You know, I find it kinda amusing that if you're being honest your $100k on $500k is about 20% taxes. My current pay is below $100k but above $75k and my withholdings on my check are approx 32% and I receive only about 1.5% in refund amount. So I pay a 10% higher tax rate than someone who makes more than 5 times what I do?
There's another way people in Sweden get around that. I worked for a company that bought the American product & distribution rights to a Swedish wrecker corporation. We got freakin' taken to the cleaners, spent a bundle and the company went tits up a year later. Couple years later I'm talking with a couple Swedish businessmen in an airport and mentioned this story; they laughed their asses off. Seems it's common behavior in Sweden that if you own a company that can earn you a million a year and the government is going to take 90% of that, instead you pay yourself five or ten million a year. You get a really nice return, but the company is now losing money. After a few years the company, out of cash and credit, goes bankrupt, at which point the government steps in, seizes your company, cleans up the debt, and auctions it off. So now Bro SomethingUnpronounceable, to whom we paid a great deal of money for product and distribution rights, is now Bro SomethingElseUnpronounceable, who owes us nothing.I'm for the flat tax because I hope it would increase production, innovation, and be more fair. Although not as apparent in the USA, in Europe what you see is that the rich pay much more. So once you hit a certain salary it actually doesn't pay to make more. Granted this is part of the problem in places like Spain and Italy right now but my friends who live there refuse to work for more than I think 2000 Euro (might be 4000) a month since they get taxed so heavily. They then cheat the system and work under the table for whatever is above that tax bracket. You then have stories where someone was taxed 102% of their income:
It makes more sense to tax everyone evenly. If you're living in poverty no taxes and federal aid for a couple years while you get an education/job.
Your conclusions are wrong. I don't see that he's greedy or hates his country.
He just doesn't want to give his money away that he worked for.
What is your income? How much are you willing to give up? I'm all for a flat tax. Pick your percentage.
You don't really know what the fuck I do. How could you possibly say you work harder than me?
And it isn't just about the work. It is about what it took to get there, the risks you took, the sacrifice you made, and what could have happened if it didn't pan out. I don't care if you carry bags of cement up 100 flights of stairs for 16 hours a day. Yes, you "work" harder than me. But at the end of the day, it took no skill or planning to get that job. There was no risk and so there is very little reward. Pretty simple concept.
If obama wants to raise taxes "on the rich" i think the cutoff point should be $170k. New taxes will be based on gross income, ie you're not allowed deductions.
Hey dave, what do you think of high end escorts making $300-$500k a year (like Allie from Superfreakonomics?) Do they hate America? Do you think you work harder than them?
If obama wants to raise taxes "on the rich" i think the cutoff point should be $170k. New taxes will be based on gross income, ie you're not allowed deductions.
Half a mil eh?
I would imagine they love the country being able to make that much.
Do I work harder than them?
It's a different "work".
Maybe I should try their "work", I have the equipment
How about the "progressives" stop playing class warfare and start addressing the real problems of this country?
This is what happens when you start making more money...you get acclimated to it. You find a new normal. It would also happen if you started making less money. What I consider normal is not normal for someone making $100K, which in turn is not normal for someone making $30K. How do I know? Because I wasn't just given a half-a-mil job. I've been that guy. I've been the broke college student.
At $30K, $20 dinner at Taco Bell is a bit expensive and you bring a coupon for a free taco. You would never spend $150 on food at an expensive restaurant!
At $100K, an occasional $150 dinner and night out is great. You don't worry about it.
At $500K, $150 dinner several times per month is normal.
$30K, you drive a used Focus.
$100K, you drive a 3-series BMW.
$500K, you drive an S class Benz.
And I'm sure at a few million, thousand dollar bottles of wine, new Bentleys and flying in a chartered jet is pretty normal.
Do I want to make less? No. Does more money make me happy? Not really. It makes life easier and I get nicer things, but now it is pretty normal and I've become acclimated. But should someone take my money from me because someone else drives a focus and I drive a Benz? No... when they take the same risks as I do, have the same luck I do, and work the same hours I do, they can afford their S550.
LOL at all the greedy libtards trying to steal peoples money.
You see, it was their money to begin with!
How else can we fund failing industries that are propped up in order to funnel money to a failed presidents re-election campaign.
Dude Bush hasn'tbeen President for almost 3 years.
But Bush.......
Yet people like you still blame him.
Is that you Red or is the monkey still typing?
Why would your wife be typing my posts?
Edit: My bad, I shouldn't have brought your wife into this debate, I'm sure she's a great women, she has to be to put up with you as my wife is to put up with my sorry ass.
That said Obama's a weak puke, the problem is the candidates the Republicans are running are just as bad if not worse.
Now, sir, you go too far. Obama may not particularly like Jews, but at least he doesn't have a burning irrational hatred of them.We finally agree, Obama is a weak puke a train wreck as a president and a complete failure as a person.
As far as the republican candidates none of them are perfect but any of them will be a huge improvement over what we have, Jimmy Carter would also be an improvement.
I bolded the correct conclusion.
You hate this country as much as he does.
I have gone backwards to what I was making in 1994.
I am obviously not rich and do not have CPA to hide income and not contribute my fair share to the country like you America haters.
Now, sir, you go too far. Obama may not particularly like Jews, but at least he doesn't have a burning irrational hatred of them.
We finally agree, Obama is a weak puke a train wreck as a president and a complete failure as a person.
As far as the republican candidates none of them are perfect but any of them will be a huge improvement over what we have, Jimmy Carter would also be an improvement.
Heh, that is what I figured, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't wasting my time with a lunatic.Oops, that is backwards. Joe the Plumber losing $10K/year is much more detrimental than me losing $50K/year. Sorry about that. The utility of the dollar shrinks as you make more.
Ok, first of all, you need to let go of that 7k/yr figure. You aren't taking into account average cost of living throughout the world. The person who makes 7k/yr somewhere in asia can also feed a family of 10 for probably 100/yr. (I'm obviously guessing at these figures but you are smart enough to get my point.)I'm not quite sure why you interpret what I wrote as greed and hate. We are all greedy, aren't we? The world median income is $7,000 USD/year. I say anyone who makes a penny over that and doesn't donate it to charity is greedy to some extent.
Okay, you've acknowledged that this country has afforded you your opportunities. Good. I do take exception when you say anyone can do it. What about people that are on the low end of the intelligence scale? Not below the mentally challenged line, but well below average? Do you think they could achieve what you have achieved?I love that my country as afforded me opportunity. I do realize I am lucky in some sense. But I also realize that good luck comes from opportunity and preparation. I am entitled to my earnings and to be "greedy" because it was I alone that stayed awake all night preparing for tests, stressing about clients, working full time jobs while in college full time, and taking risks. Anyone can do it.