WOW. you shot left of Karl Marx on that rant.
Hyperbole is not funny given Poe’s law. Humor FAIL.
First off the tax breaks proposed by the Democrats (basically leaving what Bush put in) apply to the very wealthy as well. Everyone gets a tax break on the first $250,000…even if you make $1 million.
Second, where is the “screw the rich part”? Please show that the rich are getting screwed over here.
I showed earlier how income disparity has been widening in the country and is at levels not seen since just prior to the great depression. In essence, the rich are getting richer faster than everyone else. This despite the evil progressive tax system you seem to decry.
Further, the tax system is far more complex than just the marginal federal tax rate. A study was done on all taxes we all pay. Guess what? With some variation overall the taxes we pay, when all is said and done, is near flat.
Now consider what you get for that money. Do you have the same access to government and affecting its laws as, say, Rupert Murdoch or Warren Buffet or Bill Gates? I am betting you don’t…not even close.
Take corporate welfare:
Money buys your way out of regulations that would cost you money…usually to the detriment of everyone else.
Then add in what those with money can do with some clever accountants. I am not saying they pay no taxes but they can certainly minimize their tax exposure by taking advantage of various loopholes. CEO’s tend to get paid with stock options. IIRC stock options get taxed at the capital gains rate which is 15%. So, rather than collect a $10 million salary get the equivalent in stock options and you evade a substantial tax hit.
We can go on and on.
Bottom line…show us how the rich are getting screwed. How they are unfairly being taken advantage of when their only crime is having money.
I’ll repeat the quote from earlier and I think the source speaks volumes for this particularly given the source:
“There’s class warfare, all right,” Mr. Buffett said, “but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” – The Ney York Times
It wasn’t meant to be funny. You can’t tax a country back into prosperity because the wealthy are not bound to the land. They are free to move their money and the jobs that go with it elsewhere. You can’t even get Democratic leaders like Geitner or Kerry to pay their taxes unless the light of day is shown on them.
If it was the same tax rate as before then Republicans would have voted it in.
They proved otherwise. Think, why did they sunset the tax gift to the wealthy. Because it was horribly damaging to the deficit. Repubs believe deficits don’t matter, but at the numbers they were causing, they even got alarmed. I don’t know why it does not bother you.
They should end the whole thing. Let it die like it was supposed to. It is damaging the country. It is sad that the rich will skate with millions ,but it has to stop now.
Letting it expire will cut the deficit about 30 percent. Why is that a bad idea?
because the rich are not bound to the soil and will take their money elsewhere. Chasing money and jobs out of the country is bad during a recession. If Democrats thought it was a good idea they could have rammed it through. They didn’t.
Two questions: [1] where would they go, [2] why haven’t they all left?
Using an objective judgment, that’s not true (and I’m pretty sure you’ve been told this already). The built-in expiration was so that the 'Pubs could use the reconciliation process that only requires a majority to pass the Senate – y’know, that bad, evil legislative process…well, when the Democrats do it, anyway. 10 years was the upper limit on timeframe; they took it.
I have little doubt that there were political calculation that made it 10 years rather than 8 or 6 or whatever. In fact, I have little doubt that if the Republicans could have made them permanent at the time, they would have. Although I’ll admit that I do maintain that little doubt – it turned out to be a beautifully constructed political timebomb.
They would go to places where they can earn more money. They haven’t all left because one of the variables on earning money are tax rates and 9 years ago those were lowered. Tax rates can be personal income or local taxes. If you haven’t noticed, cities compete for businesses by lowering various tax rates.
Is there any evidence that “the rich” flee the country when the types of tax increases we’re talking about take effect? Unless they want to move the China or India, this country still offers some of the best business opportunities in the world. China is a great place to build a factory, but who wants to live in that polluted cesspool of a country if they don’t have to?
I just posted the example of cities offering tax rebates to draw businesses in. Taxes, labor, resources and other factors all affect businesses differently. If you don’t understand that companies move overseas to take advantage of cost reductions then there isn’t much else to say.
Cities within the US?
Companies. Not individuals for minor tax reasons.
Probably as much a state initiative but yes. We tried to bring in a Honda parts plant in Ohio and retain NCR in my city with incentives.
Owners of small businesses are affected by individual tax rates. A startup company making a world product can locate anywhere.
Why didn’t they move before that, when taxes were higher?
They did.
Then why did the government cut taxes on the rich if they’d all left?
Which is what I was talking about. Businesses aren’t going to leave the country for a few percentage points of taxes on individuals.
Small business don’t move to China. Again, individuals aren’t going to just move out of the US because of a few percentage points in the tax rates. Start-ups have enough problems without having to deal with locating their principles overseas. Unless you have cites showing otherwise…
You’re completely right. Disagreeing about the marginal rate of taxation of very wealthy individuals is much worse than Marx. I withdraw my snark.
I missed the part where they all left. Why didn’t the Democratic party push through the tax on the rich? Because people like Kerry understand that if you park your boat in another state he would pay less taxes. Sucks to be him when he got caught be you can’t say he doesn’t understand the concept of wealth following the lowest tax rate.