Under Obama, tax rates for the 1% rolled back to pre-Reagan levels

[yllus]

My interpretation of this included A) the Obama administration is in some way re-tipping taxation levels back in the opposite direction and B) that level isn't a dramatic trying-to-kill-the-wealthy one. In other words, I agree with the first paragraph Krugman wrote that I quoted below.

Paul Krugman - Obama and the One Percent

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Anyway, thinking about this sort of thing makes me realize that there’s a danger, especially for progressives, of confusing the proposition that Obama’s billionaire haters are stark raving mad — which is true — with the proposition that Obama has done nothing that hurts the plutocrats’ interests, which is false. Actually, Obama has been tougher on the one percent than most progressives give him credit for.

Start with taxes. The Bush tax cuts haven’t gone completely away, but at the very high end they have been pretty much reversed; plus there are additional high-end taxes associated with Obamacare. The result is that taxes on wealthy Americans have basically been rolled back to pre-Reagan levels:

Meanwhile, financial reform looks as if it will have significantly more teeth than expected.

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[Anarchist420]

so what? it is not like the State actually cares about poor people and the very, very wealthiest vote so that many people less wealthy than them have to split the cost for what the State provides them... the productive middle class voted for the least anti-market candidate in virginia this last time. the wealthy voted for romney primarily because he could use the State in their favor even more than obama could. the State is what perpetuates wall street and makes all those people rich. the State effectively made Bill Gates rich by giving his corporation IP which shielded them from competition and drove innovation down and costs up for the rest of us.

if you honestly think the State can ever make most people happy while giving the poor much more than crumbs, then you are terribly mistaken. that's because if the State starts a minimum income, then production of new things will have to go down because there will be more consumption.

i cant believe so many people actually fall for Obama's bullshit that he wants the poor to be better off... every single poor person in the entire world could fart fire and die for all the State and those who run the State care.

 

[ElFenix]

i wonder what happens when you break out the petit rich from those that have near unspendable multi-generational wealth?

 

[Anarchist420]

i wonder what happens when you break out the petit rich from those that have near unspendable multi-generational wealth?

exactly. someone who makes $500k in income this year and next is nowhere near guaranteed to even be a millionaire for the rest of his or her life.

 

[Jhhnn]

i wonder what happens when you break out the petit rich from those that have near unspendable multi-generational wealth?

Dunno, but the guys at the top def pay more in cap gains taxes & ACA taxes.

exactly. someone who makes $500k in income this year and next is nowhere near guaranteed to even be a millionaire for the rest of his or her life.

Remarkable set of expectations. You realize, I hope, that $500K is 10X the median family income & well above the $389K entry level to the top 1% in 2011.

I should be so lucky as to have my taxes raised on such an income.

 

[shady28]

Dunno, but the guys at the top def pay more in cap gains taxes & ACA taxes.



Remarkable set of expectations. You realize, I hope, that $500K is 10X the median family income & well above the $389K entry level to the top 1% in 2011.

I should be so lucky as to have my taxes raised on such an income.

I think what he is getting at, is if you care about your income then you are not rich.

Nothing Obama has done will phase the truly wealthy.

And by the way, that 1% thing is a total red herring. It has nothing to do with wealth. If you don't understand that, re-read my first sentence.

 

[MagickMan]

I think what he is getting at, is if you care about your income then you are not rich.

Nothing Obama has done will phase the truly wealthy.

And by the way, that 1% thing is a total red herring. It has nothing to do with wealth. If you don't understand that, re-read my first sentence.

Yup. If a person can tell you their income from last year, with any accuracy, they aren't "rich". The people who have most of the money don't care about income.

 

[Jhhnn]

I think what he is getting at, is if you care about your income then you are not rich.

Mere attribution.

Nothing Obama has done will phase the truly wealthy.

Never said it would. I believe they can absorb this minor tax increase painlessly, even at the paltry $500K annual income level. When income is multiples of expenditures on a consistent basis, small tax increases mean nothing to one's lifestyle, even an extravagant one.

And by the way, that 1% thing is a total red herring. It has nothing to do with wealth. If you don't understand that, re-read my first sentence.

And now cryptic assertions of obfuscation. Check the OP. The subject is taxes on income, not wealth.

 

[Herr Kutz]

So this will cure poverty and global warming, right?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

So this will cure poverty and global warming, right?

What it has not done is kill the neighbors cow.