Thread: Ok, Lets Tax The Rich. Hard.

Originally Posted by jviehe

I propose we leave the current tax code in place, and confiscate all adjusted gross income above 200,000.

There are 4,359,946 people who meet this requirement. They account for ~2,060 billion in taxable income, so we subtract the 200,000k from each person that we let them keep, thats 872 billion, which leaves us with 1,188 billion in income we can confiscate. So, that will take care of 75% of this years deficit. Maybe we can start confiscating property next to make up the rest, or corporate profit above 1 billion.

Of course next year might be a problem as most of these people will be poor when they go bankrupt, and no one will want to earn more than 200k since itll just be taken. So what next?

ahoy Jviehe,

i've a counterproposal, matey.

let the short term compromise that captain Obama struck with congress fall, allow once and fer all fer them temporary Bush era tax cuts to be temporary.

allow taxes to settle at what the "normal rate" was supposed to be, as it should've last december....be fiscally conservative and make sure americans pay fer what the majority 'o americans seem to desire;

1) M/care and M/aid plus social security
2) the biggest military fleet that sails the seven seas
3) spendin' on education
4) keepin' our air and water wonderfully clean, aye!

*nods*

- MeadHallPirate

Originally Posted by JDJarvis

You should bone up on a your math. 1,188 billion is less than 1/1000th of the years projected deficit.

I think you're just reading the figure wrong. The figure presented is One Thousand One Hundred Eighty Eight Billion or, more conventionally $1.188 Trillion

Originally Posted by jviehe

I propose we leave the current tax code in place, and confiscate all adjusted gross income above 200,000.

There are 4,359,946 people who meet this requirement. They account for ~2,060 billion in taxable income, so we subtract the 200,000k from each person that we let them keep, thats 872 billion, which leaves us with 1,188 billion in income we can confiscate. So, that will take care of 75% of this years deficit. Maybe we can start confiscating property next to make up the rest, or corporate profit above 1 billion.

Of course next year might be a problem as most of these people will be poor when they go bankrupt, and no one will want to earn more than 200k since itll just be taken. So what next?

It just doesn't matter how we say it, or how many times we repeat it... liberals just cannot/will not understand that you cannot tax the rich out of this mess.

Originally Posted by MeadHallPirate

i've a counterproposal, matey.

let the short term compromise that captain Obama struck with congress fall, allow once and fer all fer them temporary Bush era tax cuts to be temporary.

allow taxes to settle at what the "normal rate" was supposed to be, as it should've last december....

- MeadHallPirate

and raise taxes on everyone? Okay... you know that most of that comes from people under 200k?

Originally Posted by tsquare

It just doesn't matter how we say it, or how many times we repeat it... liberals just cannot/will not understand that you cannot tax the rich out of this mess.

It doesn't matter how many times you repeat it because the claim has never been made. You're arguing against your own soundbites.

I recognize class warfare is an extremely effective political tool but I think a good starting point would be to acknowledge that the *VAST* majority of people making in excess of $200K ($250K for couples) are no where near being rich, millionaires, or billionaires. The *VAST* majority of those people are hovering at the minimum and have no mansions, private jets, yachts, or any of the other trappings of wealth politicians know their constituents immediately assume. The *VAST* majority of these people live in areas like Manhattan, Boston, DC, etc. where the cost of living is so high they're living middle class lives. Just look at property values in most of these areas. $200K/year isn't going all that far.

Originally Posted by MeadHallPirate

ahoy Jviehe,

i've a counterproposal, matey.

let the short term compromise that captain Obama struck with congress fall, allow once and fer all fer them temporary Bush era tax cuts to be temporary.

allow taxes to settle at what the "normal rate" was supposed to be, as it should've last december....be fiscally conservative and make sure americans pay fer what the majority 'o americans seem to desire;

1) M/care and M/aid plus social security
2) the biggest military fleet that sails the seven seas
3) spendin' on education
4) keepin' our air and water wonderfully clean, aye!

*nods*

- MeadHallPirate

And there's the rub, letting the Bush tax cuts expire does almost exactly the same thing as the Ryan Plan.
Except the Ryan Plan cuts all kinds of benefits and services to the Poor and Middle Class, and raises taxes on the Middle class to provide even more tax cuts to the wealthiest of Americans.

All based on the belief that for some reason (never explained) the wealthiest Americans should not face the same tax burden that the wealthy in other countries face, they shouldn't even pay taxes at the same rate that middle class Americans.

hee, hee... sorry to jheive, looked at this on portable earlier.

Originally Posted by goober

All based on the belief that for some reason (never explained) the wealthiest Americans should not face the same tax burden that the wealthy in other countries face, they shouldn't even pay taxes at the same rate that middle class Americans.

Only you could find a system where the bottom 50% pay no income tax while the top 2% on earners pay a total of 62% of all federal individual income receipts. And the richest 1% pay 40% of all income tax revenues, not progressive enough.

Originally Posted by lutherf

I think you're just reading the figure wrong. The figure presented is One Thousand One Hundred Eighty Eight Billion or, more conventionally $1.188 Trillion

You are correct sir.

Originally Posted by MeadHallPirate

ahoy Jviehe,

i've a counterproposal, matey.

let the short term compromise that captain Obama struck with congress fall, allow once and fer all fer them temporary Bush era tax cuts to be temporary.

allow taxes to settle at what the "normal rate" was supposed to be, as it should've last december....be fiscally conservative and make sure americans pay fer what the majority 'o americans seem to desire;

1) M/care and M/aid plus social security
2) the biggest military fleet that sails the seven seas
3) spendin' on education
4) keepin' our air and water wonderfully clean, aye!

*nods*

- MeadHallPirate

That wont balance the budget. It would only raise 400bn a year. My plan is far better, although it still doesnt go all the way. I suppose we could do both though. Confiscate all income above $200,000, AND let the middle class tax cuts expire. That would raise and additional 330bn for a total of about 1.5 trillion, so we would only need to find another 100bn to balance the budget this year.

Originally Posted by jviehe

That wont balance the budget. It would only raise 400bn a year. My plan is far better, although it still doesnt go all the way. I suppose we could do both though. Confiscate all income above $200,000, AND let the middle class tax cuts expire. That would raise and additional 330bn for a total of about 1.5 trillion, so we would only need to find another 100bn to balance the budget this year.

What if we just sold Florida to the Saudis or something?

I'd bet we could get a cool trillion for it.

Originally Posted by tsquare

Only you could find a system where the bottom 50% pay no income tax while the top 2% on earners pay a total of 62% of all federal individual income receipts. And the richest 1% pay 40% of all income tax revenues, not progressive enough.

Thats not fair. Heres a new plan. Confiscate ALL income above 30,000. That will raise about 3.2 trillion in revenue and exempt everyone under that income. We're still going to have to raid bank accounts for the other 500bn though.

Originally Posted by pramjockey

What if we just sold Florida to the Saudis or something?

I'd bet we could get a cool trillion for it.

That could work for a few years. Then we can invade and take it back. Thatll cost money though, so we may have to sell another state to pay for it.