Still haven't got a straight answer - why are we not taxing the top 2%?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

People seem to be ignoring this fact nobody is calling out the Republicans on this. They are just accepting it.

Why?

[dkf]

1. Did you see any political commercials this cycle attacking the Reps of only being for the top 2%?

Do you really not think this was brought up?

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Life Long Dem]

11. Because some would rather insult Obama.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

12. Or because some would prefer progress on taxes,

rather than regress.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. the cynic in me - that is where the campaigns get funded from....

and where the media are funded who conveniently forget to bring this up. $$$ = power.

[rocktivity]

8. DING DING DING! NRaleighLiberal, you're our grand prize winner!

...(T)hat is where the campaigns...and...the media...get funded from...

Not cynical at all, absolutely right. For ten years, the only things the top 2% have spent their tax breaks on are political influence and media muscle! Why you you think you hear about cutting Social Security benefits and raising the retirement age, but not about raising the $109K salary cap?

:headbang:
rocktivity

[mtnsnake]

19. Without a doubt.

Everyone seems to owe the big boys favors. It's unfortunate but true.

[former9thward]

4. What is your point?

The top 2% are taxed. Maybe not as much as we would like but they are taxed. The Rs want the rates to remain the same as they are now and we want they raised.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

14. I know

I know they are taxed but are not taxed enough

[golfguru]

16. To play devil's advocate

A high income earner in NY state pays 36% federal tax + 10% state income tax + city income tax + social security + medicare + property tax + sales tax. If you add all the taxes, it is over 60 cents on dollar.

If I was in those tax brackets, I would quit working and move to the mountains.
In fact I retired early just because I was tired of paying 40% of my income as tax.

[tledford]

22. You have no deductions? You were paying 60% of your income in taxes?

Turbotax is $40.

Nobody in this country pays 60% of their income in taxes. Federal income taxes are at their LOWEST since 1950.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

23. there are plenty of write offs maybe you are not claiming?

[golfguru]

26. I did'nt say that

I was in 40% "bracket". So every additional dollar I worked for was taxed at 40%.
I don't recall the exact bracket but I think it was close to 39 or 40.
Then I had to pay social and state tax! So I retired and my taxes dropped by 90%!

My employer lost a productive employee. They made me offers of more pay to stay.
But the way I figured why stress myself out in a high responsibility job
for little more than half the money

Could'nt be happier in retirement. Wish had done it sooner.

[elocs]

5. Because... didn't you love that answer when you got that from adults or parents as a kid?

[otohara]

17. Nothing More to Say

Because I said so!

[Davis_X_Machina]

6. It's not just that they're everyone's donor base --

even Bernie Sanders'.

It's not just that the people who own the megaphones -- even Huffingtonpost.com -- can be found there.

It's that such a policy has real, actual, support among the other 98%.

Economic fatalism is a large part of the bastard Calvinism that is, pace the Constitution, our state religion.

There are plenty of people outside that 2% who believe that any efforts to substitute the fallible judgment of human legislatures for the ineffable Divine Will as to the distribution of the outward signs of His election are blasphemous, and progressive taxation is thus an offensive stink in the nostrils of the Lord.

Flat-tax/'fair tax' proposals, e.g., are very popular among the very people who will be screwed by them, including a small-but-non-zero set people here, who should know better.

[dmkinsey]

7. Because the Republicans stand for the top 2%

Republicans want their top 2% buddies to enjoy low tax rates. Republicans swore that NOTHING would happen in congress until the low tax rates for the top 2% were extended.
They were serious. They're ruthless. They got what they wanted.

[rocktivity]

9. "They call you elite. I call you my base." --George W. Bush

In a scene from Fahrenheit 9/11.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[Crunchy Frog]

10. Because they have enough money to buy all the relevant office holders.

And get them to vote for them not to pay taxes. And get them and the media not to question it.

[ncteechur]

13. Because we don't have 60 votes.

[NorthCarolina]

15. Bernie Sanders called the GOP, and some Dems, out on this yesterday for 8.5hrs straight. nt

[Teaser]

20. He was just grandstanding

notice he didn't actually try a real filibuster of anything.

[NorthCarolina]

21. I'l bet he got under the skin of conservatives though, as your post suggests.

The truth is always the hardest thing to argue against, so y'all definitely got your work cut out for you. He deserves props for that...absolutely.

[Teaser]

25. true

grandstanding is something politicians do. and sometimes it's necessary.

I'd like to see someone do a real filibuster.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

24. Good!

[Tesha]

18. We're not taxing the top 2% because they own "our" Government. (NT)

[GSLevel9]

27. because certain people caved to the Pubs... nt

[Ter]

28. We are taxing them and everyone else

The debate is weather or not to extend the Bush tax cutes to the top 2% or let it expire. They are not getting an additional tax cut, the vote is extending what's already there.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

29. I think everyone is aware of that?

[Ter]

30. Ok, then your OP subject line in misleading

You say "why are we not taxing the top 2%?" which sounds like you're saying the top 2% currently don't pay any taxes.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

35. I think everyone knows what the point is

[Aramchek]

31. we don't have the votes for just middle class cuts. plain and simple.

do you deny this fact?

[niceypoo]

32. So why bother trying

[Aramchek]

33. because we don't want those cuts to expire.

I don't have to explain this to you, you're just being obstinate.

[mtnsnake]

34. So you'd rather see the country go down the tubes

instead of seeing your middle class tax rate revert to the way it was before Bush took over and ruined everything. Just great.

[Aramchek]

36. it's so easy for you to pretend that ending the Middle class tax cuts won't hurt anyone

but it will.

How do you resolve this in your mind??

You would really ask the middle class to suffer just so you can stick it to the Rich? is that all you care about?

Without this deal, there will be no extension of Unemployment Insurance.
Do you not think that will hurt people?
Or is it worth hurting those people just to stick it to the Rich?

Believe me, I like sticking it to the Rich as much as anyone,
but not when good people get hurt in the process.

[niceypoo]

38. The Bush tax cuts caused the mess we are in

Extending them extends the mess.

[Aramchek]

40. it is not a permanent extension.

do you not think the fact that we are in a Recession should be considered?

I get it. You hated Bush as I did. It irks you to no end to see his terrible policies in existence.

But you must understand that real Americans will get caught in the gears on this.
That is exactly why the Bushites planned it this way.

They have no problem with hurting the Middle Class.
The question is, do we????

[niceypoo]

41. Extending the problem hurts the middle class and the unemployed

The problem will be here as long as the Bush tax cuts are in place. Prolonging the recession by two years hurts the unemployed and the middle class.

[Aramchek]

43. so somehow killing MC tax cuts helps them and ending UI helps the unemployed?

Sorry, I appreciate what you're going for in ending Bush's blunder,
but I can't justify the cost you're asking the People to pay.

[mtnsnake]

39. Do you believe what poster #38 just said to you?

If not, why?

[Aramchek]

42. it was much much more than just the Bush Tax Cuts. they added mightily to the deficit.

But they did not cause the Real Estate Bubble or the Financial collapse that followed when it burst.

[niceypoo]

37. I do not understand the sudden 'tax cuts cure everything' from hardcore Obama supporters

[treestar]

44. Because the nation elected too many Republicans

To the Senate

Why is that hard to understand? I don't know.