This is either highly misleading or an outright lie depending on how you look at it. When the idea for the Buffet rule first emerged, media reports undertook to look at the numbers. IRS data show that middle-class workers on average pay just under 15% of their income in federal taxes, while the richest 0.1% pay almost twice as high a rate on average, or 26%.
Individuals who earn most of their money from dividends pay a low rate on that income, partly because that money has already been taxed at the corporate tax rate of 35%. Add to that the 15% dividend tax and you have one of the highest income tax rates in the world.
Add to this that we're talking about a tax on capital which is the money that goes into growing businesses and creating jobs and you have a policy which is not going to be doing anything to help our economy.
As the President now says, this is not about making a serious attempt to reduce federal debt since the CBO scores the increased revenue at only 0.01% of the federal budget deficit. This is a populist appeal for some sort of social justice in tax policy which actually exacerbates our current economic problems.
What we should be focusing on is real tax reform which lowers tax rates overall and eliminates tax deductions which favor some individuals over others based on government whims. This is the recommendation of the President's blue ribbon deficit reduction committee, which was convened to great fanfare and then duly ignored.
Don't really like to bash a business, but this one stepped out of line with a friend of mine. Watch the video and decide. If the company makes an attempt to alleviate the situation or even to apologize, I will delete this posting and pull the video.
Is John McCain a conservative? I think he is and in a good way. I should know, I'm a bleeding heart liberal who is a tree hugger who thinks government can help people. With all the noise from the "pundits" on the TV political shows the term "conservative" has been bandied about by everyone including McCain himself. I felt the definition of a conservative as one who espouses personal responsibility and government policies that promote moral behavior seemed to fit my own idea of what their philosophy encompasses. There is also a strong feeling that government should stay out of the way. All the Republican candidates talked so much about Reagan that I expected him to be channeled right into the debates. Funny they didn't mention the "compassionate conservative" George W Bush. I wonder why? I would define Conservatism as "maintaining the current order." I don't draw a distinction between this political definition and my tree hugging sen...
Imagine my surprise when I noticed a $1.50 minimum interest charge on my credit card bill. I guess I was being irresponsible by not carrying a balance. What was even more ironic was the customer reps comment that "all the card companies do this". This is a great business model. I will now be offering loans for $0 to anyone who asks. All I require is a small monthly $1.50 minimum interest payment. A PayPal button is provided on this blogsite. The card has been canceled.
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Individuals who earn most of their money from dividends pay a low rate on that income, partly because that money has already been taxed at the corporate tax rate of 35%. Add to that the 15% dividend tax and you have one of the highest income tax rates in the world.
Add to this that we're talking about a tax on capital which is the money that goes into growing businesses and creating jobs and you have a policy which is not going to be doing anything to help our economy.
As the President now says, this is not about making a serious attempt to reduce federal debt since the CBO scores the increased revenue at only 0.01% of the federal budget deficit. This is a populist appeal for some sort of social justice in tax policy which actually exacerbates our current economic problems.
What we should be focusing on is real tax reform which lowers tax rates overall and eliminates tax deductions which favor some individuals over others based on government whims. This is the recommendation of the President's blue ribbon deficit reduction committee, which was convened to great fanfare and then duly ignored.
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