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Originally Posted by 32AATopIPEandDub  I guess somebody didn't understand the point when I said that income taxes do not mean anything since the top 1% do not have an income of millions or billions of dollars a year where they have to pay half of it to the government. Their earnings from wealth are written off and invested back into their assets where it is TAX FREE. You know, if you choose to stay blind and ignorant like the last poster, then that's fine. As long as you're happy. If you think the U.S. only consists of doctors, lawyers, and the rest of the working class, then you're a fool. There are plenty of people that just own assets, invest, and continue to make more and more money with their assets with a very low tax penalty. They just live in total luxury at home, golf with their buddies, and travel around the world. Larry Ellison, who is worth 25 billion dollars, just received a 3 million tax cut to sell his Japanese styled mansion. 3 million dollars to him is like 300 dollars to us. $3 million tax cut on Larry Ellison's estate |
Ok, this point is an old argument but is nonetheless true. If you tax businesses and their earnings, who do you think pays for it. That tax is passed on to the consumer. In addition if the tax is too high the corporation will just cut jobs that can be done by others. Last year EXXON paid over 30 billion in taxes.
That is more than the bottom 50% of wage earners paid wich was 24 billion. Yes they had immense profits at 40.6 billion that is only 28cents per gallon profit or about 9.3 cents per dollar. It works out to less than 10% profit margin. In addition they plan to spend about 15 billion in further exploration of oil and alternative fuels. Now say we raise their tax. Go up from the 41% they pay now and go to just 50%. Where do you think that9 percent increase is going to come from.
1. Gas prices will go up
2. Exploration and research will go down.
That is just one example. It is the same with any business model. If you tax them at a higher rate something is going to suffer and you can be certain it is not going to be their profits.
What should really happen is the government should cut their spending by 8%. That would enable them to eliminate the tax completely on the bottom 40% of wage earners, without raising other taxes.
I understand the point that our country tends to be stratified, but the fact is those on the top layer are the ones who employ most everyone else.