$447 bil

[RACER X]

Originally Posted by Papa_Complex

Right. And one of those wars was completely unnecessary. I don't see you railing against THAT misspent tax money. Do you work for a defence contractor?

no, Oil and Gas, well currently Liquid Nat Gas proj. being built in Australia.

[EpyonXero]

So why is it all about fairness when it comes to taxing the rich but when it comes to social programs its "tough shit, life isnt fair?"

[fasternyou929]

Reading through this, I can't help but wonder how many of you do your own taxes? When you reach a new tax bracket your entire income isn't suddenly taxed at that rate. For example, should you make $390k this year, only $10k would be taxed at the 35% rate, not all $390k.

This has never been more obvious than when bonus payouts come around. "ZOMG, this is going to put me in a new tax bracket and cost me more money!!!" as if their bonus just netted them a loss.

[fatbuckRTO]

Originally Posted by fasternyou929

Reading through this, I can't help but wonder how many of you do your own taxes? When you reach a new tax bracket your entire income isn't suddenly taxed at that rate. For example, should you make $390k this year, only $10k would be taxed at the 35% rate, not all $390k.

This has never been more obvious than when bonus payouts come around. "ZOMG, this is going to put me in a new tax bracket and cost me more money!!!" as if their bonus just netted them a loss.

In my defense, a lot of the numbers I'm throwing out are rounded / estimated so I don't have to spend an hour doing calculations for one post. I try to round against my argument; for instance, I took the entire US population into account when splitting up the DoD bill instead of just the tax-paying ages.

[fasternyou929]

Originally Posted by RACER X

ah but you see you only have to make about 70k a yr to pay 35%, so now you really only make 45k a yr, and w/ other taxes you make less then that. and if your single w/ ni kids and no house.....you're gonna get bent.


if you only make $20k a yr, then don't have a household, stay single till you can afford kids or make do. and if you do decide to have a household when you only make 20k a yr, why should the gov't help you sustain yourself.


and yes, fix gov't spending.

Are you including all sources of tax? If not, you really need to start paying someone to do your taxes for you. When you said before you're paying $62k in taxes, I didn't realize you were only making double that.

Originally Posted by fatbuckRTO

In my defense, a lot of the numbers I'm throwing out are rounded / estimated so I don't have to spend an hour doing calculations for one post. I try to round against my argument; for instance, I took the entire US population into account when splitting up the DoD bill instead of just the tax-paying ages.

Fair enough, I try to do all that math only once a year myself. There are a LOT of adults that believe tax brackets are absolute though.

[pauldun170]

Originally Posted by fasternyou929

Reading through this, I can't help but wonder how many of you do your own taxes? When you reach a new tax bracket your entire income isn't suddenly taxed at that rate. For example, should you make $390k this year, only $10k would be taxed at the 35% rate, not all $390k.

This has never been more obvious than when bonus payouts come around. "ZOMG, this is going to put me in a new tax bracket and cost me more money!!!" as if their bonus just netted them a loss.

I think another assumption people make is that the tax system is just about brackets. Another thing left out of the conversation is that the design of our tax system is not just about the government paying costs. It is designed to to help guide society. The tax system encourages individuals to make financial decisions deemed beneficial to society as a whole.

That's why person a who rents an apartment and spends all of the cash (whether earned through investment or paycheck) on toys or bull shit complains about tax brackets. Those who think long term and do things deemed good for both the individual and society as a whole pay significantly less. (but still complains about tax rates because lets face it, we are all selfish opportunists)
Purchase a home.
Have children.
Make long term investments.
Use money in ways that create income for others (aka:Job creators and all their "tax loopholes\deductions etc etc".


The case to be made is not whether the tax brackets or fair (because % are never really fair are they?), the real case to be made is whether the tax system should be promoting social change.

Should wealthier Americans pay higher tax rates (in their respective brackets) than the rest of us?
Silly question. Why do I say this?
Because folks who generate wealth and move into upper brackets tend to make different lifestyle choices and those choices have an impact on how they are taxed.
We have a complex tax system. Fucking around with the tax schedule has a big impact on those in the lower brackets. After a income level...it has a
less and less of an impact because the financial situation of those in the upper brackets is more complex.

Person A who make 60K a year - Its not fair that Person B pays a higher tax % than I do?
Person B - YEAH!!!! (secretly smirking because he paid a lower overall tax rate than person A)
Person C - Yeah!! (Pissed off because they paid exactly as the brackets stated


Summary - My elitist ass is tired of the average stupid tax bracket debate.

[RACER X]

yeah, so lets just tax "the rich" more thats the easy way........

[fatbuckRTO]

Originally Posted by RACER X

yeah, so lets just tax "the rich" more thats the easy way........

Alright. Bottom line it for me. How much good do you really expect to do by "expanding the tax base" and taxing the poor more? How far will that go toward actually paying the country's bills?

Is it the Bachmann plan of "have everybody pay more, even if it's just a dollar?" Because that $300 million* might pay for the Pentagon's cafeteria budget.




*total US population, low income newborns included

[Homeslice]

Originally Posted by RACER X

yeah, so lets just tax "the rich" more thats the easy way........

It certainly was years ago, so they can't act like it's never been done before.

It's simple.....Either raise revenue, or cut spending. What kind of major cuts is the GOP proposing, if any?

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by Homeslice

It certainly was years ago, so they can't act like it's never been done before.

Either raise revenue, or cut spending. What kind of cuts is the GOP proposing, if any?

Seems like they are proposing cuts to everything. Not big on specificity though. Just cuts.