Soak the Poor!

[Sunstone]

How dare the people who have benefited the least from a society get away with paying the least in taxes?

Should not the poor pay a greater percentage of their income than the rich to support a society that has given them less than it has given the rich? Is that not fair?

SOAK THE POOR!

 

[youknowme]

Better watch out all the poor people will just move then who is going to do all the work?

 

[suncowiam]

The poor shouldn't be taxed much but we need a system to smoothly transition them to higher income.

The current system, IMO, is more of crutch for the poor. Some will not try to earn more income simply because it's not efficient for them to earn more. They have a sweet spot being where they are. They lose many benefits if they earn more wages. We need to smooth out these transitions for them.

It's like there's a gap between two cliffs that we have to jump over. If we try to take that jump, we either make it and continue on to success. Or fail even worst causing more of a climb to get back where we were.

 

[Yerda]

How dare the people who have benefited the least from a society get away with paying the least in taxes?

Should not the poor pay a greater percentage of their income than the rich to support a society that has given them less than it has given the rich? Is that not fair?

SOAK THE POOR!

Maybe if they worked harder they'd be able to afford tax dodging schemes and be able hide their money in the Cayman Islands like a real patriot!

 

[Sunstone]

Better watch out all the poor people will just move then who is going to do all the work?

Yes, that's exactly how America got populated. Europe's poor immigrated here.

 

[Sunstone]

Maybe if they worked harder they'd be able to afford tax dodging schemes and be able hide their money in the Cayman Islands like a real patriot!

The slackers! Most only have two jobs. Only two!

 

[Mindmaster]

How dare the people who have benefited the least from a society get away with paying the least in taxes?

Should not the poor pay a greater percentage of their income than the rich to support a society that has given them less than it has given the rich? Is that not fair?

SOAK THE POOR!

Most of the poor aren't paying anything, in fact they're getting more than that on the top. I'd just be more for not giving them more money than they were paying in, but as it stands now that's what is happening. This problem isn't isolated to the poor, but covers about 40% of Americans, many who are making middle-class wages. It's also worth it to note that there are many more of these people than rich people. We could drastically increase the tax base without raising taxes on anyone.

I realize the minimum tax brackets "say" they pay something, but the math is that after the credits they can take they pay nothing or the government gives them a gift. I'm fine with them paying nothing, if they're truly poor, but sending them a check when they didn't pay in is silly.

 

[Subduction Zone]

How dare the people who have benefited the least from a society get away with paying the least in taxes?

Should not the poor pay a greater percentage of their income than the rich to support a society that has given them less than it has given the rich? Is that not fair?

SOAK THE POOR!

Since taxation lowers the rate of that which is taxed this may be the best way to eliminate poverty. Continually raising the taxes on tobacco has been shown to lower consumption. Raising the taxes on liquor lowers the consumption of liquor. Obviously raising the taxes on the poor will lower the number of poor people.

 

[sun rise]

We need another tax cut for the rich. They should pay no taxes because they're job creators. And we need to give the poor more incentive by cutting out all government programs that benefit them to balance the budget.

 

[Subduction Zone]

We need another tax cut for the rich. They should pay no taxes because they're job creators. And we need to give the poor more incentive by cutting out all government programs that benefit them to balance the budget.

Good point. Tax subsidies and benefits tend to increase the amount of the object subsidized. Tax subsidies for education increases the general education level of a country. Tax funds going to roads increases the number of roads in the country. We clearly do not want more poor so we must quit subsidizing the poor.

 

[Nakosis]

How dare the people who have benefited the least from a society get away with paying the least in taxes?

Should not the poor pay a greater percentage of their income than the rich to support a society that has given them less than it has given the rich? Is that not fair?

SOAK THE POOR!

I don't think soaking anyone helps anybody other than the government. Giving more money to the government to help the poor is no guarantee the poor are going to get helped. It's about as effective as building a wall.

We really should want everyone to become rich. Not get mad at them for being successful. In fact you would need successful rich folks to soak in the first place. Otherwise what would your plans be for the poor?

We need to get successful people involved with the poor community so the poor can also learn how to be successful.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

We really should want everyone to become rich. Not get mad at them for being successful.

What makes me mad is that we define success as having lots of money - that is success to some but not all, and certainly many rich people had it handed to them rather than earning it.
But what makes most people mad isn't people getting rich, it's when the rich want to pay less taxes. The poor have very little to tax, the rich have most of what can be taxed, and what burns most people is that those in between are those who feel the squeeze when it comes to taxes. When you in that range, your taxes are a good chunk of your income, rather than a small scoop if your income is so great that they probably never look at how much they pay and dream about how much a difference it would make to them if they could keep it.

 

[Curious George]

I don't think soaking anyone helps anybody other than the government. Giving more money to the government to help the poor is no guarantee the poor are going to get helped. It's about as effective as building a wall.

We really should want everyone to become rich. Not get mad at them for being successful. In fact you would need successful rich folks to soak in the first place. Otherwise what would your plans be for the poor?

We need to get successful people involved with the poor community so the poor can also learn how to be successful.

It is impossible for everyone to be "rich."

It is not impossible for everyone to have their 21st century basic needs met at a standard which is acceptable in a rich nation in the 21st century. Shelter, food and water, basic energy needs, healthcare (including preventative), access to education, access to transportation, access to communication, access to the legal system, protection from criminal action, equal access to public services, equal civil rights, and equal political representation.

 

[Nakosis]

It is impossible for everyone to be "rich."

It is not impossible for everyone to have their 21st century basic needs met at a standard which is acceptable in a rich nation in the 21st century. Shelter, food and water, basic energy needs, healthcare (including preventative), access to education, access to transportation, access to communication, access to the legal system, protection from criminal action, equal access to public services, equal civil rights, and equal political representation.

Rich is relative. The middle class is richer than the poor. So ok, maybe I should have said the idea is for everyone to become richer.

 

[Nakosis]

What makes me mad is that we define success as having lots of money - that is success to some but not all, and certainly many rich people had it handed to them rather than earning it.
But what makes most people mad isn't people getting rich, it's when the rich want to pay less taxes. The poor have very little to tax, the rich have most of what can be taxed, and what burns most people is that those in between are those who feel the squeeze when it comes to taxes. When you in that range, your taxes are a good chunk of your income, rather than a small scoop if your income is so great that they probably never look at how much they pay and dream about how much a difference it would make to them if they could keep it.

We may be missing billions in taxes from the tax laws already in place. There is an entire industry who only purpose is to hide money from the taxman. I don't think the government is smart enough to nail down the wealth of the 1% regardless of what laws get past.

You are right about the middle class feeling the squeeze. My wife working 3 jobs we were doing ok. She had to drop two jobs because the additional taxes were killing us. So now we are barely making it month to month but we no longer own the tax man tens of thousands of dollars each year.

Sorry I want to spend more time looking into this. I just don't think "soaking" the rich will get us anywhere.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

The poor shouldn't be taxed much but we need a system to smoothly transition them to higher income.

The current system, IMO, is more of crutch for the poor. Some will not try to earn more income simply because it's not efficient for them to earn more. They have a sweet spot being where they are. They lose many benefits if they earn more wages. We need to smooth out these transitions for them.

It's like there's a gap between two cliffs that we have to jump over. If we try to take that jump, we either make it and continue on to success. Or fail even worst causing more of a climb to get back where we were.

I guess you're talking about social mobility. To me, that is an absolute key to government spending and focus in terms of education, health and welfare.

 

[David T]

How dare the people who have benefited the least from a society get away with paying the least in taxes?

Should not the poor pay a greater percentage of their income than the rich to support a society that has given them less than it has given the rich? Is that not fair?

SOAK THE POOR!

Ah yes but convince them its for their own good.

 

[suncowiam]

I guess you're talking about social mobility. To me, that is an absolute key to government spending and focus in terms of education, health and welfare.

This issue is such programs do not scale when transitioning to a higher economic class. The same programs end when they reach a threshold thus creating an economic loss for the individual. This leaves a gap to climb back up before actually rising again in net income. That gap can be very hard to overcome.

 

[Misunderstood]

The slackers! Most only have two jobs. Only two!

See there you go, they are hogging up all the jobs, so why shouldn't they be taxed more.

 

[Misunderstood]

All these soaking threads we got going on now here on RF; got me to thinking, since the poor are being soaked they must have hot tubs to be soaked in. So I did some searching and found they do. So proof Sunstone is right; the poor are being soaked!