On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 7:23 PM, Ian Kelly <ian.g.ke...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 2:01 PM, Rick Johnson > I make a middle-class income and do not feel that I am anywhere near > being "enslaved" by my income taxes, which amount to less than 10% of > my gross income after deductions and credits.
Ten percent?!?! You pay less income tax by percentage than most rich folks, including Mitt Romney! I envy you since you must be one of the lucky folks who ONLY pay income tax. I guess you never purchase ANYTHING or live under the tyranny of local jurisdictions ON TOP of the federal jurisdiction? Here is a list of taxes most everyone else will encounter: Accounts Receivable Tax Building Permit Tax Capital Gains Tax CDL license Tax Cigarette Tax Corporate Income Tax Court Fines (indirect taxes) Deficit spending Dog License Tax Federal Income Tax Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) Fishing License Tax Food License Tax Fuel permit tax Gasoline Tax Gift Tax Hunting License Tax Inflation Inheritance Tax Interest expense (tax on the money) Inventory tax IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax) IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax) Liquor Tax Local Income Tax Luxury Taxes Marriage License Tax Medicare Tax Property Tax Real Estate Tax Septic Permit Tax Service Charge Taxes Social Security Tax Road Usage Taxes (Truckers) Sales Taxes Recreational Vehicle Tax Road Toll Booth Taxes School Tax State Income Tax State Unemployment Tax (SUTA) Telephone federal excise tax Telephone federal universal service fee tax Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax Telephone state and local tax Telephone usage charge tax Toll Bridge Taxes Toll Tunnel Taxes Traffic Fines (indirect taxation) Trailer Registration Tax Utility Taxes Vehicle License Registration Tax Vehicle Sales Tax Watercraft Registration Tax Well Permit Tax Workers Compensation Tax ... and don't forget for declare those pennys on your eyes! > Heck, there are poorer > people than I who voluntarily donate that much to religious > organizations on top of their taxes. Again, lucky you! MOST middle class people pay 30-50% of their income in taxes! > Say what you want about the income tax system, but at least net income > still basically increases monotonically. If you make more gross than > me, chances are that you're going to make more net than me as well. So you support a flat tax system? A system where everybody pays the same percentage? Actually i think 10% income tax is a fair amount although i believe taxing income silly. If the government cannot provide national security, domestic security, and LIMITED infratructure on 10% of what we make, they are wasting too much of OUR money. > > HOWEVER, healthcare is not a concern of the greater society, but only > > the individual -- with the exception of contagious disease of course, > > which effects us all! > > I disagree, and here's why. Let's say I'm a billionaire, and I'm > diagnosed with cancer. Do you think I can just round up a bunch of > scientists and tell them "Here's a billion dollars. Now go find a > cure my cancer"? Of course not, it doesn't work that way. If the > necessary research hasn't already been done, then it's unlikely that > it will be finished in the few years or months that I have before the > cancer kills me, no matter how much of my own money I throw at it. I agree that keeping R&D "alive" is very important for our collective advancement. I do not fear technology like some people. Futhermore, i don't have any problem funding R&D for ANY of the sciences, beit medical or otherwise. But let me assure you, under a private healthcare system (psst: the kind where people pay they own way!) there will ALWAYS be enough people to keep R&D alive. Besides, the degenerates are only seeking care for self induced heath issues. > Real medical research is primarily driven by medical treatment. Yes, but that does not mean we should hand degenerates a meal ticket. > -- if I > as a wealthy private investor am going to invest in such a highly > speculative and risky venture as drug research, I will be more willing > to invest a large sum of money if the potential recipients (i.e. > consumers) number in the hundreds of thousands, not just the few > thousand who will be able to pay for the drug out of pocket. > Likewise, much of the money the drug companies make off of sales goes > back into research so that they can be ready with a newer, better drug > by the time their patents expire. > > Distributing health care coverage expands the market for treatments > and so allows the state of the art to advance faster. Yes, with > socialized health care, some of our tax money goes into that pool, and > a lot of that tax money just ends up as profits in the hands of > wealthy shareholders. The other side of that coin, though, is that if > we ever find ourselves in the position that we need those treatments > ourselves, the medical state of the art will be that much better for > it. And if you can afford the care great, if not, you'd better buy an insurance policy. You know, people love to whine about how privatized healthcare is so unfair to the degenerates. What about the doctors? Would you expect a doctor to work for free? Remeber, doctors spend a decade or more in college and rack up HUGE debts to pay for their education. You don't mind stealing from taxpayers to fund degenerates, but it's the same as stealing from doctors. Observe: Doctor: "Okay, your diease is cured. You have a clean bill of heath! Your bill is $500,000" Patient: "Thanks doc, but it seems i am little light. Can i just pay you $20.00 and we call it even?" Doctor: "What? I just saved your life. I spent the last three months caring for you. Using expensive medical equipment and years of laboratory research. Do you know how many lab rats and monkeys died a horrible death so that you can live? How can I do all that for $20.00?" Of course you would not, because you'd have to look the doctor in the eye whilst robbing him. On the other hand, with tax payer subsidized healthcare (AKA: Public Heathcare), you don't have to look anyone in the eye. The victim of your plunder is just some random taxpayer footing your bills! People, THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH! Every product that is made and every service rendered was a result of someone's hard labor. Sleep on that you degenerates! Hypocrisy! It's no different than the idiots who whine for the fair treatment of fluffy mammals but them declare chemical warfare on insects and reptiles. To them ONLY fluffy mammals deserve fair treatment because they are so cuddly (and cute BTW) PUKE!. But you want to know the REAL reason? It's because mammals return love and reptiles and insects don't. It's because people are selfish. If another being will no reciprocate their love, then they murder that being with extreme prejudice, and not feel one bit guilty about it! Do you understand how backward you are? Do you understand how selfish and immoral you are? Do you understand how incredibly dense you are? Because of people like YOU, we don't deserve the right to evolve! > But beyond that, I also think that we as a society have an ethical > commitment to help one another out when we find ourselves in trouble, > because that's what a civilized society is. I agree totally. Let say an innocent is shot in the course of a robbery. I would not mind my tax dollars going towards the victims medical care IF he could not afford the care himself. Even if he was a degenerate. On the other hand, if some lame-brain decided to climb MT. Everest and got stuck on top with frost-bite... TOO BAD! Same goes for dummies who develop lung caner from somking... TOO BAD! Or cirrhosis of the liver from one too many "adult beverages"... TOO BAD! Or diabetes from eating too many candy bars and/or drinking too many sodas... TOO BAD, TOO BAD, TOO BAD!!! I am tired of the whines and laments of vermin, almost as much as i am tired of the silence of the moral majority! It's time to put degenerates in their place! -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list