Boofu is back! Hurray! I always enjoy your posts.
Well, Boofu has done a great job summing up the Republican argument. Here is something to think about from the other side of the aisle:
The cost of one gallon of gasoline is not lower for a poor person than it is for a wealthy person.
The cost of one gallon of milk is not lower for a poor person than it is for a wealthy person.
The cost of one gallon of heating oil is not lower for a poor person than it is for a wealthy person.
The cost of a pack of Pokemon cards is not lower for a poor person than it is for a wealthy person.
The average household income in the United States is about $50,000. The average expenditures for a household are about $40,000.
To survive, everyone family, poor or wealthy, need to spend money on the basics: housing, transportation, food, utilities, health care. These costs are born by the poor and wealthy roughly equally.
A household bringing in the average, spending the average, would see $10,000 left over, before taxes.
A household, defined by Obama as rich, earning $250,000, spending the national average, would see $210,000 left over.
A household, defined by McCain as rich, earning $5,000,000, spending the national average, would see $4,960,000 left over.
A flat, mythically fair, tax on all purchases of goods and services, to replace the existing sales tax, and eliminate property and income tax, of 20% would result mean:
If your household income is $50,000, your tax on $40,000 expenditure would be $8000, your actual tax rate is 16%, and you would be left with $2,000.
If your household income is $250,000, your tax on $40,000 expenditure would be $8000, your actual tax rate is 3.2%, and you would be left with $202,000.
If your household income is $5,000,000, your tax on $40,000 expenditure would be $8000, your actual tax rate is .16%, and you would be left with $4,952,000.
This grossly unfair flat tax is trotted out by, surprise, the wealthy, and those who hope to become wealthy, for one reason only: they want to free themselves from their fair responsibility for taxes.
The wealthy have had their taxes cut, and our nation is at war. At no other time in our nations history have the wealthy contributed so little to the war effort.
The majority of serving military families are not wealthy, but our nation's true elite, the wealthy, would tax those military families even more while reducing their own tax burden to even less.
Speaking of which, how many of the McCain supporting Republicans in these threads have served their country in the active military?
I served 4 years in the US Army, I am an honorably discharged ROK Ranger, Air Assault qualified, Infantry Sergeant, having served in the most forward deployed Infantry Battalion in the US Army, with a Top Secret, compartmentalized, security clearance. I was expert qualified in Rifle, Pistol, Mortar, and Grenade. I was twice awarded the Army commendation medal, twice awarded the Army Achievement medal, and awarded the Good Conduct Medal, NCO Professional Development, Army Service, Overseas Service, and UN Korean Service Ribbons. I earned the Expert Infantry Badge, The Imjin Scout Badge. I met and briefed the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Army Chief of Staff.
I would venture that very few, if any, that advocate here for McCain and his war without end have any military service at all. I loath chicken hawks.
I know about military service. I know about leadership. I am a veteran for Obama.
The progressive tax originates with Adam Smith (if you have taken economics in college, he's the first economist you heard of) in
The Wealth of Nations. Although Republicans like to cite Karl Marx as a example of why the progressive tax is socialist/communist, the argument against the progressive tax in
Karl Marx and the Close of his System is the one most often used (Republicans are Marxists). In the United States, the vast majority of economists (81%) support progressive taxation.
In 1907, Republican President Theodore Roosevelt urged Congress to adopt a progressive income tax.
This is not class warfare. Class warfare is practiced by the wealthy, and by the Republicans, upon the poor and middle class everyday.
You'll hear that the wealthy are taxed higher in America than anywhere else; this is not true. Because of lobbyists, our tax codes have so many loopholes that most wealthy people pay among the lowest taxes in the world, while some pay no taxes at all.
sources:
http://www.bts.gov/publications/pocket_guide_to_transportation/2005/html/figure_10.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_tax
