Deficit Reduction Act…

I’m continually amazed at how accepting many of the honest, hardworking middle-class taxpayers continue to be as they stick up for the cheating, lying and deceptive tactics of so many of the top 1% wealth-holders.

2 Likes

Probably because a lot of them think that they’ll one day be basking in the sunshine afforded the blessed 1%.

2 Likes

Maybe because the bottom 50-75% of income earners pay almost nothing…

A good chart for reference:

1 Like

IOW… it’s the fault of the guys on the bottom…
… you’ve given an excellent example of what I meant in my post… :neutral_face:

1 Like

Some people want to spend all day every day obsessing about what other people make and pay in taxes. I have much more important things to do in my life…

1 Like

I guess that’s why those on the bottom get audited nearly as much or perhaps more than the top dogs. BTW, over the past couple of decades or more the auditing rate for the high-income filers has slipped from something around 18% to the present 3%. Are the filers really just that much more honest these days?

1 Like

Not exactly…but don’t let facts get in your way.

Latest IRS Audit numbers:

1 Like

Progressive FIT rates are like golfer’s handicaps. Why do the ultra-rich have no problem accepting a high number for their golf handicap but think FIT on income should be a scratch game?

I don’t care how much people make. But they should pay their fair share to support the social infrastructure that makes their income-earning efforts fruitful. That means if you have 10,000 times more money left after meeting your living expenses than the guy in the mid-percentile maybe you you should pay more to support the system that makes it all possible.

1 Like

That doesn’t change the fact that it would not have been applied to the bill had the Republicans not forced the issue:
" Sen. Lindsey Graham , the ranking member of the Budget Committee, sought to enforce the parliamentarian’s ruling that Warnock’s cap on insulin prices violated the Byrd Rule because it would set prices in the commercial market and therefore couldn’t pass with a simple majority vote."
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3591586-democrats-fail-to-overrule-parliamentarian-on-insulin-price-cap-as-gop-votes-no/

1 Like

Heh, where have we heard that before?

With the debt getting higher and higher and neither party wanting to deal with it we’re gonna reach a breaking point. I’ve never felt bad about paying taxes and I’m grateful to live in a country that gives me opportunities to succeed.

I just don’t get it when folks in the 80-95 percentile of income and wealth shoulder the tax burden they do and laugh off the incredibly large loopholes the ultra rich buy from politicians. It’s not a little bit of money, it’s a ton of money.

Look at the chart I posted earlier. The top 1% make 20% of the income and pay 39% of the taxes. That’s more than fair even in a progressive tax code. Come back to me when the government is a good steward of our existing dollars before you ask for more…

I think you would be a fan of the guy who said " From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"

I don’t understand why people say this all the time. NOBODY pays on the same exempted amount; subtract that from everybody. Low income people take that standard deduction. Higher income people can itemize and take deductions on more of their income.

The problem with your logic, your math, and your conclusions, is that they do not address the problem that currently exists. That problem is the $28+ trillion national debt, which is seven times what the IRS collected in 2021.

If we are to survive as a viable country we will have to slow the growth of that debt. What is being done presently is simply not working.

So what taxpayers do you think are in the best position to help fix that problem? The bottom 50%? the middle-income segment? The 90-99 percentile? Or the top 1% of the population who hold more wealth than the entire middle class?

And the really rich ones avoid all taxation due to the carried interest exemption:

“Carried interest is a form of compensation paid to investment executives like private equity, hedge fund and venture capital managers . The managers receive a share of the fund’s profits — typically 20% of the total — which is divided among them proportionally.”

If you just increase taxes on poor and middle class people it would not move the needle enough to close the deficit.

How can highly profitable corporations escape taxation? It just boggles the mind. I guess they legally “import” losses from overseas subsidiaries, crap like that.

And yet, someone always rises up to defend them. “Freedums!”

To them I say - you’re being played!

Carried interest is certainly taxed…just at capital gains rates instead of income rates (if it qualifies). Given that the assets have to be held for 3 years…seems like a long-term gain to me. Where did you get the notion that carried interest is not taxed??

No one is suggesting to increase taxes on poor and middle class tax payers.

Aha, channeling Willie Sutton… successfully. Increasing taxes on the poorer is like getting a transfusion from a turnip.

1 Like

Really?.. :roll_eyes:

The national debt is now at $30.6T and climbing rapidly.

Forbes agrees, but not raising the ceiling is equally untenable. I like their list of remedies for taming at the end of this link. The Deficit Reduction Bill may offer some needed first aid enabling the first option.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/personal-finance/u-s-national-debt-surpasses-30-trillion-what-this-means-for-you/#:~:text=The%20federal%20debt%20held%20by,make%20up%20the%20national%20debt.