doublepost h:

 

Actually John, you need to check your numbers. The lower income people, even middle class, contribute a much lower amount of the taxes raised than the rich. The rich always have held the tax burden. I will look for the stats for you.

 

No we have not. I am not saying that we did not go through some hard times. When I was growing up my dad was a musician and a teacher and he would teach during the day and play broadway shows in the evening and weekends as well as do recordings and other jobs he could get. He worked two full time jobs and his extra recordings could be seen as side jobs. He did whatever he had to in order to put food on the table for us.

 

John, here is a link to a blog that explains it. The blog then links to the actual numers in the Congressional Budget Office Report. These numbers are also put out by the IRS. I hope this helps clear up any confusion on the tax burden.


http://camprrm.typepad.com/coyote_bl...ss_warfar.html

 

Now, I'm not economist, but I remember learning a year ago that the tax is actually regressive.

 

growing up, my parents busted their asses to keep food on the table for my brother, sister, and i; and later, to put all three of us through college.

oh man, there were rough times. i'm talking about mom working mon-sat (and sometimes sun.), working obscene hours, 6-7am to 7-9pm or later.. dad doing whatever he could to help her, also working construction before it proved too difficult for his back.. working in a paper factory, then going to school himself to better our lives (he managed to get his bachelor's and master's degrees while we were growing up). of course, they were 1st generation immigrants (came here in '76), so they had to learn english before all else.

they didn't actually purchase their own home until i was already in college. even so, it was bought cheap, because it needed a lot of work. fortunately, after my first year, i was able to cover all tuition, room & board, with loans and a few grants, for the rest of my college career.

there's a reason why i learned as much about the mechanics of cars as i did. we couldn't afford to pay for repairs, so we had to do everything ourselves. i spent many hours working with dad on all kinds of stuff.. transmission swap, clutch swap, brake jobs, fixing busted water pumps, whatever.. he didn't do it for fun, he did it because we needed the money. i do it now because i enjoy working on cars, not because i can't afford to pay someone. it's probably because it reminds me of the time i spent with dad.

i also remember wearing my brother's hand-me-downs, or clothes donated by some of my mom's clients.

fortunately, mom's hours are now a little more sane, and my dad works as a computer consultant/technician while still assisting mom. though i'd still like to see it even easier for them.

anyway, i guess after my parents having busted their asses, and myself having busted my ass to get through school, and find a job, and now that i have one that pays fairly well, it's only fair that i get taxed even more so that it can be poorly spent on bullshit programs and things that i don't agree with? no thanks! :airon:

 

So you'd rather we spent that money bombing a country on the other side of the planet instead of using it to help people who have it far worse than you ever did?


You told your story, but I don't see how that affects your taxes... are you saying you're somehow entitled to pay less taxes than everyone else because you've had it rough, or are you saying that now that you make more money things should be easier on you... when you are know there are those out there working like your parents used to?

 

what i'm saying is, just because i'm better off than many people out there, it's extremely unfair to say that people like myself and those richer than me should take the burden since "we can afford it". especially when they include their sob story for reasoning. hell, i have a sob story too!

the top 10% already pay more than half of this country's taxes. how the hell is that unfair to the poor?

i understand and i believe that everyone should pay their fair share, whatever that may be.

i also don't think the way to fix a problem is by throwing more money at it (i.e. raising taxes).

 

I find increasingly that this is the type of person that ends up a Republican partisan when in fact they would be far better served with social programs that redistribute wealth in their favor. The Republican ideal only fosters the same type of conditions that you endured yourself. Maybe it's out of spite. For example, "I had to claw up, so everyone else should too."

 

maybe you're right. maybe it is spite. i do admit that i get bitter when i see people abusing social programs like welfare. for the record, my parents never took advantage of any of them. however, i don't think they would have qualified anyway.