the rich can pay more and don't even notice it? isn't that exactly the point of raising taxes on the rich, which some of the non-obama-supporters have been railing against as communism?
There's a difference between Warren Buffett and a family taking in $250K. In some parts of the country, that's middle class.
I'm astonished you admit that, honestly. It's true, and there is also a difference between someone making $250K, and someone making $30K. Just as Buffett feels the pain of tax less than the family taking in $250K, so the $250K earner feels the pain less than the $30K earner. Buffett should pay higher taxes than the family making $250K, and the family making $250K should pay more than the family making $30K. barfo
If you give Buffet's accomplishments context then it would be hard to argue that he's not a genius in his field. Are any of us considered genius level? I don't mean good and I don't mean smart. You don't amass that type of fortune on your own without a superior intellect, which I have no shame saying is greater than my own. Or as it were, I might be typing this on platinum-plated keys while lovely models play the trumpet as part of my "ode to joy".
I wouldn't disagree that the family that makes $250K should (and does) pay more; even if they're taxed at the same percentage. A family making $30K likely doesn't pay a penny in taxes (depending on the number of dependents). I'm not opposed to the concept of progressive taxation; I am opposed to a steep slope on that progressivity.
Half of American workers make less than the $30k Barfo used in his example. 33% of all American workers make less than $15k per year. 40% make between $15k and $49k. 22% make between $50 and $224k. 5% make between $250k on up to obscenely ridiculous sums. So much for the American Dream.
Then we are not so different, you and I... (what am I quoting here? it sounds familiar but I'm not sure) The only question is what slope is too steep (or too gradual). barfo
Buffett, like nearly every American billionaire, made a large part of his fortune through insider trading, and from taking advantage of struggling businesses and putting people out of work and out of their homes. It's not what you know, it's who you know. Few billionaires are geniuses, but they're relentlessly driven people who are so focused on the prize that they will literally stop at nothing to attain it. Like a tick.
One thing I'm more concerned with than anything is wealth accumulation due to write-offs and loopholes as means around paying taxes. It's my intimation that this has more to do with the widening gap between the rich and the poor than anything else. And I have nothing to offer here but supposition and theory so keep that in mind. Someone filling out a W-2 making $40,000 a year does not have the ability to accumulate untaxable wealth the way someone making the arbitrary $250,000+++ a year does. After disposable spending there is little left for "joe six-pack" and his relatively fixed income to invest in wealth accumulation. Whereas the more money one makes, the generation of wealth becomes exponentially easier and greater due to the tax codes that favor those with the greater incomes. Wealth can grow without taxation in this country if it is accounted for the right way. That is special ability most people who pay taxes are not afforded.
CNN Monday night and I wrote them down. Trying to remember the show, they had opposing pundits discussing what it meant? Seriously, I haven't met very many people who aren't worth $50k OR MORE a year. Time they got paid for it. If it means some fortunate soul takes home $750k rather than the $800k he's become accustomed too, oh well.
That sounds like an apt description for any type of genius who went on to greater accomplishments. I still hold that Warren Buffet is a money making genius, and not just some bright individual who happened to stumble his way into 62 billion dollars.
???? Wow. If that's true, then the world is a different place than I thought. Join the military, you make much more than 15k per year! Wait a second...assuming a 2080 hr work year, you're saying 33% of Americans make less than 7.50 per hour? Or that they get to work less than 40 hours a week at minimum wage?