What should be the MOST % of your income that goes to taxes?

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So who gets to decide at which point you have more than is "truly necessary" and at what rate the marginal utility of your money declines?

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Gee, I think SumZero would be glad to have that job. But we already have liberal Senators who can do that just fine:

""Many of you are well enough off that ... the tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."

-Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

That bolded sentence is quite stunning, isn't it?

[etgryphon]

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Does the government have rights that individuals do not have?


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Lots of them.

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Wow. Governments don't have rights. People are the only entities that can possess rights. Governments are granted privileges by the people or by force.

Don't be fooled by that talk. It is a dangerious road to perceive that governments have rights.

-Gryph

[ptmusic]

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So who gets to decide at which point you have more than is "truly necessary" and at what rate the marginal utility of your money declines?

[/ QUOTE ]

Gee, I think SumZero would be glad to have that job. But we already have liberal Senators who can do that just fine:

""Many of you are well enough off that ... the tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."

-Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

That bolded sentence is quite stunning, isn't it?

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I doubt I'd ever vote for her (unless the alternative is yet another Bush), but at least she doesn't hide her intentions with that sentence. The woman knows how to speak her mind.

And for the record, I'm okay with that sentence. Taking money away on behalf of the common good is the point of taxes. The fact that the system is inefficient doesn't change the intention of taxation.

-ptmusic

[SumZero]

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damn the hidden SS tax

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You can't use this, sorry. The SS tax is different from the federal income tax because people making 500k a year get no benefits from paying income tax, but they do get a benefit from paying Social Security taxes(benefits after age 67), just like poorer people do.

Someone making 20-30k in this country pays little to no federal income tax. They do pay Social Security taxes just like most everyone else at any income, but the Social Security tax is different because it's based on the assumption that people will get the money back later. This is different from the federal income tax because you never see most of your federal tax money again.

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You may wish that this is how it works, but this is not in fact how it works. SS is pay as you go and you don't get your money back no matter who you are. You give your money to the gov't and it takes it and uses it on this years budget (including payments out on SS). The fact that various people have marketed the SS tax as some sort of pension similar to a 401k or 403b or whatever does not mean that it is in fact structured that way. If SS really was a benefit program like that we wouldn't have any issue with the baby boomers retiring. And payroll taxes in the US are the real regressive killers that represent the vast majority of the taxes paid by the working poor.

[ QUOTE ]
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damn the hidden SS tax

[/ QUOTE ]

You can't use this, sorry. The SS tax is different from the federal income tax because people making 500k a year get no benefits from paying income tax, but they do get a benefit from paying Social Security taxes(benefits after age 67), just like poorer people do.

Someone making 20-30k in this country pays little to no federal income tax. They do pay Social Security taxes just like most everyone else at any income, but the Social Security tax is different because it's based on the assumption that people will get the money back later. This is different from the federal income tax because you never see most of your federal tax money again.

[/ QUOTE ]

You may wish that this is how it works, but this is not in fact how it works. SS is pay as you go and you don't get your money back no matter who you are. You give your money to the gov't and it takes it and uses it on this years budget (including payments out on SS). The fact that various people have marketed the SS tax as some sort of pension similar to a 401k or 403b or whatever does not mean that it is in fact structured that way. If SS really was a benefit program like that we wouldn't have any issue with the baby boomers retiring. And payroll taxes in the US are the real regressive killers that represent the vast majority of the taxes paid by the working poor.

[/ QUOTE ]

But our poor people get way more back from SS as a percentage than any rich person.