[Informative] Side-by-side comparion of Democratic Party vs GOP tax cuts

[Clockwork]

An article about the subject:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/us/politics/11tax.html?_r=1

"But Clockwork," you say, "The New York Times is progressive liberal propaganda!"

Often times yes. So if you feel so inclined, here is the report from the Joint Committee on Taxation, this is a PDF file:

http://www.jct.gov/publications.htm...hk=e4b64755c09042186aa6f272981d99ae&no_html=1

 

[Texas42]

Interesting article, CW. Frankly, I dispise the progressive tax system. It encourages mentalities I think are bad for the country.

But I doubt that it is ever going to change.

 

[West Texas]

Great graph...now take a look at this info on who PAYS taxes. The data shown below was released in 2005, the most recent data available:

The share of total income taxes paid by the top 1% of wage earners rose to 34.27% from 33.71% in 2002. Their income share (not just wages) rose from 16.12% to 16.77%. However, their average tax rate actually dropped from 27.25% down to 24.31%

Think of it this way: less than 3-1/2 dollars out of every $100 paid in income taxes in the United States is paid by someone in the bottom 50% of wage earners. Are the top half millionaires? Noooo, more like "thousandaires." The top 50% were those individuals or couples filing jointly who earned $29,019 and up in 2003. (The top 1% earned $295,495-plus.) Americans who want to are continuing to improve their lives, and those who don't want to, aren't. Here are the wage earners in each category and the percentages they pay:

The top 1% pay over a third, 34.27% of all income taxes. (Up from 2003: 33.71%) The top 5% pay 54.36% of all income taxes (Up from 2002: 53.80%). The top 10% pay 65.84% (Up from 2002: 65.73%). The top 25% pay 83.88% (Down from 2002: 83.90%). The top 50% pay 96.54% (Up from 2002: 96.50%). The bottom 50%? They pay a paltry 3.46% of all income taxes (Down from 2002: 3.50%). The top 1% is paying nearly ten times the federal income taxes than the bottom 50%! And who earns what? The top 1% earns 16.77% of all income (2002: 16.12%). The top 5% earns 31.18% of all the income (2002: 30.55%). The top 10% earns 42.36% of all the income (2002: 41.77%); the top 25% earns 64.86% of all the income (2002: 64.37%) , and the top 50% earns 86.01% (2002: 85.77%) of all the income.

 

[matefrio]

Taxes Explained

Ten men go out for beer. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh would pay $7. The eighth would pay $12. The ninth would pay $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. He said, "Since you are all such good customers, I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80."

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men -- the paying customers?

How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share"? They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay!

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings). The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings). The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings). The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings). The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He

pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!!"shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!" The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important.

They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up any more. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

 

[Shooterman]

Interesting article, CW. Frankly, I dispise the progressive tax system. It encourages mentalities I think are bad for the country.

But I doubt that it is ever going to change.

Any individual income tax is theft by government.

 

[rodbender]

Has anyone here rad the Communist Manifesto? It is all in there. Progressive income tax, public education, inheritance tax (except they get it all in the CM), lots of other stuff that we already have. It won't be long now.

 

[West Texas]

Money - less taxes = more $$$ to grow the economy

MONEY....

It is August. In a small town on the South Coast of France, holiday season is in full swing, but it is raining so there is not too much business happening.

Everyone is heavily in debt.

Luckily, a rich Russian tourist arrives in the foyer of the small local hotel. He asks for a room and puts a Euro100 note on the reception counter, takes a key and goes to inspect the room located up the stairs on the third floor.

The hotel owner takes the banknote in hurry and rushes to his meat supplier to whom he owes E100.

The butcher takes the money and races to his wholesale supplier to pay his debt.

The wholesaler rushes to the farmer to pay E100 for pigs he purchased some time ago.

The farmer triumphantly gives the E100 note to a local prostitute who gave him her services on credit.

The prostitute goes quickly to the hotel, as she owed the hotel for her hourly room use to entertain clients, and lays the E100 on the counter.

At that moment, the rich Russian is coming down to reception and informs the hotel owner that the proposed room is unsatisfactory and takes his E100 back and departs.

There was no profit or income. But everyone no longer has any debt and the small town people look optimistically towards their future.

COULD THIS BE THE SOLUTION TO THE Global Financial Crisis?

Or, is there a catch here?

A very similar scenario played itself out in Texas at the end of the War of Northern Aggression. A returning Confederate soldier had $61 silver dollars. He began to pay his family’s debts. The grocer, the seed store, the doctor and as each paid their own debts $39 ended up being paid back to the Confederate soldier’s family.

The way it works in the economy of a city is that every $ that comes into your community ‘turns’ 7 times before leaving town. Dollars spent at Wal-Mart and other large chains turn only 1.5 to 2 times because the funds are withdrawn overnight and sent to the headquarters of the chain.


We recognize what it means to ‘By American’- it means jobs created in our country rather than in China. It works the same way when we buy from locally owned stores.

When the Fed buys bonds issued by the Treasury the exact same scheme is played while the free market economy is slowly building the economy back to prosperity. The two big problems are that the Banks who receive this bail out are not putting the funds into circulation. Instead they are using it to prop up their balance sheets. The other is that Union infested industries will, in spite of the bail out funds, all collapse and will need decades to come back, if at all.

 

[M. Sage]

So... the GOP tax plan is still better overall? Looking at it as dollar amounts is kind of misleading, though. You have to look at it as changes in rate, and the higher ends are going to pay some really stupid high rates since Obama and the dems have decided to raise taxes through their inaction. That's a really dumb idea right now.

I've never had a poor man hire me...

Has anyone here rad the Communist Manifesto? It is all in there. Progressive income tax, public education, inheritance tax (except they get it all in the CM), lots of other stuff that we already have. It won't be long now.

I've hit the high points, but really need to download a copy. Scary stuff in there, and Obama is using a lot of it as his playbook.