





Telecommunications companies like Verizon Communications Inc. (














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RE: Should Be Separate
By curelom on 9/14/2011 5:10:04 PM , Rating: 3
I believe just about everybody who pays taxes received cuts. It does work. Regardless of whether they received cuts in the past, if they pay a higher percentage, it is more than their fair share.

The definition for fair is reasonable or unbiased: not exhibiting any bias, and therefore reasonable or impartial.
To pay a different percentage is not fair. The current tax laws have the top 1% of earners pay roughly 38% the federal income tax revenue while only earning 20%. That is NOT fair.

RE: Should Be Separate
By ipay on 9/14/2011 7:47:06 PM , Rating: 2
That's not the only definition of fair. Others might claim that "fair" means that those with the most ability should help the most. Or that it's not "fair" if someone who wouldn't even realize they were being taxed more is getting tax breaks while someone barely able to buy food pays instead. You could also claim that the rich are the ones benefiting the most from the current system of government, which allows them to invest massive amounts of money safely and run profitable businesses, so therefore they should fund the system more than the poor.

Ask 100 different people what's fair and you'll probably get 100 different answers. It's an opinion.

RE: Should Be Separate
By ipay on 9/14/2011 7:52:50 PM , Rating: 2
That said, my personal preference would be to replace the current system with something like this:

A national 10% sales tax on everything.
+ a flat 25% income tax on anything over 1,000,000 per year.

Those numbers might have to be adjusted to match current levels, of course.

That would mean everyone would be paying a certain amount, while letting the vast majority of people not have to worry about yearly income taxes. And it would still tax the wealthy who provide most of the income.

RE: Should Be Separate
By Manualshift on 9/15/2011 7:49:02 PM , Rating: 2
A national sales tax is not a good idea.

The only benefit to the economy i can think of is that illegal money will now contribute....I do like that part.

But the downside far outweighs it. The group that is pushing for a national sales tax is the banks and credit card companies. It would be a windfall for them. Do you really want to be paying interest on your federal taxes as well as your state, which you already do? The percentage of consumer spending that would be diverted to paying interest on taxes would hurt the economy that much more. It would also take away buying power from many that don't have much to begin with.

Think about what your asking for before you get it. Figure out how it would affect a new car purchase with an average car transaction price of $25k+. That's a lot of interest to be paying on taxes.

RE: Should Be Separate
By bigdawg1988 on 9/16/2011 12:54:15 PM , Rating: 2
Well said. Besides, rich people spend far less of their money than they earn (except musicians and athletes). And a lot of rich people don't earn income the same way you and I do. They don't make a paycheck, they earn money through investments. But those investment profits are not taxed at the same rate as income, it's much lower.
And that whole argument about the bottom 50% not paying taxes being unfair is far too simplistic and I wish people would give it up. ]
Try living at the poverty level in this country and let me know how much you have left over to pay for taxes. Besides, we need poor people to keep prices low. Imagine if Walmart had to pay their workers $15/hr. and provided insurance. Think how low their prices would be. Look around at your clean office. Think how much less money for bonuses there would be if the cleaning people were paid more.
Our economic system is not based on "fairness" and neither are the taxes. The reason why rich people should pay more is because they can. Can't squeeze blood out of a turnip and you can't get taxes from no income. Ask Bill Gates and Warren Buffett (and several other billionaires) if they pay their fair share. It's the bottom 98% that spend the money that keeps the top 2% wealthy anyway. Let the top dogs kick in more. They'll get it back anyway....

RE: Should Be Separate
By Keeir on 9/16/2011 7:07:48 PM , Rating: 2

So many problems.

#1. Investment "income" comes in two flavours. Capitol Gains and Dividend. In the case of Dividend payments, the vast majority is supposed to be taxed at the corporate level at ~35%. Capitol Gains means wealth is transfer from one private party to another private party. This is very different from income earned from a job.

The issue with our taxation system is that it has become so complicated that the knowledgable and well-connected get gigantic breaks and politicans have used it to secure breaks by pandering to the lower classes with nominal credits.

Probably the whole system needs a reset.

I might point out there is a difference between "Fair" and "Moral". It is not "Fair" to charge people significantly more to live in the same country/consume the same product. It may be "Moral", but it is not "Fair".

