I’m not enough of a fiscal expert to pretend to know all of the deductions used by the wealthy, but if you can get down a 14% rate for somebody like Romney AFTER you’ve inflated it artificially, then something is wrong with the system. Wealthy is mostly a relative term and less to do with picking a number from the air.
Do the wealthy pay lower effective rates? for sure compared to the middle class
we both know it has a lot of do with cap. gains also. I’d like to see some sort of an AMT to cover people like fund managers from pulling this off. Why should they pay less than a Doctor just because it’s a different occupation?
I saw a lady at Walmart yesterday, well dressed, designer clothes, bangin weave, nails freshly done up, bling on EVERY finger, yaking away on her iPhone, when it came time to pay out came the EBT.
The best part is I saw her loading her groceries into a brand new Range Rover.
As long as people can continue to live the American dream I will continue to kill myself at work.
Theblue…where is the middle class chart? What is your effective tax rate? I can bet that the great majority of nyspeed pays less than the 25% indicated on the chart you posted.
Ever been to a country with no social welfare? It sucks there worse. When I was in Cambodia I couldn’t eat lunch in an open air restaurant without kids missing legs begging for help.
The answer is somewhere in the middle, but I’d rather live in a country that errs on the side of help even if some over-entitled dirt bags abuse it.
I wonder how many of the top richest got there via rags to riches hard work and talent put towards production? How many also had exceedingly unique opportunities? How many are day trading assholes taking money from the middle class with money in the market trying to cope with inflation? I’m just saying, don’t idolize the rich just for being rich.
the problem being the people that “need” the help do not get it
I personally knew a lady that died in her early 40s due to a urinary tract infection because she could never get the help she needed
my own father had a BA in education, worked 20yrs at bethlehem steel, worked 6 years for NY state ect.
He was a childhood diabetic that despite taking care of himself had lost both his legs below the knees, was half blind from strokes ect
NY state fought him tooth and nail on SSD saying there MUST be something he can do
I have a friend that just got SSD at 34yrs old for depression on the first try and now is looking forward to a lump sum of 20k plus
When 50% pay zero income tax and the top 10% are paying 70% of the income tax I just think it’s a little ridiculous to be talking about taxing that top 10% even more. Maybe do something about the 50% who are paying NOTHING. I don’t care how poor you are, a fair system has everyone contributing SOMETHING.
lets be clear here, they’re paying 0% effective federal income tax on a super low amount that wouldn’t really help, all while living a miserable life. After all the other taxes somebody working min wage in NY is probably bring home $4 an hour? Not to say I don’t want everybody to pay something, I do, and in reality they are.
The way I see it the middle class is getting screwed the most because they can’t take advantage of the benefits that are given to either end of the spectrum. Certainly you shouldn’t feel sorry for the wealthy who gamed the system to their favor while living an awesome life.
And this is why I tell people I wont make it to retirement in this country.
I wouldnt even have that big of a problem with heading towards a more socialized system if everyone contributed to the pot but that just doesnt happen here.
Ugh…I don’t want to. I take my net and budget around that with a buffer. I don’t live paycheck to paycheck but I hate the fact I can’t just work to live rather than live to work.
