US Taxes---Who pays what.

[ChewaBrave]

As a little humor -- my young kids just watched the cartoon version of "Robin Hood" and I think I saw lots of parallels...

when the good King Richard left and his evil brother John took over,
he taxed the people so heavily they were all in poverty, starving, miserable, unhappy, and unproductive.
This is exactly what will happen when a government taxes the daylights out of its citizens - regardless of what the government says it will do with the money -- most of it is wasted or ends up in the pockets of insiders & politicians..

The best way to make people happy and productive is to let them have the fruits of their own labor and let those who do NOT work experience the fruits of theirs...
...The movie reminded me of what our government is doing now.....

lol
The connections may be greater than you think. "Good King Richard" the lionheart was constantly making war, and occupying other states. Ironically, he depleted the prior King's gained wealth in conquest while driving the country into financial downfall, that eventually did require that he raise taxes and put positional levies on the Feudal states for pay for his war obligations.

[sousaman2089]

So now we have a post citing a Peter Ferrara written op-ed piece. The same Peter Ferrara who in the past has admitted to accepting money from lobbyist Jack Abramoff to write op-ed pieces in favor of the lobbyist's clients.

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/dec2005/nf20051216_1037_db016.htm

"NAIVE PURITY STANDARD." Bandow isn't the only think-tanker to have received payments from Abramoff for writing articles. Peter Ferrara, a senior policy adviser at the conservative Institute for Policy Innovation, says he, too, took money from Abramoff to write op-ed pieces boosting the lobbyist's clients. "I do that all the time," Ferrara says. "I've done that in the past, and I'll do it in the future."

Ferrara, who has been an influential conservative voice on Social Security reform, among other issues, says he doesn't see a conflict of interest in taking undisclosed money to write op-ed pieces because his columns never violated his ideological principles.

I loved reading the National Review article, too. It's a magazine that is 100% conservative and the article quotes the professors who published the article being from the University of Alabama.......except they're from the University of Alabama at Huntsville, a completely different and independent university. Now IDK why a major magazine would do something like that, especially because UAH is much more well known for it's engineering and science schools then UA...but no biggie, it's not like they need to check facts or anything.

[wily coyote]

As a little humor -- my young kids just watched the cartoon version of "Robin Hood" and I think I saw lots of parallels...

when the good King Richard left and his evil brother John took over,
he taxed the people so heavily they were all in poverty, starving, miserable, unhappy, and unproductive.
This is exactly what will happen when a government taxes the daylights out of its citizens - regardless of what the government says it will do with the money -- most of it is wasted or ends up in the pockets of insiders & politicians..

The best way to make people happy and productive is to let them have the fruits of their own labor and let those who do NOT work experience the fruits of theirs...
...The movie reminded me of what our government is doing now.....

I couldn't have said it any better. Have you thought about running for office.

[Chico]

As a little humor -- my young kids just watched the cartoon version of "Robin Hood" and I think I saw lots of parallels...

when the good King Richard left and his evil brother John took over,
he taxed the people so heavily they were all in poverty, starving, miserable, unhappy, and unproductive.
This is exactly what will happen when a government taxes the daylights out of its citizens - regardless of what the government says it will do with the money -- most of it is wasted or ends up in the pockets of insiders & politicians..

The best way to make people happy and productive is to let them have the fruits of their own labor and let those who do NOT work experience the fruits of theirs...
...The movie reminded me of what our government is doing now.....

Only problem is, the ones who do not work will try to take the fruits of the laborers and use their laziness as an excuse.

[tornado]

...family support, community support, church support, etc...have worked for centuries --
then if they still fall thru -- I am OK with government support for those remaining ones who cannot work....

But the current system of massive government support to nearly half the so-called "workers" while the other half support them, is unsustainable.

[SFP]

...family support, community support, church support, etc...have worked for centuries --
then if they still fall thru -- I am OK with government support for those remaining ones who cannot work....

But the current system of massive government support to nearly half the so-called "workers" while the other half support them, is unsustainable.

There are the working poor that earn so little that they can barley survive and let alone pay for health insurance. Those are the ones I'd like to help and not the ones who are healthy and prefer to live off the state. There are also corporations who receive countless right offs and subsidies that are just not as right. The government need to weed these corporations off their easy money as much as the human welfare state.

[Chico]

There are the working poor that earn so little that they can barley survive and let alone pay for health insurance. Those are the ones I'd like to help and not the ones who are healthy and prefer to live off the state. There are also corporations who receive countless right offs and subsidies that are just not as right. The government need to weed these corporations off their easy money as much as the human welfare state.

Those evil corporations also supply countless jobs to the ones who want to work not counting the jobs for suppliers etc.

[SFP]

Those evil corporations also supply countless jobs to the ones who want to work not counting the jobs for suppliers etc.

Chico not all corporations are evil in my book. Exactly the opposite. I just do not want the government to make market decisions based on who greases their palm. All I'm asking for is a level playing field for all corporations regardless of ability to sink money into a scumbags re-election campaign. It would be as easy as lowering all corporate taxes and eliminate all the loopholes out there. The market will take care of the jobs and I bet if anything we'd have more and better paying jobs in this country if corporation payed less taxes and the inefficiencies of government interventionism was greatly curtailed. Is that really asking for too much?

[Chico]

Chico not all corporations are evil in my book. Exactly the opposite. I just do not want the government to make market decisions based on who greases their palm. All I'm asking for is a level playing field for all corporations regardless of ability to sink money into a scumbags re-election campaign. It would be as easy as lowering all corporate taxes and eliminate all the loopholes out there. The market will take care of the jobs and I bet if anything we'd have more and better paying jobs in this country if corporation payed less taxes and the inefficiencies of government interventionism was greatly curtailed. Is that really asking for too much?

We need someone to push for less taxes. That's been hard to get the last few years.

[sousaman2089]

In 1915, when capitalism was uninhibited and the likes of Rockefeller and Carnegie were making a killing, the top 1% of income earners in America made up 18% of the national income.

Today, the top 1% makes 24% in the national income.

I think everyone on this board has the right idea; something is wrong. We're feeling the adverse affects of the government getting too big.

The largest expansion of the gov't in the past 40 years was under George Dubya Bush and then we elected a democrat to the White House. Another obvious sign that not everyone is as clued in as some.

[SFP]

We need someone to push for less taxes. That's been hard to get the last few years.

How about a fair tax code and just plain on less spending and get that debt under pressure. Less taxes does not mean less spending and less debt.

[ChewaBrave]

I suppose know we wait to see how all this debt deal stuff shakes out. It'll be interesting to see if the DoD really takes it in the twins like it appears they may. I've got a mind about me though to think there is a way those cuts get bumped up to HHS, HUD, and EDU.

[tornado]

There are the working poor that earn so little that they can barley survive and let alone pay for health insurance. Those are the ones I'd like to help ..

a couple things, SFP -- I don't deny there are poor people and we should help them -- but a lot of the help is currently going to people who make the median or more in income...

There is evidence that even you or I can see (such as driving Cadillacs, and cars with expensive chrome wheels that are worth more than my entire car, and shooting off $5000 of industrial grade fireworks) that some "poor" people are not as bad off as many think -- in fact many have income and don't report it nor pay taxes.

Plus, most of even the poorest people in this nation have cell phones, drive cars, have A/C and color TV, get a great opportunity for a good education, can freely go look for and get work, and still get money from the government or free food & housing.
If placed on a worldwide scale almost ALL of America's "poor" would be well above the world's median in both income and standard of living.

No matter how hard the government tries -- we will never make our "poor" into wealthy people. In order to get where I am today, I had to live for 12 years on less than the "poverty-level" income and doing "without" then still had to pay back massive loans.....

[sousaman2089]

Isn't it around 50% of Americans don't pay income tax? You have to fix that somehow. AND if you pull a page out of the Reagan play book, give amnesty to illegals here, give them citizenship and tax them, that would help things a lot too.

[tornado]

http://wallstreetpit.com/80667-consumer-spending-falls-for-first-time-since-september-2009-personal-incomes-barely-gain

uh oh -- more really bad news...

"Consumer spending" just dropped unexpectedly -- something that had not happened for the past TWO YEARS...
this is one of the most powerfull indicators that despite lower gas prices, despite that people have been fed the line that a recovery is on the way, and despite that this time of year with summer vacations and good weather -- people generally spend more...
but if this lower consumer spending lasts a couple months more, then layoffs and a way more dismal economic outlook will appear.

BUT WAIT -- there's more...
just when the news of "solving the debt crisis" makes some people feel better --
the leader in the senate, Harry Reid VOWS to jam higher taxes into the plan one way or another!!
Great -- that'll get people unloading their hard earned money!!