Poll of the Day > American workers pay twice as much in taxes as the rich

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-09-12/why-american-workers-pay-twice-as-much-in-taxes-as-wealthy-investors
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This isn't new.
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That's how plutocracy works, man.
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Actually, they pay a fraction of what the rich pay. What you've chosen to maliciously misrepresent is earned income vs investments. And if earned income and investments were taxed the same, that would fuck over pretty much 401k and retirement plan in the country.

And the problem with trying to tax investments at the same rate as earned income is that it discourages investment which could have disastrous long-term effects on the economy while, of course, not solving the ACTUAL problem withe budget deficit which is a matter of spending far more than we take in.
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Zeus posted...

Actually, they pay a fraction of what the rich pay. What you've chosen to maliciously misrepresent is earned income vs investments. And if earned income and investments were taxed the same, that would fuck over pretty much 401k and retirement plan in the country.

Says someone who can afford a retirement plan in the first place
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Lokarin posted...

Zeus posted...

Actually, they pay a fraction of what the rich pay. What you've chosen to maliciously misrepresent is earned income vs investments. And if earned income and investments were taxed the same, that would fuck over pretty much 401k and retirement plan in the country.

Says someone who can afford a retirement plan in the first place

Most people who work full-time can afford a retirement plan if they live well within their means. After all, it's generally subsidized by their employer. And keep in mind that the less people rely on retirement planning, the more they'd need to fall back on government welfare which would only balloon the deficit further *especially* because the government is worse at long-term planning than many (if not most) people saving for retirement. Not because those people are good, but because the government is less responsible than the average teenager with a credit card.
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Those that make about $1000-$1300 a month net, actually pay the least taxes.

Individual deduction drops that by 7k (so say they are making $1300), and you get taxed only 10% on the first 9k or so after that.

So total taxes (not including SS etc) would only be about $900 total for the year (or about 5% of your total income).

The people making between 40k and 200k, usually get taxed the most as far as percentage of total income, and often as far as total amount taxed as well.

I do admit that my friends who make over 200k complaining about having to pay so much in taxes is annoying (complaining when you like your job and bring home after taxes well over $100k...seems wrong to me), but the truth is that many people making many times as much per year, actually pay less total in taxes because of loopholes, reinvesting (which in theory you'll pay taxes on eventually) etc.

Personally think we need to shift the burden a bit more to be honest, and ensure that everyone making over 100k pays a full set amount (30% or so), that you can't loop hole out of. This would allow a larger individual deduction for everyone and reduce the burdeon on those who are just barely getting by. This is WAY better then just raising minimum wage which causes way too many problems.

If you can net a good 24k a year without paying much in taxes at all (first 14k gone from your deduction and next 10k at only 10%), that would actually help those getting paid minimum wage and working a 40 hour week more then boosting the minimum wage, and it would keep prices lower as well.
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