Who's paying them?

[Matt]

Well it is tax time here in the US and like usual, I am mad as ever about paying taxes. I don't know how it is in other countries, but here in the US, we are taxed to death. Check out this page that details who is doing the paying:

here (http://rushlimbaugh.com/)

Go to that URL and then scroll down to the bottom and click on the 'details, audio>' link under 'Only The Rich Pay Taxes'....


Can you believe that? 50% of the people in the US pay 96.09% of the taxes. The problem with this country is that we have too many people living off of the taxpayers. If we stopped handing out money to lazy slobs that don't want to get a job we would pay ALOT less in tax..

just my 2 cents (it was 3 until the government stole their cut)...

[kiwidesign]

Sounds like a very similar situation to here in New Zealand. We also pay huge amount of tax which ends up in the hands of beneficaries, I heard the other day that a person here on all the benefits i.e sickness, children etc can "earn" :rolleyes: forty thousand NZ dollars a year which is a pretty damn good wage , one that id love to receive when I find a job after finishing my university studies but I will probably have to settle for a hell of a lot less.

[honcho]

Something that's interesting to note, in the "Total income tax share (percentage)" (at the bottom of: the page mentioned above (http://rushlimbaugh.com/home/menu/irsfigures.guest.html)) is that it comes relatively close to conforming to a standard 80/20 rule. Unfortunately, the benefits from those taxes don't also conform to this distribution.

[Matt]

Originally posted by honcho
Unfortunately, the benefits from those taxes don't also conform to this distribution.

No, unfortunately our tax system is basically "income redistribution". The government feels that they should take money away from those that work it and give it to those that would rather not work.

If we saw benefits from our taxes equal to the portion of taxes we pay I wouldn't mind them so much. I just hate paying other people's way!

[postalcow]

Well what people forget is that you are taxed on taxed money. They take about 30% to 40% out of your pay. Then you buy gas with that money Gas tax is about 20%

Same with sales tax you pay tax on taxed money property tax is payed on taxed money.

I am getting angry just writing this.

[honcho]

I've always thought the best way to spur the economy would be to get rid of the income tax altogether and institute a federal sales tax. People would believe they have more money, so they would spend more, thus giving people more money. It also seems like the government could more easily fine-tune their taxation amounts simply by increasing or decreasing the sales tax (similar to the control over interest rates). Why tax on both sides of the equation?

Of course, this would put a lot of accountants out of work.

[shibumi]

I was complaining about the exact same point postalcow was talking about. You pay all these wage taxes, then I have to go and pay more when I buy gas or food at the store?!? And its so true, those with the most money end up paying the least in taxes. Total bunkatron.

To quote Chris Rock "when I get my paycheck, the government has already taken its cut out. That's not a tax, thats a jack."

[Matt]

Originally posted by shibumi
And its so true, those with the most money end up paying the least in taxes. Total bunkatron.

?? I beg to differ on this point. In fact it is the total opposite.

The only way I can even make your statement true is if we are talking about people who are already rich and have all their money in the bank. If it isn't income, then they shouldn't be taxed on it. Say I had 100 million in the bank. I have had that money in the bank for 10 years. Should I be taxed on that money each year? NO! I should only be taxed on it once when I orignally earn it.

[ccm13]

I'm in favor of eliminating the double taxation on stock dividends.

[shibumi]

Admittedly that was unclear, as in my head I was thinking % of taxes paid, and this of course it based on my geographic location in the world which I will go into in a minute. Sure seems to me, from what I see, that the big corporations out there, namely the ones that end up getting hammered for it eventually, pay a fraction of the % of taxes your average joe gets hit with. A few years ago when I worked for a company I made almost the same amount by working only 4 days a week instead of 5. That fifth day all went to the man.

Taxes have been a bit of a sore subject here in the northwest for a while and it gets to me. Our state officials do a lousy job, especially on transportation issues. I don't want to go off in too much detail, but this year to make up for screwing up so bad in the past, everyone in the city is being taxed an additional amount on their vehicles based on what it was worth brand new. So if your beater was worth $5000 when it was new but you bought it for $500 with one orange door you are shelling out all the tax you would have paid if it was new. This is just a little example of the rich/poor barrier. See, it seems to me that this is making someone who normally couldn't afford a new car pay increased taxes as a penalty. The person who is well off and can afford that new car pays the same amount they would have anyway. Another example is we have this $35 flat tab rate here (tabs for your car cost $35 no matter what it is or how much you paid for it). That means I pay the same tax on my 89 pickup as the guy who drives a $50,000 BMW M3. If you can afford that car you should pay an equivelent in taxes I think, thus my argument with the % between the rich on the poor.

Anyway, not to go off too much, just an explaination of were my thinking comes from, I know the circumstances are different in different parts of the U.S.