Do you pay taxes Proud Liberal Number 7??? By no means am I rich, but I am paying more in taxes now, and I have worked for thirty-nine years, than I ever have before.
On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 8:27 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Yup, time for the rich's free ride to end and for them to pay their fair > share of the freight. Bummer for them - I'm sure the millions they'll have > left AFTER taxes will put them straight into the poorhouse. Oh, the agony! > > *Conservatives whine and Conservatives bitch* > *"Our rich are too poor and our poor are too rich!"* > > In a message dated 5/17/2010 5:24:27 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, > [email protected] writes: > > The tax rate on who?? Despite the charges by liberals and > socialists that the tax cuts favored the “rich,” these cuts actually reduced > the tax burden of low- and middle-income taxpayers and shifted the tax > burden onto wealthier taxpayers. > > > Updated April 16, 2010 > Guess Who Didn't Pay Taxes On Tax Day > > By Elizabeth Factor and & Mallory Factor > > - FOXNews.com > > > http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/04/16/elizabeth-factor-mallory-factor-federal-income-tax-tax-day-americans-democrats/ > > > > Progressive Democrats are using “tax reform” to create a group of Americans > who pay no federal income tax at all. > > Did you file your federal income taxes > <https://mail.google.com/mail/html/compose/static_files/blank_quirks.html#> > > on or before April 15? Almost 50% of American households won’t be paying > any federal income tax this year, and the reasons why have profound > implications for our democracy as well as our economy now. > > A series of tax reforms, generous exemptions and tax credits, including > last year’s > economic<https://mail.google.com/mail/html/compose/static_files/blank_quirks.html#>stimulus > bill, have dropped millions of Americans from the federal tax > rolls. Huge numbers of Americans are simply no longer affected by the > federal income tax. The Tax Policy Center projects that 47 percent of all > U.S. households will pay no federal income tax for 2009. And, the bottom 40 > percent of income earners actually receive a *cash payment *from the > government at tax time. This cash payment is styled as a “refund” but it is > actually a net cash transfer from the government--not a refund of taxes > actually withheld on income. And for many Americans, this cash transfer from > Uncle Sam actually exceeds all federal, state and local taxes that they pay > in any form during the year including > sales<https://mail.google.com/mail/html/compose/static_files/blank_quirks.html#>taxes > and social security taxes. > > Of course, we are accustomed to the idea that high income earners pay more > in taxes both in absolute terms and as a percentage of their incomes. But > taxing only the top half of a society is not normal progressive taxation. > Instead, the recent changes to our tax system are an example of politicians > using the tax code for their own political ends. In this case, the so-called > progressive Democratic politicians are using “tax reform” to grow their > political base by creating a group of Americans that pay no federal income > tax. > > The people who don’t pay federal income taxes are, as the phrase goes, > “rational economic actors” just as much as anyone. Like all people, > non-taxpayers respond to economic incentives. Their demand for entitlements > and government programs is naturally insatiable because they don’t care at > all about the cost. Non-taxpayers don’t have any “skin in the game” and are > completely indifferent to the government raising income taxes. So they will > always support increasing government programs as a long as they get even a > small benefit from them because it does not cost them a cent. It’s also > perfectly rational for non-taxpayers to support politicians who favor more > spending. Non-taxpayers get something for nothing, at least until the > country becomes insolvent. > > The so-called progressive Democratic politicians are rational actors too. > By taking more and more Americans off the federal tax rolls, they are > creating a permanent base of supporters for themselves. These politicians > may claim to support increased government spending because of their concern > for the less-fortunate but--hey, it also happens to be in their own > political self-interest. And these politicians will continue to spend on > these programs until our nation goes bust because they want to keep their > jobs and grow expensive programs for their political base. > And what about the people paying all the federal taxes? Well, taxpayers > respond to incentives too. When faced with increasing tax rates, taxpayers > will reduce their income, which is why it is impossible to raise a lot of > revenue by increasing taxes above a certain point. As taxes on income rise, > taxpayers spend less time on work and more on leisure. They avoid sales of > investments and assets which could trigger income until they can pair them > with offsetting losses from other transactions. They spend billions of > dollars on tax advice and structuring to reduce their tax burden, which > makes economic sense for them but which is a waste of resources for our > society. In the aggregate, a tax system that is hostile to investment and > growth has a distortive effect which harms U.S. productivity and reduces the > standard of living of our whole nation. > > Under the Obama administration, many Americans accustomed to paying their > share of federal taxes are being taken off the tax rolls. Recent tax law > changes mean that for the first time, in 2009, a > family<https://mail.google.com/mail/html/compose/static_files/blank_quirks.html#>of > four making $50,000 can pay no federal income tax at all. This family may > not change its behavior and outlook immediately from its taxpaying days. But > the family’s economic incentives are now to keep America taxing and > spending. And a family at this income level has surely suffered in this > recession, but should they really pay *no federal income tax *at all? > > Ronald Reagan once said that a taxpayer is “someone who works for the > Federal government but doesn’t have to take the civil service examination.” > Every American should have to work for the federal government at least a > little bit. We need to move back to a broad-based tax system so that more > Americans understand that there is no such thing as free money—government > spending actually has a huge cost for our nation. > > The so-called "progressive" politicians have turned John Kennedy’s “Ask not > what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” on > its head. And telling so many Americans that they don’t need to make > sacrifices for our government, as we are now saying, is dangerous new > territory for our nation and for the health of our democracy and economy. > > *Elizabeth Factor is an international tax lawyer and former investment > banker.Mallory Factor is the co-chairman and co-founder of the Monday > Meeting, an influential meeting of economic conservatives, journalists and > corporate leaders in New York City. Mr. Factor is a well-known merchant > banker and speaks and writes frequently on economic and fiscal topics for > news stations, leading newspapers and other print and online publications. > Mr. Factor writes frequently for the Fox Forum. Mr. Factor can be reached at > [email protected].* > > > > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at > http://www.PoliticalForum.com/<http://www.politicalforum.com/> > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at > http://www.PoliticalForum.com/<http://www.politicalforum.com/> > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. 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