Why does Obama think it's fine to punish the wealthy?

Question

How does it make any sense to penalize those who have worked hard and made a successful life for themselves, while rewarding those who have no job and no aspirations of working. I am all for the fair tax system that was promoted by Mike Huckabee. Your thoughts?

Fair Tax video for those who don't know about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm4YG-xhLpM

Answer 1

All of you poor souls that think Obama is going to lower your taxes are going to be sorely disappointed. The dems HAVE NEVER and WILL NEVER lower our taxes. The Bush tax cuts WILL RAISE TAXES WHEN THE DEMS LET THEM EXPIRE...HELLO...The dems call a tax raise a tax cut because they don't raise them as high as they were going to. HELLO...THAT IS A TAX RAISE.

Answer 2

It's the same communist class-warfare b.s. the Democrats have relied on for years. Nothing more, nothing less.



Oh, and most millionaires in this country saved and earned their way to wealth (mostly by starting their own businesses) , not through inheritance has some idiots on here think. And the number of milionaires in this country has risen sharply since 2001. Not exactly the soup-line economy the Dems want you to believe is it?



Oh, and the Obama "tax cuts" will actually raise the marginal tax rate for most Americans. See for yourself: http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/obamas_tax_plan/



And under Obama you will be taxes will be raised to help fight global poverty- shouldn't that money stay here?



Also, Obama plans on raising taxes by an unprecedented $1.4 trillion for the purpose of fully funding 111 new or expanded federal spending programs. If he raises taxes only on "the rich" he will only generate $225 billion over 5 years, far short of the $1.4 trillion which Obama’s proposed programs (actually only 60% of them) would saddle taxpayers with during that same time frame. To make up the difference, Obama and the Democrat Congress would have to raise taxes on the top 5% by 38%; or the top 10% by 32%; or the top 25% by 26%; or the top 50% of taxpayers by 23%. The top 50% of American taxpayers, who already pay 96.9% of all federal income taxes, are those who earn $31,000 or more. That's middle-class people.



To translate this point into language everyone can understand: if you have an income of $104,000 or more, the plan will cause your tax bill to go up at least an additional $5,300 a year; if you have an income of $62,000 or more, the plan will cause your tax bill to go up at least $2,300 a year. This is on top of the $2,300 increase already assumed by the failure to extend current tax policy.



Obama's plan sounds great until you crunch the numbers, huh?

Answer 3

I looked at the link and that is something I'm in favor of. If you want to see rich people pay more tax well the more you buy the more you pay in taxes. What disturbs me here though is the attitude that people who have earned money have to give it to people who have taken no risk and have not earned money. I'm showing a link here for 1999. On this page you can see a pie chart that demonstrates the tax burden by income group. The chart shows that the highest 20% with 54% of the wealth paid 79% of the tax burden. The middle 20% with 14% of the wealth paid 7% of the tax burden. If you are going to raise the people who are already paying 80% of the taxes why would they invest. With 54% of the wealth they have no need to. If you take away the incentive to invest you have a stagnant economy. Manual labor isn't the only way to earn money. Everybody should learn what to do.



http://www.allegromedia.com/sugi/taxes/

Answer 4

Since when is paying taxes "penalizing" anyone? If you really want a fair tax, you want a progressive one that doesn't take food shelter or savings for the future away from the poor while making sure a multi multi millionaire can buy more govt bonds and lend us their money at interest. W's dad was right: "trickle down" is voodoo economics.



I live in wealthy Collier County, FL.... a republican bastion. I don't know anyone wealthy who worked as hard as most of the immigrants I know, but that's just me. I've done a lot of tax returns down here, but do a lot of charity work, too. Capitalism is a really great system for generating surpluses, but it's really really bad at distributing the surpluses in an equitable fashion. Maybe the Romans had it right when they worshipped luck, since that really has more to do with who gets the big pay-offs than work does.

Answer 5

The wealthy create the greatest burden on our infrastructure and thus should pay the greatest share for its maintenance. The wealthy also have the greatest interest in protecting this country from foreign invasion and terrorism since they have the most to lose. So ask yourself why, when we are fighting a war that the Bush Administration says is the most important battle this country has ever faced, the wealthiest people in this country get a huge tax CUT. And there is no draft so the burden of service falls on a disproportionate segment of the population. Shouldn't those who can best afford to pay taxes at least pay a fair share relative to the liberties that they enjoy?



See the source for the two candidates tax plans. If you make less than 600,000 you will get a tax cut from Obama.

Answer 6

He plans to increase every ones taxes by letting the Bush tax cuts expire. Sadly, the 2 key points of the Democrats is, "Punish the rich and big corporations" and "We aren't George Bush".



By the way, the wealthy and the corporations in this country already pay by far most of our federal taxes, the lower income actually typically get more money back in the form of an Earned Income Credit than they even paid in the first place! Also people seem to be ignorant of the fact that Bush's tax cuts where to everyones advantage, just because someone who pays $35k a year in taxes may have gotten a $3k tax break doesn't mean that someone who only pays $5k in taxes should also get a $3k tax break.

Answer 7

Taxation 101



1.) Members of the capital class (a.k.a. the super rick) pay little to no income tax--they primarily pay capital gains tax!



2.) The top rate on long-term capital gains is currently 15% for all but three very specialized transactions.



3.) Income derived from work is classified as "ordinary income." All ordinary income is subject to the progressive marginal tax rates (what most people refer to as the income tax rates). The top marginal tax rate is 35%.



4.) Capital gains are not subject to the FICA and Medicare taxes because they are only levied on payroll income (i.e., they are payroll taxes, not income taxes), resulting in a tax savings of 15.3% (this tax is split by the employer and the employee, but is paid in-full by self-employed individuals).



5.) As currently written, the IRS Tax Code penalizes work and rewards investment; hence, it is having the nasty side-effect redistributing wealth up.



6.) Barack Obama wants to rollback the tax cuts on capital gains to make taxation fairer.

Answer 8

The wealthy/upper-class are so out-of-touch with reality; it's not even funny. A lot of them inherited their wealth, so it's all old money. Don't get me wrong, a lot of wealthy people did have to work hard for theirs, but in one way or another, they had to screw a lot of people along the way. Why not tax them? They spend their money like water on designer labels and material possessions. Meanwhile, the middle-class and lower-class are just making enough to get by.

Answer 9

Very few that are rich in this country earned their wealth let alone anything else. The wealthy tend to hoard their money to themselves and the select few the view as equal in their enterprise. They use their influence and power to keep down those they find unsatisfactory or to different. Socializing the government does a good job of leveling the playing field and ending the top 5% monopoly on the U.S.

Answer 10

Why does Bush/McCain feel it's fine to punish the working people and the poor? Cause if it doesn't come from the rich, it has to come from the poor....and they pay for every penny with a lot more blood and sweat than people who are wealthy.



I'm sorry...but if you make 250k a year it's not a punishment, it's an honor to support our government. You get to enjoy all the benefits, why not pay your fair share?



Quit crying.



Do you really want to keep the policy we have had under Bush, where we see GDP growth, while the vast majority of Americans suffer? Under Bush the economy has grown, but the average salary has dropped $1000. Where has all that extra money gone? To the rich....to 1% of the population.



THAT is redistribution.



We have every right to progressively tax (pay more as you make more), because your money is only valued based on the infrastructure and faith in the USA. So, if you have a lot of money....shouldn't you pay more to invest in that infrastructure? Why should someone have to pay in order to back up the dollar, when they don't have any real, tangible, capital (when 99% of their money goes right back out to pay rent/food/etc).



You are voting against your own self interest and that of the nation as a whole.

Answer 11

Obama is a communist, he would like this country to be like old russia. Check out senate bill S2433, where he wants to add an addional 2500.00 a year for all families to support third world countries. This tax will generate 845 Billion for the UN to distribute as they se fit. Communist plain and simple.

Answer 12

According to his plan, anyone making less than US$250,000 would get a tax cut.



Poverty sucks.

Answer 13

Fair tax plan from a republican,HA,HA,HA, you've got to be joking.

Answer 14

Because the Middle Class cannot continue to support the nation, while the Upper Class sits back, continuously receiving tax cuts and not paying their fair share.

Answer 15

Are you like McCain? A wealthy person is someone who has more than 5 million.



Taxing the wealthy makes it able for anyone to become rich. If you let the wealthy keep their money, their families get richer and richer, and the poor get poorer and poorer.



Do you want to be like Europe, where if you are born rich, you stay rich. if you are born poor, you stay poor. and thats that.

Answer 16

not ALL rich people work hard to get rich.....they get easy money.. (MOST of them)... or at least i know a few like that!!



And NOT because someone is poor means that he/she doesn't have aspirations!!



You know how hard it is to get a good job now days???... F*ckin hard!!!



OMG i totally HOPE OBAMA WINS!!!!!

Answer 17

Self-hatred b/c he's rich himself.



Between that and being half-white, he's a basket case.

Answer 18

becuz he grew up poor jeolous of all the parents who actually work hard to support theyre family

Answer 19

Because he is a socialist!

Answer 20

Please, those in the top tier of wealth did not work hard. That's a load of crap. Inheritance makes up most of it. Status and using others makes up the rest.

Answer 21

Because he CARES for us MIDDLE CLASS!