Mornin,

I thought it seemed as such, I didn't want to offend.

Then why the F**K do we have to take 25% more than the poor pay to distribute to the poor? (in case you don't know math, that's 35%-10%=25%)

So, our good deed to the poor has been more than paid for quite some time now with how many years we have been paying more than 10%, right?

Just curious, Camo, but did YOU write this, or is it quoted from an article?

I agree.

Beautiful, Drew

The only problem is...everyone opposing our side has run away.

Yes, Tina

And to THAT, I say touche.

UMMM, THEY ALREADY DO!!! Much higher tax percentage, the difference of 35% to 10%.

I don't quite follow what you mean by that. I was not bashing YOU, I just think if someone is going to say that the wealth should be shared from a person willing to work their A** off to earn good money with the person laying on the couch eating potato chips and watching soap operas all day, I find that only an ignorant person would call that fair.

Tina

Thanks for the head's up on the ignorance.

Finally someone who has a level-headed mindset.

I can't forget Lindyy, too. She understands as well.

The next step is to become a communist country.

OK, the only way that you would be taxed on a Net figure is if you held a Sole Proprietorship and you had justifiable expenses that you could account for if audited. This means that you have a self-employment tax, which is basically your FICA and if you make enough, you will then pay into income taxes. Many sole-proprietors actually get a refund.

The people who make hundreds of thousands of dollars as a high-ranking officer in a Corporation are taxed on their GROSS income, not their NET.

Having been an accountant and doing taxes for individuals and companies of every size, I have learned quite a bit. One of the things I learned is that the more you make, the less the ratio of income verses taxes you actually take home.

What is the incentive, then, for an individual to make more money? If the people who work their butts off year after year, day and night, to better themselves then have to distribute to the people who sat at home every night after work watching their favorite TV shows, why even try anymore?

Tina

Oh, my God, you guys.

Look up the tax bracket. The wealthy are paying more, not only because they make more, but also because the percentage they pay is more for the more they make.

For instance:

The 2008 tax bracket for a single person making between 0-$8,025 is 10%. That means that the person making $8,025 per year is paying (annually) $803 (always rounded up) in taxes. If a person making $360,000 had the same tax rate, they would be paying $36,000 (annually). This is not the case, because the person making $360,000 is not subject to only 10% tax, they are subject to 35% tax. This means that the person making $360,000 per year is paying $126,000 in annual taxes.

Not only is this more than a third of their income that they worked very hard to get, they don't get tax refunds. So, the person who is making $8,025 pays no taxes (and get's a refund) and the person who pays $126,000 in taxes is paying for the Earned Income Credit of the person only making $8,025 per year.

Tina

There was already a fairness doctrine topic in place. Why didn't you just write on that one? There are several pages of comments.

Winx,

I have differed in opinions with you in many of these discussions.

There are many reasons people are poor. I have been poor, but then have made something of myself. Many times, people just need to get their head together and their sh*t straight to be able to do that.

Some people WILL be poor all their life, and there are only a couple of reasons that people stay below or at poverty level for any length of time. One reason, which is very sad and serious, is that many have a mental illness that prevents them to be able to make a good life for themselves. The second reason is because people are lazy and only want to do the bare minimum of what is necessary for life, then claim that they are working a full-time job and it is taking them nowhere - these people are the people that irritate me.

I have been through more than many people go through in their entire lifetime, and I wanted to DO something about it, not sit and whine about it.

Tina


"people just need to get their head together and their sh*t straight to be able to do that."

Not everybody has those skills. If they have lived in poverty all of their lives, many find it difficult to even comprehend that they might have a future.

I don't consider people working at a min. wage job and coming home to kids as being lazy.

Not everybody has what it takes to do as well as you have.


Oh, my dear Winx,

Thanks for the compliment, I think.

As for who has the skills:

1. I did not just plop into the opportunity. I worked extremely hard to get where I am at.

2. Anyone who has a brain and a normal IQ has the ability to comprehend a better life for themselves.

3. There is SO much help for working single parents to make a better life for themselves, even more so now than when I did it.

4. People who think that there is no way out ARE lazy in the fact that they are not willing to try harder to get it.

Blood, sweat, and tears is what it took, and what it will always take to make more of oneself. Anyone who thinks that the position they are at is all they can be - is all they WILL be. Whether you are making 20K a year or 200K a year, there is ALWAYS better. Some are just satisfied at what they are making.

What is sad, though, is when that person who is making 20K a year (or less) stays where they are and then complains that there is no better. They take more time complaining about not having a good life than it would take to make a better life for themselves.

There is no way, that in America, a single mother/father could say that there is no way to reach an income greater than the minimum wage level. The help and resources out there in America for working single parents are plentiful.

Saying, basically, that I only got where I am at by chance or by some sort of luck and that not everyone can do that is ignorance. You may not know what I went through. You don't know how hard it really is unless you do it yourself and if someone is unwilling to go through all of the battles to better themselves, no matter how tough, it is their perogative, but there is absolutely no reason for those people to complain about the position they are in.

Tina

You said, "someone poor who hasn't done SH*T to get it except be poor".

That sounds like you're saying that they're lazy.



Winx,

I have differed in opinions with you in many of these discussions.

There are many reasons people are poor. I have been poor, but then have made something of myself. Many times, people just need to get their head together and their sh*t straight to be able to do that.

Some people WILL be poor all their life, and there are only a couple of reasons that people stay below or at poverty level for any length of time. One reason, which is very sad and serious, is that many have a mental illness that prevents them to be able to make a good life for themselves. The second reason is because people are lazy and only want to do the bare minimum of what is necessary for life, then claim that they are working a full-time job and it is taking them nowhere - these people are the people that irritate me.

I have been through more than many people go through in their entire lifetime, and I wanted to DO something about it, not sit and whine about it.

Tina

One more thing: As a business owner, I can tell you first-hand that raising minimum wage is not the answer.

If minimum wage is raised, I will have to raise my prices. I will not only have to raise them enough to make up the difference in the wage cost to me (for my employees), I will also have to raise them due to the extra overhead I will now have to pay because every other company I receive services or buy supplies from has now raised their prices as well. Now, we are creating an exponential increase in cost just because people say they can't live on a minimum wage rate, when in actuality the amount of spending power they would have at the current minimum wage rate is greater than if minimum wage rate were increased.

Tina

Winx,

I do not have a working history as a health professional or a mental health professional, but what I think gentlefaith is referring to is Hypochondriasis. A person who does not REALLY NEED medical attention but THINKS they do on a regular basis.

Tina

Ok, Drew told his story, now I will tell mine.

I AM a woman. I have experienced life in a dead-end job at minimum wage.

I will start with this: I went to an Arab country for a "visit" with my children an my Arab husband. I have not seen my Arab son for 7 years. I was promised that he could come home with me, but when I arrived in that country, I was told otherwise.

When I came back, I felt torture. I thought I had lost it until my mother took my pictures away from me and told me to get it together. I did.

I still had my older son with me here in the US, and as a single mother, worked jobs with very little pay while attending a community college. I graduated, still working my A** off, and went on to a University for Accounting/Finance. Before I went to this University, I married again, eventually had 2 little girls, found out that my husband had done unmentionable things to little girls in the past, went through all I had to just to ensure that wouldnt happen to my little girls, and all the while, still striving for better.

I have since owned two companies and am well on my way as far as accomplishments go.

No one can tell me that it is impossible to be a single parent to work while having children to care for and eventually advance.

I am living proof. Nothing irritates me more than the "oh, poor me" pitty party of lazy people (not just mothers or even single parents for that matter) that are too arrogant to work themselves to the bones to make a better life for them and their family. No one is above it and life's treasures should not be handed on a silver platter.

Tina

One of the problems, and I do agree, is that the Baby Boomer generation is extremely large. Next comes my generation, generation X, which is fairly small. Given those facts, there will not be enough physicians to accomodate all of the growing health problems of the Baby Boomer generation as they get older, unless generation Y kids start taking some biology classes and get to med school.

I seriously think that one of the reason for the lack of general medical practice is because of the pay difference when given only a few more years in school, an individual would quadruple their income.