Majority of Americans favor wealth tax on very rich: Reuters/Ipsos poll

[dblack]

Nonsense.

Tax deductions are written to encourage certain behavior or discourage certain behavior.

Which is not what taxes are supposed to be for, taxes should be for funding the government. nothing more, nothing less

Supposed to be and the real world is two different things.

I'm always curious about these "that's just the way it is" responses. Do you think government should be using the tax code for social engineering? Is that something you support? Or should we try to minimize it?

I just live in the real world. It's what it is.

I spent several times a year since the 1980s meeting with my CPA to plan my tax strategy for the remainder of the year and for the coming year.

Do you think government should be using the tax code for social engineering? I don't.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

I just live in the real world. It's what it is.

I spent several times a year since the 1980s meeting with my CPA to plan my tax strategy for the remainder of the year and for the coming year.

Why should you need to do that?

 

[initforme]

Businesses have never had so many hard working productive workers to choose from. It's unreal. Work ethic has never been close to today's americans.

 

[Andylusion]

I live where I do (in the south) because of taxes. In Illinois, a typical property in Gurney (this is not 90210 by any stretch - it is middle class) pays about $12,000 a year in property taxes. Meanwhile those that rent don't have to pay any. So if you have kids, you ought to rent in my opinion. In the south, that unfavorable tax treatment to those that own real estate is mitigated by taxing personal property such as automobiles. My taxes are about $3,000 yr on my house/property.

I don't understand your perspective.

You seem to be implying that owners of business eat the cost. That is never the case.

I'm not going to rent a property, and not pass on additional costs on me, onto you. Why would I do that?

Lower tax areas, charge lower rents. Higher tax areas charge higher rents. All taxes are passed onto the consumer, or the employee.

 

[Andylusion]

Businesses have never had so many hard working productive workers to choose from. It's unreal. Work ethic has never been close to today's americans.

Was that a joke? That had to be a joke.

 

[Ken Mac]

I live where I do (in the south) because of taxes. In Illinois, a typical property in Gurney (this is not 90210 by any stretch - it is middle class) pays about $12,000 a year in property taxes. Meanwhile those that rent don't have to pay any. So if you have kids, you ought to rent in my opinion. In the south, that unfavorable tax treatment to those that own real estate is mitigated by taxing personal property such as automobiles. My taxes are about $3,000 yr on my house/property.

I don't understand your perspective.

You seem to be implying that owners of business eat the cost. That is never the case.

I'm not going to rent a property, and not pass on additional costs on me, onto you. Why would I do that?

Lower tax areas, charge lower rents. Higher tax areas charge higher rents. All taxes are passed onto the consumer, or the employee.

That's a good point. I"m going to have to look more closely at that. Thanks!

 

[Andylusion]

And socialism is theft.

I'm not sure how you define "socialism". All 1st world countries including America, from their inception until today are a "blend" of capitalism and socialism; socialism, as in the state and federal governments; capitalism as in they acknowledge the right to own and possess private property, and individual rights (not "Communism", or a government in which all property and businesses are state owned).

And no, confiscation of property by the state is not "theft", anymore than an armed criminal being legally shot and killed by police is "murder".

As per the Framers and the Constitution, the Federal and State governments have a right to confiscate property, much as the revolution was not a naïve attempt at "no taxation", but merely no "taxation without representation". That of course would be anarchy, so "America" would be irrelevant to any attempt at "serious" discussion about anarchy, if such a thing is even possible...

They use the bogus term 're-distribution' of wealth.

The money was never 'distributed'....it was earned.

Too bad. The state has a right to do so as per the Federal and State constitutions, your only option is to find a country to live on which refuses to tax you, or start your own, or find a way to avoid paying taxes.

Right, and the wealthy do find a way to avoid paying taxes.

Look you can sit there and claim it's always been that way, and you can claim every state does it.

Neither makes it right. There was a time when every nation had slavery, and there were idiots saying "too bad, it's universal", back then, and they were morally wrong too.

Taking money from one person, to give it to another person that has not earned it, is theft. And every nation that had bought into that ideology entirely, has ended in ruins.

And by the way, contrary to the claims of the left, even in the nordic countries, most tax money goes back to the people who paid the tax. They actually have extremely little redistribution.

We are more socialized today, than the nordic countries have ever been.

 

[dblack]

Businesses have never had so many hard working productive workers to choose from. It's unreal. Work ethic has never been close to today's americans.

Was that a joke? That had to be a joke.

It sure isn't the case in the software industry. There are way more jobs than qualified candidates.

 

[initforme]

It's no joke. Any business that has troubles finding good workers is simply a pathetic, bad, rotten place to work. Easy call. I will cheer when they struggle.

 

[Aldo Raine]

Nope, the only expenditure the corporations can deduct are wages. They already have a deduction from 21% to 10%. They can pay for upgrading their own systems and equipment to make more profits. Why should you and I?

If the corporation pays 30%, you are not paying anything. If the corporation is paying 2%, you are not paying anything.

I am making it so their rate is lower. That has nothing to do with me.

That was the point I made. It doesn't have anything to do with you, and you won't be harmed either way.

So why not lower their taxes by over 100%.

You want to pay them? HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHHAHA

No Dewey you will.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Same thing. Even worse if your children attend a private school, because then you are supporting the public school with your property tax, and paying the bill to the private school for your children's education. That's what happened to my sister.
She sent her kids to a religious school.

State's rights issue, what's the point?

Point is taxation has never been fair to everybody, and probably never will.

This is sort of like the way liberals argue against a free market by saying there's no such thing (because it isn't perfectly free). Are you saying, it's not fair, so we should just use it to push people around wily-nilly?

No, I'm saying if we are going to tackle what is unfair taxation, we have a list a mile long for that. As per earlier in the discussion, the top 20% of earners paid 87% of all collected income taxes in this country. Think that's fair? Of course not. Just look at the posts. People here are advocating for them paying even more.

The relative fairness of all the tax incentives isn't my concern. It's the fact that government has used, and is using, the taxation power to radically increase its power over society. It lets them coerce behavior that they couldn't get away with via direct mandates. But if they dress it up as "free shit", the suckers fall for it. We're being herded around like sheep with all the carrots and sticks embodied in the tax code. Doesn't that bother you?

There is not much we can do to change it outside of voting. How many people said they were going to do something about our complicated tax code, and never did it?

If you're worried about government controlling people, the tax code isn't the place to look. What you need to watch out for is them taking over our energy and healthcare. Once they take over those two things, then they will have the ability to control all of us.

 

[dblack]

State's rights issue, what's the point?

Point is taxation has never been fair to everybody, and probably never will.

This is sort of like the way liberals argue against a free market by saying there's no such thing (because it isn't perfectly free). Are you saying, it's not fair, so we should just use it to push people around wily-nilly?

No, I'm saying if we are going to tackle what is unfair taxation, we have a list a mile long for that. As per earlier in the discussion, the top 20% of earners paid 87% of all collected income taxes in this country. Think that's fair? Of course not. Just look at the posts. People here are advocating for them paying even more.

The relative fairness of all the tax incentives isn't my concern. It's the fact that government has used, and is using, the taxation power to radically increase its power over society. It lets them coerce behavior that they couldn't get away with via direct mandates. But if they dress it up as "free shit", the suckers fall for it. We're being herded around like sheep with all the carrots and sticks embodied in the tax code. Doesn't that bother you?

There is not much we can do to change it outside of voting. How many people said they were going to do something about our complicated tax code, and never did it?

If you're worried about government controlling people, the tax code isn't the place to look. What you need to watch out for is them taking over our energy and healthcare. Once they take over those two things, then they will have the ability to control all of us.

And have you noticed how they're using tax "incentives" to do exactly that?

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Sorry, but our taxation system never was fair. I never had any children, so I don't get that dependency deductions or tax credits.

Here, our schools are paid for by the city. The city tax is coupled with the county tax, and you get one bill. 60% of our property taxes are for our schools in my suburb. I don't have any children in the school system, and never have, and neither have any of my tenants.

The real problem with that is your tax bill is based on how much your property is worth. So the guy down the street with four kids in the school system is paying a lot less taxes than I am because his property is worth so much less than mine. Yet he has four kids in the school system. How is that fair?

How 'bout us home schoolers?

Same thing. Even worse if your children attend a private school, because then you are supporting the public school with your property tax, and paying the bill to the private school for your children's education. That's what happened to my sister. She sent her kids to a religious school.

State's rights issue, what's the point?

Point is taxation has never been fair to everybody, and probably never will.

What should the maximum amount of taxes be.....outside of wartime?

And what do you suppose it is today....fed, state, sales, fees, total?

I guess that would all depend where you live. The taxes are outrageous in blue cities and states, while the red states enjoy lower taxes and lower cost of living. What I do think is the 47% of our country that pay no income tax should at least be paying something.

We have over 325 million people in this country, over 250 million of those are adults. So figure that about 110 million people pay no income tax. Even if they paid a hundred bucks a year, that would amount to something.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Point is taxation has never been fair to everybody, and probably never will.

This is sort of like the way liberals argue against a free market by saying there's no such thing (because it isn't perfectly free). Are you saying, it's not fair, so we should just use it to push people around wily-nilly?

No, I'm saying if we are going to tackle what is unfair taxation, we have a list a mile long for that. As per earlier in the discussion, the top 20% of earners paid 87% of all collected income taxes in this country. Think that's fair? Of course not. Just look at the posts. People here are advocating for them paying even more.

The relative fairness of all the tax incentives isn't my concern. It's the fact that government has used, and is using, the taxation power to radically increase its power over society. It lets them coerce behavior that they couldn't get away with via direct mandates. But if they dress it up as "free shit", the suckers fall for it. We're being herded around like sheep with all the carrots and sticks embodied in the tax code. Doesn't that bother you?

There is not much we can do to change it outside of voting. How many people said they were going to do something about our complicated tax code, and never did it?

If you're worried about government controlling people, the tax code isn't the place to look. What you need to watch out for is them taking over our energy and healthcare. Once they take over those two things, then they will have the ability to control all of us.

And have you noticed how they're using tax "incentives" to do exactly that?

No, they use tax incentives to influence people to contribute (in some way) to our economy. Opening up a business, investing into your existing business, investing money in the market or IRA, and yes, even buying a home.

 

[rightwinger]

I would rather see a small fee on every stock and real estate transaction

You can be wealthy....but if you try to move your money around, you will pay

Please show us all a tax or fee, that it was said, "it is only a small fee" in the beginning, a small fee ot tax today?

I already pay tax on my profits when I sell stocks. I also pay taxes when I buy or sell a property.

Why should you or I PAY simply for having moved money from one investment to another?

How much does a broker charge on a stock transaction? Add one percent to that fee. Keeps the wealthy from hiding their wealth.

You pay taxes on the profit? That one percent would come off of your profit

You mysteriously avoided my question. I'll try again. "Please show us all a tax or fee, that it was said, "it is only a small fee" in the beginning, and is a small fee or tax today?"

I answered

Somewhere around one percent on every stock transaction
It would generate massive tax revenue
We could probably reduce taxes elsewhere

 

[rightwinger]

How 'bout us home schoolers?

Same thing. Even worse if your children attend a private school, because then you are supporting the public school with your property tax, and paying the bill to the private school for your children's education. That's what happened to my sister. She sent her kids to a religious school.

State's rights issue, what's the point?

Point is taxation has never been fair to everybody, and probably never will.

What should the maximum amount of taxes be.....outside of wartime?

And what do you suppose it is today....fed, state, sales, fees, total?

I guess that would all depend where you live. The taxes are outrageous in blue cities and states, while the red states enjoy lower taxes and lower cost of living. What I do think is the 47% of our country that pay no income tax should at least be paying something.

We have over 325 million people in this country, over 250 million of those are adults. So figure that about 110 million people pay no income tax. Even if they paid a hundred bucks a year, that would amount to something.

Our President pays no income tax, same with major corporations
We need to fix that

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Same thing. Even worse if your children attend a private school, because then you are supporting the public school with your property tax, and paying the bill to the private school for your children's education. That's what happened to my sister. She sent her kids to a religious school.

State's rights issue, what's the point?

Point is taxation has never been fair to everybody, and probably never will.

What should the maximum amount of taxes be.....outside of wartime?

And what do you suppose it is today....fed, state, sales, fees, total?

I guess that would all depend where you live. The taxes are outrageous in blue cities and states, while the red states enjoy lower taxes and lower cost of living. What I do think is the 47% of our country that pay no income tax should at least be paying something.

We have over 325 million people in this country, over 250 million of those are adults. So figure that about 110 million people pay no income tax. Even if they paid a hundred bucks a year, that would amount to something.

Our President pays no income tax, same with major corporations
We need to fix that

He pays no income taxes because he's doing the job for free. There are only a handful of companies out there that pay no income tax.

 

[Markle]

Do you think government should be using the tax code for social engineering? I don't.

I don't either, but I deal with the real world.

 

[Markle]

I just live in the real world. It's what it is.

I spent several times a year since the 1980s meeting with my CPA to plan my tax strategy for the remainder of the year and for the coming year.

Why should you need to do that?

So I could legally pay the least amount of taxes possible. I also wanted to anticipate the size of the check I'd have to write that year.

One year Tony advised me to buy an SUV before the year's end. They are built on a truck frame and chassis and weighed over 6,000 pounds. That made them equipment and qualified me for a $25,000 tax credit, not deduction, a credit. I hated it and couldn't wait to sell it but I saved a pile of money!

 

[Markle]

I answered

Somewhere around one percent on every stock transaction
It would generate massive tax revenue
We could probably reduce taxes elsewhere

Typical of far-left Progressives, you're answering a question not asked.

You mysteriously avoided my question. I'll try again. "Please show us all a tax or fee, that it was said, "it is only a small fee" in the beginning, and is a small fee or tax today?"