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DIBS;
Are we reading the same article? Please note this statement:
“Mr. Obama is adding to this trend with his “Make Work Pay†tax cut that means almost 50% of the country will no longer pay any income taxes, up from a little over 40% today”
The tax tables do not tell the whole story. If you are in this income group, you calculate your nominal income tax (from the tables), and then they are wiped out by the EIC. I know people who do not pay income tax this way (my mother-in-law being one).
What President Obama is proposing is to take the EIC a step further. He wants it to not only cancel out the income tax, but he wants it to cancel out the SS witholding tax for folks in this bracket.
Legion, are you suggesting we should tax blue collar wage earners more and the top 1% less? We do have a progressive income tax code at all three levels of government, although the tax code at each level is much less progressive than it was in the 1950s-60s. That progressivity is offset by sales taxes, in which the same rate is charged to all, and property taxes. Perhaps the problem isn’t the tax code so much as increasing income inequality.
Reasonable people can agree or disagree as to whether NYS’s recent tax increase at the top is a good or bad way to close the State’s huge deficit. I suspect, however, that if the State started laying off thousands of workers instead, you would see more people not paying any taxes at all. I also think that the people who will be paying the increase are sufficiently well off that the increase is not going to force them to move. At that level, you either love the UES or you love northern Greenwich, CT. The tax increase isn’t going to change anyone’s mind about that.
THL, I want the little red corvette on pg. 26 and the princess castle on pg. 95
Yeah Mopar, that type of situation isn’t really all that uncommon in the city. I have encountered a few manipulative people over the years, but not quite as crazy as this woman seems. The people I encountered were extremely manipulative, smart and able to get what they wanted legally. This girl seems as though she is mentally ill to some extent, and not very smart.
I’m really not sure why it got published. It was very detailed with all the sexually explicit hearsay, but was very fuzzy when it came to the actual crimes. I think it was the whole Williamsburg hipster thing that made it stand out – not surprising this happened though, I find the whole hipster set to be way too trusting of complete strangers. You’re still in the big city, you have to be careful. If a cute asian hipster wants to give you head at the Turkey’s nest, fine – but don’t lease her a Jetta or deposit checks and give her cash. Come on.
benson if you look at the numbers, THEY DO PAY TAXES. Its just that the taxes they pay amount to a very, very small number of the total tax revenues taken in by the government; a fact that most of us are fully aware of. According to the article its something less than 2% of tax revenues, but they do pay taxes.
Alll you have to do is look at the tax tables to figure out how much somebody making $20k, 30k or 40k will make but, yes, they do pay some taxes.
It’s been announced that the Michael Jackson estate auction was canceled but did anyone take a look through the catalogs? Holy Jesus! The toy catalog is beyond creepy but I wouldn’t mind having some of those antique furniture pieces. A good portion were a lot more “modest in taste” than I’d have guessed.
http://www.juliensauctions.com/auctions/2009/michael-jackson/catalog-list.html
Slopefarm;
I appreciate that you try to engage in a debate, rather than throw out assertions and then run away (like mshook did at the beginning of this thread).
I’m not talking about welfare or any other type of dole. I’m talking about folks who earn some type of income, but find that they don’t pay taxes through a combination of both the EIC and deductions.
I am not advocating for a flat tax here (though frankly, I think it is a great idea). My only point is that everyone should pay some income tax, even if it is only a small nominal amount. It is dangerous for a democracy to have folks who have no stake in the system.
I think a non-taxpayer will know how to open up a Coconut.
A few more weeks like the one I’m having at work and I’ll be joining the non-taxpayers.
Maybe I’ll get some NYC $$ to open a microbrewery or something.