The only taxes Republicans want to raise

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http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_05/the_only_taxes_republicans_wan029426.php

The only taxes Republicans want to raise

By Steve Benen


The notion of raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans continues to be quite popular, despite unyielding Republican opposition. The notion of raising taxes on those who make the least, however, has a fair amount of GOP support.

A few weeks ago, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said it’s a “problem” that many Americans “pay virtually no federal income tax.” This week, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) pressed a similar point.



I see. Orrin Hatch doesn’t want to raise taxes on those who can least afford it, but they have a “civic duty” to pay more — a responsibility that the wealthy apparently do not share.

Since this keeps coming up, it’s worth reemphasizing how bizarre the GOP line really is. When the right talk about roughly half the country paying no income taxes, the argument tends to overlook relevant details — such as the fact that these same Americans still pay sales taxes, state taxes, local taxes, Social Security taxes, Medicare/Medicaid taxes, and in many instances, property taxes.

It’s not as if these folks are getting away with something — the existing tax structure leaves them out of the income tax system because they don’t make enough money to qualify.

Moreover, the GOP has a natural revulsion to any tax system, but there’s an eerie comfort with a regressive agenda that showers additional wealth on the rich while asking for more from lower-income workers.

In fact, the drive on the right to increase the burdens on these low- and middle-income families is getting kind of creepy. Some on the far-right have begun calling these Americans “parasites.” Last year, Fox News’ Steve Doocy went so far as to ask whether those who don’t make enough to qualify for income taxes should even be allowed to vote.

But if Hatch, Bachmann, and other conservatives are serious about this, Democrats would very likely welcome the debate. Indeed, when Hatch mentioned the possibility of “getting control” of the Finance Committee, he was referring to a potential Republican majority in the Senate next year, at which point, Hatch, as the committee chairman, would make a point of trying to raise taxes on the wrong end of the income scale.

I suspect voters would be interested in hearing more about this.

Batt wanted to eliminate "the marriage tax penalty", his first proposal was to pay for it by raising taxes on single people.

I wish I still had the copy of the scathing email I sent. He backed off that one right away, I don't really remember the reasoning. The point of my email was, he must be doing that because he thinks single people have more disposable income than married people, and can afford to pay more. That had to be it. So I asked, why we don't apply that logic to really wealthy people anymore?

Just like gun rights, you can't really trust the right to keep your taxes low. If they have enough power we'll end up with a system where the rich tax the poor just like in the middle ages. If they become paranoid enough and think they are strong enough, they will disarm the people.

...with tax dollars from everyday Americans being stuffed into the pockets of the owner class fortunate enough to hold stock in Big Oil, GE or other "negatively-taxed" corps.

There you have someone making big bucks directly off the taxpayer. That money gets sucked up and they don't pay squat themselves. The king doesn't send his men around to shake us down, but it's the next closest thing.

I pointed out to a surgical nurse how much of his income comes from taxpayers. He's working about half the time courtesy of Medicare. He makes about $70 thousand a year and bitches constantly about taxes. A lot of people come out way ahead on the tax deal.

The first argument I always hear from them is that it's unfair that the poor don't pay any taxes.

that some rich people and some corporations who pretend they are people pay no taxes? Perhaps an alternative minimum tax would help. It would need a big deducible, maybe 10K per person, but after that, all income would be taxed at 25% as the alternative minimum.

EVERY family of 4 would have $14,600 of exemptions deducted from their adjusted gross income.

EVERY family of 4 would have a minimum of $11,400 of standard deductions deducted from their adjusted gross income.

That is a minimum of $26,000 that is exempt from the federal tax. Doesn't matter if the family has income of $26,000 or $26 million. The family with $26,000 of income is not likely to own a home with a mortgage while the family with $26 million does. The family with income of $26 million is more than likely to itemize their deductions and have more than the standard deduction of $11,400. Families with income of about $200k to $250k would more than likely have itemized deductions around $64,000.


My overall assessment: Those in the higher income brackets have more of their income that is not taxed than those with less income.

I would forget about saying that they pay the other taxes. Just emphasize that the rich get the same tax deductions and exemptions as everyone else.

There are approximately 28.22% that receive $25,000 in income or less. Why should any of them with a family of 4 pay federal income taxes if everyone else including the wealthy don't pay on their first $25k? Not everyone that receives $25k or less is married or has a family of 4.

There is about another 3.48% that receive income from $25k to $27,499.


There are likely families have more than 2 children in their family as well as those with only one parent. There are likely families that have taken their elderly parents in and claim them too.


Checking IRS stats:
400 returns were for $10 million or more.
$20,355,192 -- average adjusted gross income less deficit
$17,896,742 -- average modified taxable income

$ 2,458,450 -- average difference per household

That is nearly $2.5 million they don't pay taxes average per household.

As we all know, every poor person is just lazy. The Republicans are trying to give them an incentive to be in the top 1 percent of income earners.

If you feel the need, please imagine I put a sarcasm smilie here.

Taxes will have to go up for all families with incomes over
$100,000/year if this country does not wish to follow Greece
into bankruptcy, including demise of Medicare & Social Security.