Senator Tom Harkin: No Deal Is Better Than The Deal Being Negotiated

[JDPriestly]

20. How many hours do we work a week.

40 times 52 is 2080. Assuming that wealthy people theoretically get the equivalent of two weeks or 80 hours of vacation per year, that's 2000 hours -- a number you can easily divide into almost any other.

If a person's annual salary is $400,000 per year, they are earning $200 per hour. That is a lot of money. Can you imagine spending $200 per hour 40 hours a week for 50 weeks.

When it comes to taxes, people who earn that much money can organize their pay schemes so that they get to take deductions on their taxes. Raising their taxes will not be that heavy a burden for them.

At $250,000 per year, people are still earning enough that they could pay higher taxes although many people earning that kind of money live in expensive parts of the country like New York City or maybe even the D.C., L.A. or San Francisco areas so $250,000 does not go that far for them.

$400,000 is almost too low to start raising taxes. But the problem about people who live in large, expensive cities makes it a safe number. If you live in Des Moines, Iowa, you can probably afford a mansion on that kind of money. But if you live in LA, you get a nice house in a nice area, but not a mansion by any means.