me. But I do have a dog named Bamboozled, and he’s one messed-up mutt.
http://www.truth-out.org/how-rich-soaked-rest-us68155?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/22/income-inequality-america_n_772687.html
The Unknown Cystic 
We, combined make under 6 figures, but we are slated to pay just shy of 30% taxes on my income in addition to the 25% in itemized deductions (called: expenses that the KGB considers non-taxable). That leaves us roughly 45% of our gross income to pay non-deductible expenses, which includes a house that has climbed to 25% and our health insurance that is 30% this month. Ohh, that math looks impossible.
It is. I need to go out and make more income so they can take more.
I wish I could afford to have a house of my own, pay for my health care, and pay taxes on under 6 figures. I can’t afford to live on my own, have to go to the state for my health care, can’t have my car in my name, the system is set up to keep the poor, poor. All so the 1% of the country who owns 90% of the wealth does not have to pay more than a 40% tax rate….. If they hold 90% of the wealth they should have to pay 90% of the taxes.
Teachers might then be able to make a living, innercity schools will get more funding for after school programs and in 10 years help those kids go to collage and contribute to the tax system and not the the prison system. Planed Parenthood will be around to help stop AIDS/Cancer/ and offer berth controle to people that need it…….
I was 27 before I could move out, and then it was with a roommate who paid 60% of the rent. I always had to have a job to acquire company health insurance, so don’t give up, bro.
I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but less than 20% of the People DO pay more than 80% of the taxes. Those who don’t earn any money at all (somewhere around 20-40% of the population) 1) get welfare/housing/foodstamps and 2) get an unearned tax credit.
Jesse,
If the rich were paying 90% like they were in 1945, I’d say to avoid being rich. But they’re not anymore.
You’re one of the hardest working guys I know and you do it with CF. If you could work the same amount you’re working now and make twice as much, would you really mind paying an extra 5K in taxes? With your new doubled income, you’d be able to put more in the bank and buy stocks. Pretty soon you’d have dividend income taxed at 15%, which is just crazy. Have you ever thought that’s odd that dividend income for people who can afford dividend paying stocks is taxed at such a low rate? Who passed that law? Back to you. You’d have an accountant to play with your books and pretty soon you’d be making twice as much as you were before AND you’d being paying less tax. No one likes to pay taxes. But the money isn’t trickled down right now in this country.
Having a large portion of this country’s money sitting in brokerage accounts and foreign countries isn’t helping people in this country become millionaires or to get a good job. The ironic part is that when more people do well in the country, the millionaires may pay more tax, but they get it back in the form of healthier businesses and more spending by the masses. My concern is the amount of hoarding by the rich and a government that is run by the rich for the rich. And a media owned by the rich who manipulates news to convince hard working people who dream of becoming a millionaire, but who most likely won’t become one, to vote against their best interests and to feel sorry for the rich and their rich offspring.
As always, you and I may disagree, but I respect your opinion and thank you for posting it.
UC
Colin,
Nice to hear from you. Not sure I agree with 90 percent, but a higher percentage than they’re paying now – yes. And let’s close the loopholes that allow them to avoid paying taxes or taxes at a lower rate. I wonder how many really pay 40 percent? I’m not about punishing wealth or success. But this country is hurting and we need the money to put people back to work.
I like your points about schools and the intercity. When everyone succeeds, this country succeeds. If we’re not careful, we’re going to turn into Brazil with favelas on hillsides and crime like we’ve never seen. Regarding your point about prisons, I believe we may have a the largest percentage of people in prison in the world. I have to verify that, but I know it’s high. Does anyone every wonder why? They should. It says something about who we are as a country.
Good to hear from you. Hope all is well.
UC
This is hilarious – a question from the board game “Wits and Wagers” blew us away, so I found the source: “Elections are underway in India to choose a new parliament. Nearly one in four of the members of the country’s parliament is charged with at least one criminal offense. There’s a big drive this year to get the crooks out of office.” – http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103442462
And this is pretty amazing, too (and like to see our tax dollars go to something useful HERE): “For the time being, then, Pakistan may remain dependent on international assistance, including billions of dollars in military and civilian aid from the United States, even as fewer than 2 percent of Pakistanis pay income tax, with many wealthy members of government among those who pay nothing.” – http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/08/world/asia/08pakistan.html