Paying "fair share", and what does that mean to you?

[shira]

So there are frequent comments on these boards about how some people don't pay fare share and need to pay more. I happen to fall into category of people that many (including president Obama) state should pay more taxes. These kinds of arguments tend to make me a little angry. Let me try to explain why:

Last year I paid 26% of my income to federal government. Read that number again, I am *NOT* in 26% tax bracket, 26% of my total income was given to the government. This doesn't account for my state's sales tax, which is 9%. The flat amount I paid is sufficient to sustain a family of 2 with decent quality of life.

And this number is there after a bunch of deductions, including 401k (I contributed close to the max), mortgage interest deduction, donations etc.

So can somebody please explain to me why I am not paying my fair share, and why my taxes need to go up.

P.S. And if there are some loopholes that apparently allow rich to not pay taxes, can somebody please point those out to me.

If you're paying 26% of your Adjusted Gross Income as federal income tax, then - assuming reasonable deductions for mortgage, 401K, dependent and personal exemptions, state income tax, property tax, your share of health insurance premiums and charity, your AGI must be in the neighborhood of $300,000.

Which means your family has only about $175,000 to live on, not counting all those deductible items, which were already paid for with pre-tax dollars.

Life is tough.

 

[Lithium381]

But that's exactly what the left wants. That is their end goal.

So true...

The libtards would have a continual organism if they could somehow have EVERYONE dependant on the government and collect 99% tax.... then they could control them like puppets!

 

[spidey07]

If you're paying 26% of your Adjusted Gross Income as federal income tax, then - assuming reasonable deductions for mortgage, 401K, dependent and personal exemptions, state income tax, property tax, your share of health insurance premiums and charity, your AGI must be in the neighborhood of $300,000.

Which means your family has only about $175,000 to live on, not counting all those deductible items, which were already paid for with pre-tax dollars.

Life is tough.

You're forgetting SS/FICA/medicare.

Your jealousy is showing.

 

[DominionSeraph]

The libtards would have a continual organism if they could somehow have EVERYONE dependant on the government and collect 99% tax.... then they could control them like puppets!

You seem to have difficulties reading. Or perhaps it's just thinking.
Or both.

You'd be looking at a largely planned economy, and good luck making one of those work. Running a planned economy would be beyond my ability, and I'm fucking God.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Your jealousy is showing.

Ahhh... the models of small minds. They're so cute!

 

[spidey07]

Ahhh... the models of small minds.

All you have is insults, while I have full understanding of how much taxes I pay.

So, what is my fair share liberal? What is it? How much do you wish to steal and redistribute? How much? Is my 60 thousands dollars every year not enough? How much is enough, liberal?

Does it also piss you off that I won't be paying a damn cent into social security anymore this year and haven't since June?

 

[DominionSeraph]

All you have is insults

I have a brain. You do not.
The complexity of your models is really pathetic. I am so glad I am not stuck with your level of understanding.

Such is the result of the genetic roll of the dice. I was lucky, you were not.

 

[spidey07]

I have a brain. You do not.
The complexity of your models is really pathetic. I am so glad I am not stuck with your level of understanding.

Such is the result of the genetic roll of the dice. I was lucky, you were not.

What is my fair share liberal? How much is enough? I'm just a white collar professional with highly specialized and sought after skills who is far from rich. What is enough to you?

Let me guess, you think I'm greedy for working 50+ hours a week every week in addition to a 3 hour commute everyday to earn a nice paycheck. So how much is enough and at what point do you think I will simply say "fuck it, not worth working anymore". Because I am getting close.

 

[Infohawk]

What is my fair share liberal? How much is enough? I'm just a white collar professional with highly specialized and sought after skills who is far from rich. What is enough to you?

Let me guess, you think I'm greedy for working 50+ hours a week every week in addition to a 3 hour commute everyday to earn a nice paycheck. So how much is enough and at what point do you think I will simply say "fuck it, not worth working anymore". Because I am getting close.

You can also reverse this. What do you think your fair share is? At what point are tax revenues so low that there isn't a society to preserve the roads you commute on and the legal system that allows you to keep what you've earned in a bank or safe from thieves?

 

[spidey07]

You can also reverse this. What do you think your fair share is? At what point are tax revenues so low that there isn't a society to preserve the roads you commute on and the legal system that allows you to keep what you've earned in a bank or safe from thieves?

Well you let me know when it gets that low because right now a significant portion of MY money is getting distributed to people that don't work or pay taxes. I have no problem paying for things that benefit me or my ability to make more money.

 

[Lithium381]

What is my fair share liberal? How much is enough? I'm just a white collar professional with highly specialized and sought after skills who is far from rich. What is enough to you?

Let me guess, you think I'm greedy for working 50+ hours a week every week in addition to a 3 hour commute everyday to earn a nice paycheck. So how much is enough and at what point do you think I will simply say "fuck it, not worth working anymore". Because I am getting close.

it won't be enough until everyone makes the same amount.....

can someone help me with the defiintion of communism ?

 

[Infohawk]

Well you let me know when it gets that low because right now a significant portion of MY money is getting distributed to people that don't work or pay taxes. I have no problem paying for things that benefit me or my ability to make more money.

So what do you think your fair share is? 0%? 5%?

 

[DominionSeraph]

What is my fair share liberal? How much is enough?

Brains are not transferable, so I can't help you out there.

Sorry.

 

[nick1985]

Brains are not transferable, so I can't help you out there.

Sorry.

All you have is insults through the entire fucking thread.

How much is enough? You have been called, now show your hand.

 

[spidey07]

So what do you think your fair share is? 0%? 5%?

I'd be fine with 16-19% total for all money to fed.

 

[ArizonaSteve]

For the last 30 years we've been giving tax breaks to the rich, and in return they were supposed to create high paying jobs for the rest of us. They did not keep up their end of the bargain.

Therefore I propose two things. Firstly a 50% tax rate for those making more than $1 million a year. Secondly, all capital gains to be treated as income for tax purposes.

If that doesn't work, time for a wealth tax.

 

[spidey07]

For the last 30 years we've been giving tax breaks to the rich, and in return they were supposed to create high paying jobs for the rest of us. They did not keep up their end of the bargain.

Therefore I propose two things. Firstly a 50% tax rate for those making more than $1 million a year. Secondly, all capital gains to be treated as income for tax purposes.

If that doesn't work, time for a wealth tax.

Can you please explain these tax breaks for the rich and the effect of AMT on the rich? I'd like to hear them.

I hope you know that short term capital gains are treated exactly as income so you're already mostly there to your liberal utopia.

 

[brencat]

I'm not accusing OP of this, but a lot of people on these forums like to display their e-peens (whether it be their education or income). I wouldn't take it too seriously. The best part is that so many of them are spending huge amounts of time posting on this forum! How hard-working / important can they be? (And again, I'm not accusing OP of doing this as he's not a regular on P&N as far as I can tell.)

I work on Wall St and think I work plenty hard. But on a trading desk, there are periods of down time when there is nothing going on. And I don't need to watch every tick every second either. A lot of time I am logged onto the internet and post from work. Building computers and tinkering with them is my hobby so that's why I am a member here. And yes believe it or not, plenty of hard working people are good at multitasking too!

 

[Argo]

I work on Wall St and think I work plenty hard. But on a trading desk, there are periods of down time when there is nothing going on. And I don't need to watch every tick every second either. A lot of time I am logged onto the internet and post from work. Building computers and tinkering with them is my hobby so that's why I am a member here. And yes believe it or not, plenty of hard working people are good at multitasking too!

+1. Hard to realize that people can balance work, while occasionally posting on the forum.

 

[DominionSeraph]

All you have is insults through the entire fucking thread.

Nobody here has shown that they can present competing models that coincide with the totality of the evidence. All they serve are things on the level of lies-to-children. If my mind isn't challenged, is it any wonder that I go off onto pathways of idle entertainment?

If the best a person can come up with is a horribly compressed caricature and they show no sign of having decent critical thinking skills, I'm just going to call them an idiot and be done with it. It ain't worth my time to try to reprogram the entire structure by which they form their beliefs.

 

[a777pilot]

Any scheme that would be fair would necessarily start by eliminating all taxes on real property and income from any source. Once that was done then a consumption/sale/transfer tax would replace those two anti-freedom taxes.

 

[nick1985]

Nobody here has shown that they can present competing models that coincide with the totality of the evidence. All they serve are things on the level of lies-to-children. If my mind isn't challenged, is it any wonder that I go off onto pathways of idle entertainment?

If the best a person can come up with is a horribly compressed caricature and they show no sign of having decent critical thinking skills, I'm just going to call them an idiot and be done with it. It ain't worth my time to try to reprogram the entire structure by which they form their beliefs.

You conveniently ignored the other half of my post.

You know, the half where I asked you a direct question.

Nice dodge.

 

[Lithium381]

For the last 30 years we've been giving tax breaks to the rich, and in return they were supposed to create high paying jobs for the rest of us. They did not keep up their end of the bargain.

Therefore I propose two things. Firstly a 50% tax rate for those making more than $1 million a year. Secondly, all capital gains to be treated as income for tax purposes.

If that doesn't work, time for a wealth tax.

how do you mean for the rest of us? Literally everyone? or you mean that they were supposed to create opportunity for those of us who wanted to put a little effort into life and reap the benefits? 50% over one mil? lets call it 40. capital gains tax treated as income? and losses count as deductions?

"if that doens't work, time for a wealth tax" um, work for what? what is your measure of success in this scenario?

 

[shira]

You're forgetting SS/FICA/medicare.

Your jealousy is showing.

Since you have no possible way of knowing what my own income is, you're talking out your asshole, as usual.

 

[dmcowen674]

So there are frequent comments on these boards about how some people don't pay fare share and need to pay more. I happen to fall into category of people that many (including president Obama) state should pay more taxes. These kinds of arguments tend to make me a little angry. Let me try to explain why:

Last year I paid 26% of my income to federal government.

The flat amount I paid is sufficient to sustain a family of 2 with decent quality of life.

So can somebody please explain to me why I am not paying my fair share, and why my taxes need to go up.

You didn't say how much you are making but you commented how the amount taxed "sufficient to sustain a family of 2 with decent quality of life".

So who proclaimed you god?

Typical rich hypocritical son of a bitch

You are exactly why this country is going down the shitter.

You whiny bastard, you hate paying your fair share so much and hate the country so much why the hell do you stay here?

Please leave, both you and the rest of us "sustaining" real Americans will be so much happier with your kind the hell out of here.