" The rich are too highly taxed." Do you Agree or Disagree with this statement?

[Still-alive]

taken from the political compass test

Strongly Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Undecided

[BCA6010]

It's more complicated than that.

Income taxes alone generally have little to no effect on the wealthiest in the country, because most of what constitutes "income" isn't how they make or trade their assets. Instead, raising income tax levels mainly damages the lower-middle, middle, and upper-middle working class. This is also why you have so many celebrities and politicians who are multimillionaires and billionaires supporting higher taxes, because it won't hurt them, and it merely solidifies their elite status by making upwards income mobility harder.

When you start diving into the rest of the US tax system, you run into a maze of workarounds, loopholes, technicalities, and other things that accountants and lawyers masterfully take advantage of. Sometimes these are here because the people who write the laws are idiots who don't understand it, and more often it's intentional in order to help each other out.

So that being said... Am I in favor of spiking income taxes? Not at all. Am I in favor of closing existing loopholes and revoking tax exemption status from an abundance of scams operating as non-profit organizations and such? Absolutely.

[Ad_Quid_Orator]

It's not a matter of what I or anyone else "thinks", the data shows that when you tax the rich more, you get more job growth.

[crazyish]

I honestly don't believe it's a good idea to keep taxing the rich at a higher percentage. It turns people especially rich people bitter towards the less wealthy. I think rich people will be less inclined to help out in certain organizations, claiming "isn't that where our tax money already goes?" You see this in all tax brackets to be honest. I also believe that people with money will just come up with more creative ways to avoid certain taxes. That only makes it a smarter move for the government to tax the less wealthiest more to make up for it. So who ends up really having to pay for it? Or suffer? It's terrible and completely unfair, but in a world ran by the wealthy, one way or another it will come out in their favor. There are just too many factors when it comes to taxes that us on the poorer end don't even realize are important factors to even consider. It's going to take more than just taxing the rich at a higher percentage to really help matters.

[Lyndsielee666]

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[Tonytoutouni123]

@Lyndsielee666
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[Lyndsielee666]

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[Caunsos]

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[Still-alive]

geez some people really didn't like your answer lol. maybe you triggered some qanoners.

[Lyndsielee666]

@Still-alive bet they’re all trump humpers

[vald9inches]

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[Pasiton5]

If someone is driven enough to go create and make himself a gazillion dollars ssi what why must be be penalized for it, by greedy p politicians too lazy to go out and do same that's not fair the opportunity exist for anyone to go and create as much wealth as they want but we have become a welfare country, I mean those few who worked are paying for illegals sneaking in here to rape this country of benefits that are denied by legal citizens, they have their housing subsidized, food, utilities, and so on and have the nerve to protest openly for their rights, illegals and I'm asking why do we have a border or immigration, and the politicians for some reason or hell they're wimps plain and simple bend over and take it up the ass catering to illegals afraid of being called racist, me call me what you want but unless you come get right legal way you might as well turn around and go home it's nothing here for you but a sling shot, ride home, instead the rich is being over taxes to pay for illegals to come commit crimes and run home to their country hell Mexico, is that fair more Americans homeless than illegals is that fair, wake up people this is real

[AlexanderAnttila]

I never understood how people can be so petty and entitled as to feel that they can demand, with bloodthirsty zeal, someone else's money simply because they have more of it than you. I've seen some scarily violent attitudes towards rich people as if them being wealthy justifies all manner of barbarism. So materialistic, and yet they are the immoral ones? Many rich people have worked hard all their lives to accrue their wealth, others have inherited it from forebears who worked hard for that very reason to be able to pass it down to their family, (something I'm sure anyone would do in the same shoes). Others have just been smart, invested well etc.

Last I also checked with regards to wealth in the United States: The 1% people always speak of is ever changing, because people gain and loose their wealth. It isn't a static club of elites, it is simply the dynamics of capitalism in action.

So what exactly gives you the right to unequally encumber another citizen with enormous tax rates just because you have less and they more?

[AlexanderAnttila]

Forgot to mention that the wealthy play a large role in the economy as well, creating jobs and investing in the market.

[Anonymous]

This question is a bit loaded, cause taxed too much or too little to me is based on percentages. I know conservatives like to go off percentage based tax models, liberals like to say percentage based flat taxes are unfair.

Thus a rich person could pay billions in taxes and still only have 1% of their annual income paid in taxes, percentage wise that is too little, amount wise that is huge.

At the same time a rich person could pay billions in taxes and being paying 50% of their income in taxes, is that too much or too little?

I am middle class, far from six figures and I pay 53% of my gross income in taxes... there is more than just income taxes out there. That is what everyone focuses on, but when you add in sales taxes, property tax and all the other 100+ taxes out there... I'd find that most people end up paying at least half their income in taxes, at least in the middle class.

To top it off, my income tax rate is less than 10% so that tells you I have 40% in non federal income taxes that I pay annually and I don't even live in a high taxed state. I'd imagine people in those states pay 60% or more.

[exitseven]

The top 50% of earners paid 97% of all federal income taxes. They make a big deal about Amazon not paying any taxes. That may be true but corporations really don't pay taxes, they mostly pass it on to the consumer.
I managed a small company and yes we were taxed but we had lots of things we could write off like vehicles and machinery.
Yes rich people can afford accountants to make sure they pay the least amount of taxes but they are only following the laws set up by the federal government. The Trump tax cuts were mostly for the middle class. Personally I paid almost $4000 less in taxes. I dread to see what next year will bring.

[Still-alive]

what about the top 1% though? how much are they required to pay?

[exitseven]

The top 1 percent paid a greater share of individual income taxes (38.5 percent) than the bottom 90 percent combined. this according to taxfoundation. org.

[The_Maphio]

"The rich" are not the Silicon Valley motherfuckers or the Hollywood wastes of oxygen. Those ones evade MASSIVE amount of taxes, thus being even more useless than they normally are.

"The rich" are the people in the infamous 1%. Company owners who give jobs to millions of people in general, and those whose taxes allow the state to keep going the most.
Taxes are proportioned to the yearly income, thus somebody who makes millions are those who pay for most of the necessary amounts for all of us to enjoy public services.
Alas, these are base economics, and not "left propaganda 101", thus ignorant child-people will always blame the rich for their shortcomings.

[DrunkAss]

The rich are least ineffectively taxed as I see it. Hauser's Law:

You try to tax the richest in the highest but most ineffective ways like they did in the 50s with progressive income tax and they don't pay more; they avoid more. They lobby more, they seek tax exemptions more, they get skillful accountants, and exploit every possible loophole. You don't get honesty that way. You get corruption.

[DrunkAss]

I like Estonia a lot since they had the most ridiculous economic boost in recent history. And they incorporated the most controversial flat income tax and fairly low corporate tax and their economy went from starvation to thriving in the blink of an eye.
https://youtu.be/4f9SZiZ-azU

And Mart Laar talked about how he had all these economic advisors saying the idea of a flat income tax was so stupid and they significantly underestimated tax revenue. The government there just ran surplus after surplus because, according to him, that low flat income tax rate largely eradicated the grey economy. They have one of the least corrupt governments as a result.

[DrunkAss]

Mart Laar -- and he speaks English after the speaker:
https://youtu.be/Lasy0pfn1is

[MrOracle]

Rich people pay a LOT in taxes - but they also manage their money wisely so that they can live even better without spending as much (and thus paying taxes as much).

For example, they will buy a vacation house, but they do that as a business, and they rent out the house most of the time at a profit. When they want to use it, they don't rent it out that week and get to stay in an upscale home for free.

They do the same with boats and even exotic cars.

Anyway, the real issue isn't tax collection - it's tax SPENDING. The government spends money like a Hollywood heiress on MTV's My Sweet 16 with daddy's Black Card. Congress will deliver 1800-page spending bills 12 hours before they are voted on. Trillions are borrowed against our future earnings to pay for it, which also grows the power and influence of politicians at every level.

Trying to fix the problem at the tax collection side is like arguing that alcoholics need cheaper beer.

[Telekinetic-Potato]

The way we tax in this country is so stupid. We tax the shit out of people who can't afford it, then we take the middle class and tax them to a point where financially they're in not such a different spot from everyone else and then the super rich, the tax to them isn't really even that bad.

If you make 200k where I live you're basically middle class, and that's mostly because you get taxed 40%

You would need to be making at least 1.5 million a year to be rich the way people are thinking in their head when they say "a rich person"

Only what about the people making billions? Not only would 40% probably not even be that high of a tax for those people compared to the middle class, but they don't even pay half of that.

I used to think differently but I'm starting to think this problem is getting to the point where our economy can't function properly due to the sheer amount of money a small group of people have that is not actively circulating

[Pterodon]

That isn’t true

[Telekinetic-Potato]

@Pterodon what about it isn't true?

[Pterodon]

The rich are taxed the most

[Telekinetic-Potato]

@Pterodon their businesses are taxed a lot but the rich people as indiciduals, aren't. And regardless, they get to take home so much money that it's causing circulation problems and artificially inflating the value of our dollar.

It's why prices to buy things goes up but pay stays the same. I'm not even talking about millionaires here, I think they're still victims in this situation.

It's some of those multi billionaires.

[Pterodon]

They’re taxed too. There is nothing illegal about being successful. You’re just jealous and want what someone else has without working for it. Since when is it right to penalize someone for being successful

[Telekinetic-Potato]

@Pterodon I used to see it like that too. But that view doesn't take everything at play into account. I've been fairly wealthy, I've been poor, I've spent most of my life around and in the good graces of people both way more poor then I've ever been and people far more wealthy than I'll probably ever be.

It's not about making it illegal to be successful or to penelise for it. It's about when you're someone with enough money that you literally have an effect on the national economy, just from what you have saved, not even including how you're getting your money, you now have responsibilities to keep the system that got you rich running and reinvest into it to keep it moving for everyone.

It's one thing to be rich, but there are people out there literally destroying the middle class and pushing all those people into poverty because they inflate the cost of everything but everyone's pay stays the same.

There was a time in this country where the maximum tax was something like 70% and people still had more more money then they knew what to do with. In fact, way more people had that kinda cash.

Equal opportunity and the spirit in which capitalism was intended to be enrolled in this country is being stepped on when you have a guy like Jeff Bezos (who by the way I kinda like the guy) has the ability to be the richest person in the world after losing about half his money and the people who make his monoplis organization are not only working in shitty conditions, but are in many cases, paid shit.

And the thing is, I'd bet he's probably one of the less extreme examples.

.

[Telekinetic-Potato]

Don't go throwing alligations like that around by the way. I can almost guarantee that you haven't both worked as hard and accomplished as much as I have, against as many odds as I have at 24 as you had by 40. You sound like someone who has worked for someone else their whole life. I don't know one person who actually made themselves rich who talks like that. You don't have to agree with me, but calling me jealous for feeling that way shows an Insane lack of maturity for someone who's so old

[MCheetah]

I mean... Not really. They are SUPPOSEDLY taxed really high, but then they have so many write-offs that they don't end up being taxed, at all. So, what they are taxed "on paper" doesn't count if they end up paying no taxes at all, in the end.

In all honestly, ALL OF US are taxed way too f*cking high. No working class man should lose more than 1/5th of his paycheck, sweat, and labor to a government that's just going to piss it all away on social justice programs in Pakistan. And the rich should not be able to get off tax free. I mean, for f*ck's sake, the only reason they get their asses kissed is because we're supposed to get more taxes from them. The rich shouldn't be taxed more than 1/3rd of their income, and I think that's fair considering they're multi millionaires. The whole system is completely f*cked, though.

[ChrisMaster69]

The very rich are not highly taxed.

the normal guy that makes decent money, is the one that takes the hit.

he does not quite hit the high numbers to be creative with tax.

you are nearly always better off with a high paid job, you just have to accept you pay double on what you make over that limit.

it would be nice if there was a bit more granularity to the tax system

I just from 20% to 40% but the move over 45% is only another 5%
that higher rate comes in At £37.7k and is in place until £150k
i do not consider someone on £50k being rich but they pay same rate as someone at £140k

Basic rate
20%

Higher rate
40%

Additional rate
45%

taxes grr an annoyance but a necessity.

[FakeName123]

I think everyone is too highly taxed. That includes the rich, yes. If you want to help the poor to be able to work their wayup, the best thing isn't too sabotage the rich and successful, but to increase the possibility and decrease potential burdens of people who want to work their way up.

But you never hear that suggested, right? It's all about taxing the rich, but none of these lunatics suggests "hey, why dont we instead reduce taxes for the poor". You know why? Because they don't care about you. All they care is getting even more money into their own hands.

[Redred56]

Simple math, say the rich are considered ones with $100 tax them 50% leaves $50
I’m poor with my $25 tax me 50% leaves me $12.50
Tax the rich 90% From $100 leave $10
Even at 90% tax rate they almost have as much as me paying 50%
But there is a scary part to this, there are many times of taxation that NO and I mean NO politician is going to bring up. We have business/corporate/sales/personnel
Now if a Business tax were raised to a hamburger place~mmm we all like them right!
If one cost say 2.57 to make and it’s sold for 3.57=+1
What if tax goes up the cost is 3.00 to make and still sells for 3.57-.57?
that cost has to be paid for by, raising the price, cutting hrs., layoffs.
‘There are more cost involved but you get it.

[lukeclej]

I personally don’t care too much about how the rich may be taxed, but I won’t pretend like they don’t already pay most of the taxes.

https://www. bankrate. com
/finance/taxes/
tax-brackets. aspx/amp/

Remove the spaces.

Actually a little less than 50 percent of the US population barely pay any taxes. So no I don’t think they should be taxed more. If anything, the corporations need to be taxed more. They cheat the system by taking “personhood” when a company is not that. Just a little tidbit I’ve noticed most people don’t know but parrot talking points.

[jasco]

The thing about adding tax's to rich corparations and rich people is that they can simply move to another country that doesn't have nearly as high tax's which looses money for the country they just left. Which means it now falls to who ever is next in line and so on till it reach's the middle class. So honestly do I believe they are to highly taxed? I don't know I am not rich so i can't answer that but I will let ya know when i am

[Still-alive]

yeah and a lot of them remain but have savings in banks outside of the u. s. so that they escape getting taxed.

[captain_voidwalker]

Ohh silly child, of course only the rich get tax cuts because only the rich pay taxes. The lower income brackets get thier taxes back in the form of benefits. Now if you want the government to stop taking money out of your check the solution is easy. Just get rid of welfare, social security, and medicare

[Still-alive]

i didn't say if i agreed or not...

[Adam1978]

It's really the companies you have to go after if you want more tax money. Rich people will just move their fortune elsewhere. Reduce all the way they can zero tax. If a company has black numbers they should pay taxes. Not just the people working there.

[Lliam]

I am strongly in favor of going back to Eisenhower era marginal tax rates on personal income. The top levels were over 90%. If people retained their income they paid taxes, but if they invested their money back into their businesses, they wrote that off. It helped to provide jobs and keep income disparity down.

[Astarlessnightsky]

Maybe on paper the taxes are a little bit too high, but as the rich are the best at avoiding taxes there shouldn't be a discussion or complains about a tax cut.

Once they start paying their taxes in full, one can think about a tax cut, for them and a
the other citizen as well.

[Gwenhwyfar]

Disagree. More accurately they are heavily taxed but they also have dozens of legal tax avoidance devices (and some illegal tax evasion devices) that can reduce their taxes to almost nothing.

[joesheks]

Are you crazy and just a liar?

[Gwenhwyfar]

@joesheks neither lol. I have nothing against rich people. This is just a basic fact any rich person and any good lawyer knows. The fact that you don’t know it suggests that you are neither.

[Celtero]

I think I'd agree more with the statement than the average person...

The rich in the US pay the most taxes by far. The amount the average American pays is a pittance compared to what the rich pay.

The only reason we still bother to pay taxes is to justify being able to vote... because if we didn't pay taxes ourselves, it would truly be us leeching off the rich... which is sorta happening already.