Why NOT raise taxes for EVERYONE?

[Dawgs]

If you're unemployed do you care that you have to pay an extra few bucks on the minimal income you make if it means potentially getting a better job?

If you're employed do you mind paying a couple hundred dollars more a year if it means keeping your job?

If you own a company would you mind paying a little bit more if it means increased business?

This is really a question for my fellow DUers, as I've seen some say that we need to ONLY increase taxes on the rich.

I mean, the economy sucks worse than any point in my lifetime (40 years), and taxes have never been lower, so why not?

[mtnsnake]

1. Exactly. K&R

In relative terms, if taxes were restored to the pre-Bush days, the few extra bucks that most Americans would pay would not be a drop in the bucket compared to what the wealthiest people would have to fork over.

[Demeter]

2. Well, If you are going to tax the paupers

I really think you want a revolution. It would be the only just reward for such grinding the face of the poor into deeper poverty.

[RC]

5. Not really. If the government had the money to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure,

that would create hundreds of thousands of jobs, to say nothing of all the spin off jobs.
The tax structure is already set up so that if you make less than a certain poverty level amount, you get a refund.

[Dad Infinitum]

17. Not raising taxes forces the poor deeper into poverty

By driving down wages and stagnating the economy. Don't buy into the GOP meme that tax cuts are the cure all for everything.

[reggie the dog]

21. raise taxes on the rich, not everyone

money can be made just taxing the rich, no need to make the poor or middle class pay more.

[spinbaby]

3. The problem with the current tax structure...

...is that the very rich and large corporations pay taxes at a far lower rate than working people.

[dkf]

7. It is completely variable depending on what exemptions or loopholes you use.

If you do the wrong kind of business you don't get the breaks. It is unfair within the categories.

[spinbaby]

12. True

But the very wealthy and large corporations generally get better loopholes. One big one is that money earned sitting on your butt earning capital gains is taxed at a lower rate than money earned doing something useful.

[dkf]

14. Yet when you lose money you can't take more than $3000 in losses a year.

That isn't fair either. You could have lost the whole thing and gotten nothing yet paid taxes.

[Dawgs]

10. I would argue that it's ONE of the problems of the current tax structure.

Not the only one.

[dkf]

4. Yup. It works better if everyone chips in a little bit at least.

We say we are a community who cares about others, but don't raise my taxes. That makes no sense to me.

[NightWatcher]

6. How about we tax everyone at the same rate with no caps?

Then we don't have to raise taxes on the poor and we allow the rich to play catch up with us.

[LiberalFighter]

8. The tax should be spread out more by increasing the tax brackets.

Which would mean having higher tax brackets and lower tax brackets. Each of the current tax brackets under the increased tax brackets would pay less in taxes than they currently do except in the top current bracket.

[dionysus]

9. i wouldn't mind it personally, but you'll have a hard time selling that to the public.

[mtnsnake]

11. Not according to all these polls that daa posted this morning in another thread

http://capitalgainsandgames.com/blog/bruce-bartlett/2341/23-polls-say-people-support-higher-taxes-reduce-deficit?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CapitalGainsAndGames+%28Capital+Gains+and+Games+-+Wall+Street%2C+Washington%2C+and+Everything+in+Between%29

:hi:

[dionysus]

13. you know who also wants higher taxes?

Brewer and Shipley!!

:hi:

where you been?

[mtnsnake]

15. Where have I been?

Been out working twice as hard, but making half as much as I did 10 or 15 years ago. LOL!

:hi:

[Bake]

16. Because my meager paycheck doesn't cover everything as it is.

I'm treading water. Those few "meager dollars" would HURT me.

Bake

[CakeGrrl]

18. The problem isn't the public. The problem is the TEA PARTY

which has hijacked Congress and will not bend on taxation for ANYONE.

What some around here refuse to understand is that this coalition will not back down in a game of chicken. They're willing to trash a lot to get their way, and that's more than reasonable people are willing to do.

Simply put: If you're in a situation where the captor has taken your friend at gunpoint, and you negotiate so they won't shoot your friend, is it fair to consider you a weak capitulator for sparing your friend's life, or should you stare them down in the hope they'll come to their senses at the last second?

[avebury]

24. And Grover Norquist

Someone needs to tell Norquist and Congress that Norquist is not King of the US. Our ancestors fought the British so that we would not have a King. I am sick and tired of Grover Norquist and his drive to destroy this country.

[themaguffin]

19. because as it is, most people already pay more (%) than the rich. We don't need to raise on lower

incomes.

[golfguru]

20. When Bush taxcuts expire, taxes will go up on EVERYONE n/t

[avebury]

22. I am tired of them raising the taxes for the poor and middle class.

I feel like Congress has financed a lot of the tax breaks for the rich & corporations on the backs of the poor and middle class. Congress needs to do away with ALL of the tax breaks so the people and corporations with 7 figure or higher income no longer get away with paying little to no taxes. Doing away with the tax breaks does not represent a tax increase because they are only being asked to pay their fair share of taxes to begin with.

Just look at what happened in Florida. The Governor chopped a huge chunk out of the Education budget. The reduction was about an equal amount of the tax break that he turned around and gave the wealthy/corporations.

Congress needs to:

1. Bring home the troops from Iraq and Afghanastan. Traditional warfare will not work when dealing with insurgents like the Taliban and Al Qada.
2. Cut foreign aid. Why do we spend so much money on other countries when there is so much to do in this country?
3. Cut the military budget.
4. Develop a Second Works Prgress Administration by taking the money from the military budget to generate stimulus money to work on our extremely crumbling infra structure which would
a. Fix bad roads and bridges
b. Increase jobs needed to complete the projects
c. Finance job re-training in order to give people the skills they need to get jobs that will allow people to support themselves and their families.
d. Create safe child care facilities for single parents which would allow them to work. Adapt the structure so that they are required to donate some of their time to work in the child care facility. By making parents invest themselves in the facility they take an ownership interest in improving themselves and their childrens' lives. The facilities could be available 24/7 to accomodate all work schedules. Parents would be required to donate a certain number of hours of their time a week outside of the paid work schedule in order to use the facility.
5. Develop better mass transit nation wide. Other countries do it, why can't we? Imagine what happens if you work a minimum wage job, your car dies, and your city/town has no decent mass transit. How are you going to get to work?
6. Develop a system of clinics where people can go for wellness checkups and lesser medical issues. Use a fee schedule that people can afford. The issue is to work on getting people to live healthier livestyles and catch problems early before they become life/financial threatening conditions.

It just seems like this country is not focused in the right direction. The Republicans and Tea Party want a country were the Rich and Corporations rule and the masses are no more then serfs to serve their masters. The Democrats don't have the guts to stand up to the Republicans and Tea Party. The Corporations and Uber wealthy control all and the masses continue to votes against their own best interests.

There is so much that Congress could do for this country what would be benefical to the country and the people in the long run. Unfortunately when you try to do what is best for everyone you are just called a Socialist. It is so shortsighted.

[cottonseed]

23. I just finished submitting sales tax for the state of California.

Over the last 10-20 years that's gone up considerably.

[leftynyc]

25. Because I'm already paying a larger

percentage than the rich - that's why.

[woolldog]

26. I feel the same way.

Everyone's taxes need to go up.

Moreover I think focusing on 250k + only kind of reinforces the republican notion that taxes are punishment, or that tax increases hinder growth.

[Dawgs]

28. Exactly. We've lost the argument when Democrats, like Obama, go around bragging about tax cuts.

I'm afraid that typical Democratic weakness is to blame.

[Gormy Cuss]

27. Because it's regressive?

Because if you're already in the hole while unemployed or your current wages don't pay the bills, those few dollars are like getting punched again?

While it may sound noble to make everyone share the burden, why take that approach when taxing only those who can shrug off the new amount will fill the gap?

[larwdem]

29. no

raise taxes on republicans only

[blkmusclmachine]

30. A loss of benefits is a tax:

But the Rich/TBTF's won't "pay" one damn dime. They're too busy "creating jobs," somewhere. No one seems to know where, though.. (Maybe on the George W. Bush "ranch" way down in Paraguay.)

[Marrah_G]

31. The difference is that the poor, working, middle classes put 100% of their income back into society

I know I live literally week to week.

Look at it this way:

If I make 30 grand a year and have an increase of 5% in taxes that is 1500 a year that I don't have to keep a roof over my family's head and food on the table.

If the guy across town making 300 grand a year has his raised 5% he is out 15000. He still has MORE then enough to live comfortably on and put money away in savings and investments.

You need to tax the wealthiest people and the wealthiest companies the most so they will be encouraged to put money back into their businesses instead of just hoarding the money where it does no one any good.

Also with financial advisers and high paid accountants, many wealthy people and corporations pay little or no taxes. In fact some of the companies with the highest profits actually get money back.

[Ter]

32. Yes I mind

I'm not paying another dime, I'm not rich I'm middle class.

[closeupready]

33. As long as any increase is progressively imposed, I'd consider that.

nt

[Doctor_J]

34. Because the poor and minimum-wage workers are already unable to

support themselves, much less a small family, on their take-home pay.

Is this right-wing meme day at DU?

[lumberjack_jeff]

35. In my state, an average person pays about 25% tax on the FIRST dollar they make.

The poor are already taxed. State and local taxes kill low income folks.

The rich? Not so much. There's a very good reason that Bill Gates chose to live here.

[fujiyama]

36. Actually you have a point here

Clinton actually raised taxes universally rather than just on the rich, which ended up giving the country a balanced budget and a fiscal surplus. Granted the economic climate under which he did that was much different. The response would have been very different with the economy the shape it's in now. I think it's also worth asking if Clinton's tax raises were in some sense regressive and increased wealth disparity.

Right now I don't see any middle class tax increases politically viable, since consumer spending is shaky as it is and jobs are not only tough to come by, but they don't pay as well either. With increasing health care costs, and the higher cost of gasoline, and other goods (like food), increased taxes for many could actually hurt. Personally I think we should return to Clinton era rates, after increasing taxes on the top 1% first, then 10%. and so on. Besides, we've seen the fight over raising taxes on just the wealthy alone, imagine the uproar over across the board tax increases? Then again, the poor and middle class in this country are fairly foolish and would favor tax increases for themselves before those for the wealthy! How the hell else would those like Bachmann, Hatch, Santorum, and other blatant proponents of regressive tax policies ever be elected?