Saturday, September 17, 2011
It's Only Fair
President Barack Obama is proposing a new base tax rate for the wealthy in order to ensure that millionaires pay at minimum the same percentage of taxes as middle income taxpayers. That's fair, right? That's the way it should have been all along. The proposal will be included in the president's proposal for long term deficit reduction which he will officially announce Monday. Obviously, Obama's proposal will inevitably be negatively received by the wealthy of whom do not wish to pay the same amount of taxes as middle income taxpayers. However, Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, has long been a vocal supporter of rich people paying their far share of federal taxes. If billionaire Buffett can see the obvious- rich people should not exempt from paying taxes equal to middle class citizens- how can other wealthy Americans feel that Obama's tax proposal is unfair? Shouldn't America's wealthy citizens be obligated to pay taxes in at least equal proportion to those who are less wealthy?
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4 comments:
I am in total agreement with you Kimi. To me it just doesn't seem logical to tax the rich less then the poor. Looking back at the Bush tax cuts to the rich, the economy didn't really boom as a result so not taxing the rich can't really work. Plus if you really think about it, it wouldn't make much sense to tax the poorer more than the rich. Why tax people who barely have enough money to get by more than people who can afford to buy yachts, private jets, and a whole host of other things that many people can only dream about (butlers and maids to name to other perks). The rich definitely can afford to pay higher taxes, so why do we constantly give them tax breaks. It really is only fair to tax them as much as anyone else. In fact, maybe a little higher tax for them would be a little bit more fair. If you're a millionaire and especially if you are a billionaire, taxes are never going to kill your fortune in a land where taxes are some of the lowest in the world. If we really are going to base taxes on the income someone makes, then instead of the rich getting the cuts, it should be the poor and middle classes because as far as I have seen, tickle down economics has been more of a way to keep the wealthy wealthy and make the poorer people even poorer.
I believe that trickle-down economics works only in theory and with the premise that we live in a completely selfless world...seeing as we don't...many affluent Americans used the extra money they got to keep from Bush's tax breaks for yachts and jets and all the other ostentatious luxuries Patrick just mentioned. Now I also believe it's a bit of an overgeneralization to say that ALL wealthy people are like this - many in the upper class engage in philanthropic activity, and buying a nice $8 million dollar house in southern California can be a justifiable reward for that person's brilliance and contribution to society. I just don't understand why some selfish rich people are making such a fuss about having to pay the same tax rate as the middle class - it's simply what's fair. Too attached to their money?
I definitely agree with both of you. It seems more logical that everyone pays the same amount of tax rather than the poor paying the most and the rich paying the least. Of course nobody wants to pay more than they did before. So it’s only normal for the wealthy to complain about Obama’s tax proposal. But if the rich continue to complain about unfair taxation, they would be doing nothing to help the government and the current economy. Everyone has to contribute a little to make things work. Since the wealthy has been paying less than the middle income taxpayer, it seems more logical for the wealthy to pay the same amount as everyone else to balance things out. Nothing is every promising nor is anything perfect at first sight, but we can only move towards a healthy economy if everyone (especially the wealthy in this case) efforts and contribution.
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