Its called the Laffer Curve, and it is VERY valid. The politicians are very aware of the fact that when you raise rates, you reduce revenue. They don't care. This is valid only in certain ranges however. Raising rates from 5 to 10% would increase revenue as it would not induce much change in behavior. BUT, taxing a wealthy guy an extra 750k would induce a massive change in behavior; either the method in which they were paid in order to shelter income, or they would just work less. Almost ALL wealthy people would do this. I would. And then you have the economic effects of raising taxes on those that employ most Americans (small biz). Guess what happens? Raising taxes above roughly the current levels is counter productive, and politicians know it. Unfortunately, they do it anyway to get big programs passed. Every single one of these bastards is passing the buck to future generations. They don't care. And then there is the whole retarded cap gains proposals. Don't even get me started on how insanely stupid that proposal is....
I couldn't have said it better myself. I'll be adjusting my income based on the situation. There is no way that I'd sit still for that kind of increase. Here's a nasty little secret, while both candidates propose allthis taxin' crap, they have made sure that they don't pay what they should either. There should be a national vote for an unadjustable, fully binding law stating that if you are in either congress or the house you MUST file a 1040-EZ with no special breaks or deductions during your tenure in office. Let's see how the pigs squeal then.
LOL! Shame we all know them that well, and yet we do nothing about it. There actually isn't much we can do about it I fear.
I believe we should keep taxes stable and only tweak them once per decade. It makes long term planning difficult when you change the damn things every few years. I'd prefer if they left taxes right where they are. We are receiving record revenues after all. most countries don't tweak their taxes nearly as often as the US. The US does it for political purposes more than anything else.
Well stated. For a guy who is always blabbering about bringing us together, Obama certainly seems obsessed with dividing us. By income, by race, by age, etc. Of course, I guess his idea is his supporters will come together to steal other people's money. People who take comfort in the claim it is limited to "the rich" are awfully naive. Today the limit is supposedly $250k. When they start writing the new tax bill, what do you bet they discover that won't generate enough extra? So it becomes $175k, then in a couple of years when the economy has been wrecked,$75k.
Yes, wealthy people would work less to hide from $750,000 less income from taxes. This is exactly the same mentality of giving too much to welfare people (who are physically and mentally very capable), (why work when someone pays you to do nothing?) This does not apply to those who are genuinely unable to work. Some do need help from welfare. So incentive is very important tool to motivate. Reward for hard work.