A message to those who think that someday they will benefit from GOP upper tax rates.

[hfojvt]

52. We almost go right back to the OP

Why do you believe that somebody who makes $400,000 a year is NOT rich? Why do you think that somebody making $250,000 is NOT rich?

Do you make $300,000 yourself, or do you just self-identify with those who do?

The average income of the top 4% (meaning the top 5% without the top 1%) is $275,151. So how does somebody in the top 5% not qualify as rich. They are certainly, undeniably (I hope) richER than 95% of the rest of us. So how is that not rich? This isn't the Guiness book of world records. You don't have to be the richest person in the world to qualify as rich.

As for $100,000. Again, the average income of the middle quintile is only $45,225. So $100,000 is more than twice as much as more than 50% of us make. To somebody making only $40,000 a year (which is most people in this country) $100,000 is a hell of a lot of money. Not just a little bit more money than they currently make, but twice as much. And not just a big pile of money that falls on them once, but every week, every month, every year.

As for ending the Bush tax cuts for incomes over $100,000, it's not that big of a deal. A person making $110,000 under this plan would pay a whole $200 in extra taxes. That's not gonna ruin their lives. Heck, my own taxes went up about $180 a year in the Obama surrender of 2010. If I can afford a $200 tax hike at $11,000 in income, then I am quite sure a $100,000 couple can afford it too.