They pay far more than they receive as a % in taxes. Many middle class folk pay zero taxes. Do they earn zero income? Until I hit the 30k level after college, I paid something like 5% of my income in taxes. Of course this was in the 80's, but its the same point. Personally, it wouldn't bother me too much to crank up the taxes on the rich a bit, however unfair, if it would help the economy. Guess who creates most of the jobs? Corporations? Nope. Small biz? Yep! Most small biz owners employing more than 5 employees fall in the 250k+ category. Take one guess what will happen when you take away more of their profits in taxes? Bye bye any non essential employee. Its exactly what I would do.
Jay, The top 1% certainly donât pay their fair share of the US military expense. The primary responsibility of the armed forces is to protect americas economic interest, through extortion, force, espionage, or just plain threats. As far as how much you personally paid in taxes after college, are you aware that anything over $7,000.00 a year has an income tax? The only way for any breathing person can pay âno income taxâ is to have enough write offs to bring down the total yearly income to less than $7,000.00 a year. Not everybody has the family wherewithal to hire top notch tax accountants for their kids. In your last paragraph, you began to mix terms, it seems to me. So before I continue with shooting my mouth off, I'd like to ask you a question. In your view, does economy equate to corporate profits? Individual (non corporate) standard of living? Or perhaps it's just the transfer rate of dollars out of my pocket into the pocket of some producer somewhere or other? âBye bye any non essential employee. â What the hell sort of business person would ever have, much less pay for a ânon essential employeeâ?
In my view a good economy equates to everyone doing better. Lots of employees are non essential. Compare an under staffed McDonald's that is slow to one that has more than enough employees buzzing around like bees. This staffing is completely up to the owner. Start pressing on profits, and some of them go bye bye. This is even more obvious in some production lines and the construction industry. Owners/contractors will often keep staff around between jobs or when orders decline, so that they have them ready when biz accelerates. If they are rolling in the dough, no biggy. Take away some profits, and they may not due this. Toyota is an example of a major corporation that is known for this. They are doing it right now with their San Antonio truck factory. Idled the factory, but didn't fire anyone. But they are also very profitable. GM would never do it. This is kind of a silly argument. Almost any economist will tell you that taxing small businesses will have a detrimental effect on employment. Even for those non versed in economics, its simple common sense, or should be. Less profits, less employment.
"During a June interview with the Wall Street Journal, Obama stated he will exempt start-up small businesses from capital gains taxes in order to encourage small business development, saying, "Companies that are starting off...should be allowed to accumulate capital, reinvest profits, if there are any, to the point that they stabilize." And the Obama campaign's official small business plan, available on the campaign website, states: Barack Obama will reduce the burden on small businesses in our economy by offering a new Small Business Health Tax Credit to help small businesses provide quality health care to their employees. The Obama Small Business Health Tax Credit will provide a refundable credit of up to 50 percent on premiums paid by small businesses on behalf of their employees. Factcheck.org concludes that under Obama's small business tax policies, in terms of overall tax rates, "The vast majority would see no change, and many would get a cut." In addition to a small-business-friendly tax plan, Obama has put forth a number of other policy proposals to encourage small business growth. Obama plans to allow small businesses to participate in a cooperative National Health Exchange to give them the same collective bargaining power in negotiations with health insurance companies that larger corporations currently enjoy. He also proposes a federal health care re-insurance program that would protect small businesses against catastrophic losses related to employee health care coverage. Obama outlines an expansion of the Small Business Administration loan program that would make it easier for start-up small business entrepreneurs, particularly women and minorities, to access capital for a new business, and imagines a national network of public-private business incubators that would educate and support new business owners to foster greater small business success. "
Has he said what he plans to cut? Gonna have to cut a lot to cover the programs he wants. I've often wondered why we maintain troops in Europe and Japan. That can't be cheap. Make those countries pay for it. Just a small example, but one that bugs me.