Do you guys support a Millionaire's Tax?

[SportsAndrew25]

I see and hear ads frequently here in New York that say that the rich should pay their fair share. Do you guys think that the rich should pay their fair share or do you think they are overtaxed?

[dbroncos78087]

I dont support "soaking the rich" approach but given that we have severe budget levels we need to do something and i hate to say it but just cutting spending isnt going to solve it. At some point we will need to raise taxes on some of the people. Unless someone sees $14.3T in cuts somewhere i dont see.

[Jenceman]

Not extending the tax breaks for the rich certainly didn't help. Those tax breaks do nothing to stimulate the economy.

[avrpatsfan]

I think raising the top tax bracket to 1,000,000 dollars minimum makes a lot more sense. 250,000 dollars isn't "rich". 250,000 dollars a year is a small business owner. They already get half of that thanks to taxes. Raising taxes on them makes no sense. Raising them on millionaires makes more sense.

[avrpatsfan]

Not extending the tax breaks for the rich certainly didn't help. Those tax breaks do nothing to stimulate the economy.

That's true. The rich generally don't spend as much of their money.

[jrice9]

Not extending the tax breaks for the rich certainly didn't help. Those tax breaks do nothing to stimulate the economy.

I agree the tax breaks shouldnt have been extended but to say it does nothing for the economy is fairly bs imo. It likely doesnt do enough to make it worth it but it does stuff

[dbroncos78087]

I think raising the top tax bracket to 1,000,000 dollars minimum makes a lot more sense. 250,000 dollars isn't "rich". 250,000 dollars a year is a small business owner. They already get half of that thanks to taxes. Raising taxes on them makes no sense. Raising them on millionaires makes more sense.

But to be taxed at that rate you would need to have profits of $250,000 not revenue of $250,000. There is a huge difference.

Revenue: $250,000
Costs: $200,000
Taxable Income: $50,000

Revenue: $1,000,000
Costs: $850,000
Taxable Income: $150,000

Revenue: $20,000,000
Costs: $19,800,000
Taxable Income: $200,000

None of those companies/people get taxed at the "rich" rate.

[avrpatsfan]

But to be taxed at that rate you would need to have profits of $250,000 not revenue of $250,000. There is a huge difference.

Revenue: $250,000
Costs: $200,000
Taxable Income: $50,000

Revenue: $1,000,000
Costs: $850,000
Taxable Income: $150,000

Revenue: $20,000,000
Costs: $19,800,000
Taxable Income: $200,000

None of those companies/people get taxed at the "rich" rate.

I was talking individual tax rates though.

[dbroncos78087]

I was talking individual tax rates though.

But it is taxable income that determines your rate. Expenses get deducted from your taxable income. So even if you make $2,000,000 but it costs you $1,800,000 then you wont be taxed at the top rate.

[avrpatsfan]

But it is taxable income that determines your rate. Expenses get deducted from your taxable income. So even if you make $2,000,000 but it costs you $1,800,000 then you wont be taxed at the top rate.

I find that hard to believe but I think you're right.

So high taxes just hurt people who don't spend a lot and invest? Interesting.

[dbroncos78087]

I find that hard to believe but I think you're right.

So high taxes just hurt people who don't spend a lot and invest? Interesting.

Well just think about it. If you make this scenario:

Revenue: $20,000,000
Costs: $19,800,000
Taxable Income: $200,000

How can you pay 35% of $20,000,000 when your income is only $200,000. If you lose money then you pay no taxes because your taxable income is negative. Then there are tax deductions beyond that regular taxable income, but since we are discussing individuals so i will ignore that.

[jrice9]

Dbroncos is right though I still think 250 should not be the top tax brackets. The difference between someone making 250k and someone making a million or someone making 10 million is a big deal. Someone making 250k while upper class isn't buying whatever the hell they want necessarily

[North Country]

I see and hear ads frequently here in New York that say that the rich should pay their fair share. Do you guys think that the rich should pay their fair share or do you think they are overtaxed?

Government seems to have no problem with cutting funding for the middle and lower class. So it seems only fair that they'd also ask the upper class to pay their fair share to close the budget gap. I'm sure many conservatives will claim that taxing the richest of the rich is "class warfare", but isn't cutting funding and benefits only on the lower and middle class and not touching the upper class the same?

[dbroncos78087]

I just want to know where those who dont want to raise taxes plan to pull $14.3T out of spending cuts. I have stated numerous times if you show me a plan that cuts the deficits without crushing middle class families at the same time then i dont think tax cuts are bad. But honestly this deficit is not going anywhere if we take tax cuts arbitrarily off the table. The only types of tax cuts i hear are guarded remarks that there is a large segment of the population that gets away with paying no taxes. That of course leaves out that the large block which they refer is so poor they dont qualify to pay taxes. These are individuals that make less than 133% (i believe that is the number) of the poverty line.

[DodgersFan28]

I just want to know where those who dont want to raise taxes plan to pull $14.3T out of spending cuts.

Where are $14.3T worth of tax hikes? Just because the federal government makes a declaration of taxes doesn't mean the people are actually going to pay the taxes. If you think people 60 years ago actually paid 90% of their income, you're nuts. If you think shaking everyone down for every penny they have is actually possible, you're as impractical-minded as the people who think we can round up & deport 18 million illegal immigrants. It isn't going to happen.

Now are we going to make back $14.3T in spending cuts alone? Yeah, that looks bleak. But before we get to that, how about we do everything we can to STOP adding over $1 Trillion every single year? Can we do that with spending cuts? Yes we can. (Why does that sound familiar?) Once we get the budget balanced, then we can talk about paying down the debt. I believe if we ever actually get going in that direction, we'll see the way out.