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Five of a kind
Tax them China style
As a nation we are killing ourselves over the budget and the debt
ceiling. Did you see Obama on TV? He looks worn down. He does not have
the power to craft a solution.
That the USA has a consensual process of creating laws is one of the
things that make the country great. It is also one of those things that
just kills us from time to time. Today it is killing “us”, it may well
kill Obama’s chance to get re-elected.
I wonder if we should do this “China Style”. They do it differently.
There is not much debate or discussion. They just print an announcement
in the newspaper. They did just that the other day. So what are income
taxes in China? The answer is they are very high:
The highest bracket of 45% is for anyone earning above $145,000. Of
interest to me is that anyone with an annual income over $64K pays 35%
tax.
This chart looks at US tax liabilities by income group. The highest earners pay an average of about 25%.
If the Chinese marginal rates were applied in the USA it would generate about $1.5 trillion of additional revenue. The budget would be balanced overnight. Of course if the US did something like that it would trigger a massive depression. Why is that?
On underwater housing and unemployment
Reuters has a story out suggesting that there is a shortage of workers:
There
is ample evidence that unemployment is the critical problem today. With
that in mind I found this story to be interesting. Some thoughts:
A) I wonder how much this is a function of the underwater housing market. I hear this all the time:
“I would move to where I could get a better job, but the house is underwater so I’m stuck”
B) Should this trend continue there will have to be some wage increases in the manufacturing sector. That would be welcome, but also inflationary.
Put A and B together and what do you get? Stagflation. That would be Ben Bernanke’s worst nightmare.
On FX Algos
This web site
produced some interesting charts. Some of this I knew from reading Zero
Hedge. Some of it I was not aware of (the extent of this). I find this
very troubling.
This shows that 56% of all NYSE trading is now a result of Algo activity.
$ volume on the NYSE is all over the lot. I find estimates of about $200
billion a day. So $100 billion each day is being traded by the robots.
That’s not new news.
The FX market is going through the same transition as the equities
market. This chart suggest that over 50% of daily turnover is now
computer generated.
But the FX market is a giant compared to stocks. The estimates
are that the FX market volume is more than $4 Trillion each day. (I’m
not sure I trust all these numbers {I think FX turnover is closer to $8T
a day}).
Cut this up as you like. This look at the numbers suggest that as much
as $2 trillion of algo trading is happening in the FX markets every day!
Ten times more in $ terms than all of the NYSE.
Look again at the chart and note that way way back in 2004 Algos represented only 2% of volume. This is exploding.
I’ve noticed that FX markets have been “spikey” all year. I thought it
was just the backdrop of news that was causing the very rapid price
adjustments. Looking closer at what role the robots have in this makes
me re-think that.
I’m not sure when it will happen, but I think the dominance of robots in
FX is going to cause a “flash crash” one day. I just remind everyone
who plays in this sandbox that there will be no “regulator” who will DK
the millions of trades (trillions of dollars) when (not if) this
happens. The losses will be staggering. If you think you can sleep easy
with a stop loss; you're wrong.
Dumb tax breaks
Don’t worry about the railroads. They’re doing just fine. All the
numbers have been moving higher for this group. Trains now move about
45% of all goods. The industry is looking at 100b in revenues and has a
fat (mid teens) profit margin. Ask Warren Buffet. He owns BNSF. He
bought it in 2009, he’s making a fortune.
So why do I bring this up? I saw this and it pissed me off.
So our ‘friends’ who own railroads and are making a fortune are also
getting a tax break from the Feds for new ties that they lay. The tie
business seems to booming as a result.
My point here: We have the absolutely worst tax code that could exist.
We ought to throw the whole thing out the window and start anew. I
doubt that big shots like Warren B would like that very much, so it
won’t happen.
Let them drink water
OJ trading at a record high today. Who cares? Not the Fed.
I’m not blaming the Fed for the high price of orange juice. But I do think it’s a crime that both food and energy prices are exclude from Ben B’s definition of inflation.
I keep expecting the American people to wake up to the realities. They haven’t, yet.
I have confidence that they will at some point. It will take more
record prices for the things we consume for there to be a significant
collective reaction. It’s likely to be ‘noisy’ when it does happen.
The Fed is perpetrating the greatest theft in the history of man. This
will not go un-noticed for much longer. The pendulum is going to swing
the other way for the Fed. Today they have unlimited power and answer to
no one. When the pendulum does swing it will lop off some heads in the
process. I wouldn’t bet on Bernanke’s position in the history books. He
(and the Fed) could end up taking the brunt of the fallout for what is
surely going to come.
»
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Hey, if others can post imaginary crap here then I can too.
Reinstate Glass-Steagall? Right. But it get beat to death here, as do other pie-in-the-sky imaginings.
Hey! Enjoyed the last post -- I always wanted to visit Machu Picchu.
Yes, lets see, federal taxes (shown) state taxes, city taxes, property taxes, excise taxes, sales taxes, fees collected by states and municipalities, permit fees, (not shown).
This post is right on point-- that is, as long as people are not really hungry, they will not take action. On the other hand there is no more powerful motivator than extreme discomfort. When the masses become hungry and their children become hungry, whether for food or for freedom, then we will see action. Thank you ZeroHedge and thank you Mr. Krasting!! Keep up the good work!
I'm hijacking, but whatever... so wtf happened to all the deflationists, anyway?
bueller?
bueller?
The women will lead. When she says " I can't feed the children-we have no food" The shot guns will come out, and a 235 year old Constitution will truly become confetti. A new reality will be the next 150 year task; and the toll for some will be gruesome. We don't fuckin learn!!
Marcus Tullius Cicero. (Jurist, politician, philosopher, writer and Roman orator)
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury must be replenished, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of public officials should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to other countries must be removed so Rome does not go bankrupt. People must learn to work again, instead of living off the state. "
Year 55 B. C.
Milestones
GOOD WORK? BULLSHIT! For a board with so many finance and economy nerds, explain how raising taxes is good for the economy!!! Then, explain why the IRS Act and the FED Act were both enacted during the same year of 1913!!! I know the reason - do you?
"The Power to Tax is the Power to Destroy." US Supreme Court
ABOLISH THE IRS AND END THE FED!!! That will fix the economy.
STIFF THE F***ING FED!
"The Power to Tax is the Power to Destroy." US Supreme Court
That means we need raise taxes on the poor.
The Fed must go, but raising taxes will not destroy the economy any more than lowering taxes (as Bush did) will save it. Most of the money not being taxed is not being spent in the economy. Show me a single job that will be created by lowering taxes and I will show you ten Swiss bank accounts stuffed with gold or francs or whatever that is not being used to create a single job. Yes, it is possible to over tax to the point where no one will work, but we are so far from that point it is laughable. The economy boomed in the 1960's when tax rates were MUCH higher. No one likes taxes and if we all decide we want low tax rates because we're greedy and selfish and most of the poor don't vote, let's just be honest about it. How about some honest debate in this country?
Raising taxes isn't the issue. Raising tax rates is. Higher rates cause a dislocation in alocation of assets. There are several solutions including a flatter rate with a broader base while eliminating deductions entirely, or if one chooses to protect the mortgage interest deduction, it certainly can be tiered. The "Fair Tax" is another option although politically unlikely is my guess.
Same should happen with the corporate rate and this is probably more significant regarding employment.
Either way, reduce deductions, reduce misallocation of assets.
And my guess is that the senior vote represents a significant number of "poor".
"Greedy and selfish"? The money we earn belongs to us, not to you thieving socialist parasites who steal it from us at gunpoint. And then spend it (+40%) on warfare/welfare. You wanna "help the poor"? Walk up to the next one you see and give him all your money and property. It'll make you feel good.
P.S. I'm not saying that greedy and selfish is bad. It's human nature. I'm just saying let's be honest about it. Remember, if we had no society at all, most people on this ZH site wouldn't have much either. The American economy is what it is because there's a middle class. Some of us have been smart enough to figure out how to have a lot more than the average guy, but we do it in the rubric of the overall economy that requires the average guy. We don't benefit and we also stop making our money (most of us) if the average guy is in the street with a gun trying to feed his kids and isn't buying anything.
"P.S. I'm not saying that greedy and selfish is bad."
Why am I not surprised.
It is not about morality to me. It is about self-preservation, both economically and physically. I don't suspect you are altruistic either.
You don't have to suspect anything about me...I don't hide anything...I don't have to, I'm in your face.
You hide the logic behind your argument quite well.
The middle class was both healthier and weathlier during the 1950s. The "great society" programs" have done nothing but bankrupt us. We've collected revenue of 18-20% of GDP for over 30 years prior to the present decade-why must we spend 24-25% over the last three years? Entitlements breed entitlement mentality also known as dependence on central authority. This is serfdom. Rand understood that the individual is the source of all creativity and wealth and defines the meaning of his life through his work. This is especially true in my field of science where "groups" bascially produce nothing original and actually inpede progress via groupthink. I had observed that those without much talent and ability always favor redistribution and prey on that human weakness-one of the seven deadly sins-envy.
There, that summary saves you actually reading any Ayn Rand.
Here's some logic for you: If A implies B and B implies C then A implies C. Politics/economics discussion never fall into "logical" arguments. You either believe in personal responsibility or you don't. If you don't you'll admire entitlements-"I exist therefore I am entitled to take."
Just think for yourself for once and ask yourself: if you were in the top .1%, and you generated that wealth not by productivity but by birth, how would you maintain it? You would advocate an end to social programs and decry regulation of yourself. You would suggest that all of the world's problems derive from the poor taking from the rich. You would proclaim that taxing the rich discourages employment. You would claim that trickle down economics is the answer. These arguments have worked very well for the 400 people who control more wealth in the US than the rest of us combined. And unfortunately, that is because many people are easily led by propaganda and ideology, so long as they think (wrongly) that they are part of the team they support. Ayn Rand was a fraud and her belief system an admitted failure (see Alan Greenspan). The rich have gotten richer over the last 40 years, while the ranks of the poor have swelled. Government has been corrupted by the foxes you wish to put in charge. Wake up, little hen. There is a fox at the door and you are trying like hell to let him in.
You make a lot of assumptions about those who you debate with. Its unfortunate you cannot address the questions posed instead of pontificating about the top .1% and what they are trying to do to us. It doesnt take much intelligence to guess how they would behave when trying to save or grow their wealth. What you cannot seem to understand is that you want to preserve their greatest weapon of pillagery for their future use. Government
That's a very nice and simplistic view of the world, and very convenient when society exists with the infrastructure necessary for you to get yours. The poor are selfish and want what's "theirs" too, even if it belongs to you. In many parts of the world, people with money need to walk around with body guards. Their kids get kidnapped and held for ransom. Everyone who doesn't live in poverty needs to erect a fence and have security. The haves cannot walk down the street. Does it matter that you got your money from clever business dealing and you earned it fair and square when someone who has nothing to lose is holding a gun to your head and there are no cops around because there's no money to pay them? No thanks. What most "give me what's mine and fuck everyone else" conservatives fail to consider, is that the poor are equally selfish and they believe they are entitled to what's yours just as much as you do. The balance between the two forces is called living in a society, and it's worked very well for the USA. What's not working very well is concentrating more wealth at the top. Every king that ever lost his head to an angry mob thought his whole life that the masses had what they deserved and that he had what he deserved.
Government is the root of almost all of the problems you bitch about. If you are principled the world is simple. Abolish the government. Central power is always corrupted. Those men and women who need body gaurds are likely to be the thieves. They need protection from their victims. Their very tool for the theft, GOVERNMENT. Governments are nothing but the biggest criminal organizations on the planet. You like to claim the principles of freedom are somehow too "simple" and therefore are ridiculous. Fuck that. Simple is good. Simple can be understood. Simple is less likely to be manipulated. Simple is more difficult to fuck up. I like simple and I think most everyone else does as well. I pity you because you live in fear of freedom. You fear monger with hypotheticals, using made up situations to argue against the very real, very evil system that stands before our very eyes. Weak, lazy, ignorant minds fear freedom.
I'll bet the top .1% laugh daily that they have convinced folks like you that they should be left unencumbered by rules imposed by the other 99.9% of us. Who do you think has corrupted the government you loathe? There is a reason that man has been ruled by tyrants through most of our history. Elected government is a new concept. The "free market" of might makes right has played out for the remainder of recorded history. Spoiler alert -- unless you're in the top .1% by birth, you're a slave or serf in that paradigm.
Who do you think has corrupted the government you loathe?
Look, no one can be corrupted -- a person is either corrupt, or they are not. The presence of a corrupting influence merely exposes what was already there.
As despicable as some of them are, no person or company in the top 0.1 percent ever took an oath to represent you or to uphold the U.S. constitution. They could not get all the money and power you've complained about throughout this thread without the government willingly GIVING it to them (TARP, for instance). And yet, you blame everyone but the government. And then say anyone who doesn't see it your way is somehow a victim of propaganda. I say this respectfully, but you seem absolutely blind to the obvious.
Could you at least address his complaint instead of this world wide cultural meander? How did all these people live so long without the government stealing from one to give to another? We used to govern at the rate of about $320 per citizen per year. Now its around $400,000 per year. Are we really 1200 times better off? Or does all this dependence build in an electoral advantage, Like it does in Chicago, for these politicians?
There is a Shangri La of Progressives. I wish you would simply point to it to show us how good it can be. A place run by Progressive Democrats for 50 years. A place with tons of Social Justice, food stamps, WIC, School and education programs, jobs and job training programs, health and all kinds of wonderful things that build vibrant and thriving economies and communities.
We call it Detroit.
"We call it Detroit."
That is f***ing brilliant.
Thank you for making me laugh.
You must be kidding if you think $400,000 per year goes to each of the poor. I would venture to say that $300K per year goes to 1) the military industrial complex, 2) the health care industry, 3) and the banks, not necessarily in that order. As for what people did before that, they were illiterate and they died at an early age because they had no access to quality medical care.
I am not a Progressive. I am a realist.
The closest thing to Shangri La was the 1960's. Taxes were much higher. CEO pay was much lower. Laborers made a living wage. One parent could stay home and help raise children. Debt was not the answer to everything. Health care was affordable. It wasn't perfect, but it beat the heck out of the system today. Why do you suppose the rich have gotten richer while the ranks of the poor have grown? Trickle down much?
That $400K goes to the Govt parasites, your reading comprehension either needs strengthening, or you're being purposefully argumentative.
"Does it matter that you got your money from clever business dealing and you earned it fair and square when someone who has nothing to lose is holding a gun to your head and there are no cops around because there's no money to pay them?" No thanks."
I have yet to find where a thief is holding a gun to someones head and a cop is standing by, unless its a metaphor for government itself.
They usually show up long after the event when the robber has fled.
"What most "give me what's mine and fuck everyone else" conservatives fail to consider, is that the poor are equally selfish and they believe they are entitled to what's yours just as much as you do."
Here lies the rub.
As a fiscal "conservative" no one gave me jack shit, I earned it. And how did we get from a discussion of the haves & have nots to the premise of selfishness?
I'm to be considered "selfish" because I will take the thiefs gun away and shoot him in the head if he attempts to rob me?
I can two construct strawmen for every one of yours because I'm more efficient ;-)
"The balance between the two forces is called living in a society, and it's worked very well for the USA."
Balance will be restored when we once again recognize those who work get to keep (after taxes) 90% of their earnings. This requires cuts, not in Social Security as Obama lied about...
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/in-cbs-interview-president-obama-says-he-cannot-guarantee-social-security-checks/
(200 billion comes in to the Treasury in August, Social Security will pay out 20 billion, he lied about grandma, unless he has different priorities) but in the massive bureaucracy that is the US government.
I want a shut down...then we'll see what's really needed won't we?
"What's not working very well is concentrating more wealth at the top."
Jobs are not created by poor people or government, see the story of Solyndra here...
"OMB Deputy Director Jeffrey Zients, the only witness scheduled to testify at the Friday hearing, stood up the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, citing a scheduling conflict, according to Democrats on the panel."
http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=156395
Another 535 million dollar rat hole of waste and possible fraud.
But yes, you get Soros to not mail out his no-name election campaign credit cards with a $250 dollar limit and we'll talk again about the rich, selfishness, honesty, integrity and responsibility.
I won't try to convince you because I know my efforts will be wasted, but I leave you with just one more point. The American middle class is the golden goose that all of you Neal Boortz types take for granted. You benefit from its existence but you disdain it as needy and lazy. It exists because of things like unions, public schools and yes, direct tax subsidies. Did you ever sell a good or service to a government worker or someone who supported a government worker? Most of us have. Hell, Dick Cheney made most of his money from government handouts (Halliburton) AND he was a federal employee which gave him great influence and power in the private sector. Without some redistribution of wealth, we will have an ever growing group of poor people in this country with their hands out and eventually with guns drawn. They have big guns too, you know, and they hate you for your wealth. Further, it is ironic that most of the taxes you and I pay go to the top .1% directly or indirectly. Why do you suppose the bankers want the debt ceiling raised so badly? Stop all of the subsidies to the top .1% including the very existence of the Fed, and we can lower taxes and have the middle class that fuels the engine of our economy. But the .1% (a group to which I seriously doubt you belong) has convinced the likes of you that you are best off feeding them and not the poor. You, my friend, are a victim of their propaganda. I know you will never accept that because it challenges your tribal belief system, but it is fact.
"I won't try to convince you because I know my efforts will be wasted..."
And yet...
"The American middle class is the golden goose that all of you Neal Boortz types take for granted."
I am middle class, your presumption is false.
"You benefit from its existence but you disdain it as needy and lazy."
See above.
"It exists because of things like unions, public schools and yes, direct tax subsidies."
It exists because of middle class work ethic & a sense of right and wrong you "hopeless" troll. Public unions are a parasite on us. Public schools have turned out Obamatrons. And stealing from the many to give to the one is what ZH fights against everyday, you putz.
"Did you ever sell a good or service to a government worker or someone who supported a government worker? Most of us have."
Where does this government worker get his salary to buy a good or service?
From me, the middle class.
"I am middle class, your presumption is false."
Then you are even more pathetic for buying the propaganda that you have repeated throughout your postings. Most of your taxes feed the top .1%, the people who control most of the wealth of the world. They have somehow convinced you to keep paying taxes (you will, in the name of paying off the deficit) while they cut off the benefits to the poor and middle class (they will, in the name of austerity). Think back a few years from now, and remember this post while your taxes go up assuming you have any income left, and social services of all kinds markedly decline. There is a word for you -- "sucker."
"Most of your taxes feed the top .1%, the people who control most of the wealth of the world."
Clearly, you have not researched anything you're talking about.
You're wasting my time, your lack of talent is needed desperately over at firedog.
Later, much.
I just finished three 10 hour days of doing taxes, so this stuff is raw for me.
1- lines 51(child tax credit) and 52(residential energy credit) lead me to do pub 972 which required worksheets for "line11", which required doing earned income worksheet to fill out "line 1". roughly 6-8 pages of calculations for one line on 1040. Then, form5695 (2pages) which required values from pub972 worksheet in order to fill in line 52 on form1040.
2) multipage schedule d followed by page d10 worksheet.
I think the intent is to frustrate the crap out of people so that they don't bother going through all these hoops for a few bucks- in my case, only $1300. For me, this is very much worth it. I think these guys put out this crap so they can say, "look what we did for you!", even as they hope you don't bother.
3) Kentucky sent me "schedule P". By the looks of it, this gives an exemption on the first $41,110 of pension income for retired state, local, federal employees. Isn't that swell? The municipal mafia makes the rules and cuts the breaks there way. Maybe I read it wrong, as my head is swimming after doing this crap, but I think I read it right...
I agree we need government, but NOT at the levels of today. My damned returns are 20+ pages. I note that Barry's dad filed a form in the late 60's or early 70's that was only a few pages. Never mind the fact that his various dads each had deportation/entry refusals on their records. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
If enough people just stopped filing, that sort of thing would be resolved muy rapidamente.
Actually I have. But it's much easier to simply make claims and say "you're wrong, I'm right" when your belief system is challenged. I'm off to other things, but I'll leave you with this. 400 people control more than one half of the wealth in this country. So several hundred million people have less wealth than 400 individuals. When your dollar is being debased and you are paying taxes to feed the machine, ask yourself who really benefits. This is a link to a site that tried to debunk what I've said, and failed.
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/mar/10/michael-moore...
They have gained this position of wealth because of your glorious government. Not freedom.
--
I will never understand why the left doesn't get this. They advocate giving more and more money and power to the very same corrupt politicians that have enabled the uber-wealthy to plunder the country.
Wait wait wait, we wont last a week without the dept of education, energy or homeland insecurity, much less 150 or so military bases around the world keeping our financial imperialism alive and well. How can Grandma be so selfish in times like these?
"How can Grandma be so selfish in times like these?"
O'Pea Daddy, by framing his fiscal position the way he did, implied exactly that ;-)
Very well stated....
well stated but completely wrong!
But wrong...
Add up state income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, junk fees, etc and tell me the American people don't get taxed enough.
The government needs to shrink and taxes must be lowered. You want jobs? Then incentivize people to create them.
The American economy boomed in the 1950s and 1960s because the rest of the world was a smoking ruin after World War II. There was no competition. Also, the brackets were much higher back then (adjusted for inflation) so few even paid those taxes.
It's funny how liberals forget well-documented history that happened less than 70 years ago.
Show me quantitatively that lower taxes created jobs. You don't have to cite GE's 995 Person Tax avoidance dept who effectively have created no NET new jobs or the fact that Jeff Emhelt has his job after overseeing a 39B loss in the company. Where small business comes from, that would have been caught in week one and he would have been gone.
64% of the job creators will tell you, they don't hire employees or fire them to save on taxes, they do it for the lack of or too many customers. Ahh depressions they get rid of excess capacity after the wealth effect turns into the panic effect as consumers swing from 2 Trillion in discretionary spending to 1.3 trillion in paying down debt as the non-liquid wealth they thought they had turns into negative net worth. . Quite a swing for a GDP, even like ours. Imagine the dollar multiple of two trillion in spending. Instead, we get rid of jobs by the millions, tax revenues shrink, to record lows as a percentage of GDP and calls for defense cuts are mute because the right is scared of it's own shadow or they are one of many people who portions of defense contractors who don't even bother paying payroll tax to the tune of 55 Billion.
What would happen to those contractors if defense was cut back to 2000 levels? Shave about 600B or more as it it is the largest socialist job program we have. When one adds the various internal defense agencies like the Dept of Homeland Security and the veterans benefits from the endless wars that seem to have one vital overriding logic "We are fighting for American Vital Interests" or is that Exxon-Mobile? it all adds up to 1.2 Trillion a year and that's cash out, that's not counting the accrued liabilities.
I can see where taxes would be difficult to pay when the govt does reach-arounds to the TBTFs by the trillions in off balance sheet SPEs ( Enron style) . In a world where the rule of law is for sale to the rulers and enforced with police forces emptying their new Glocks 40-50 Bullets at a time into a corpse after they bust into the wrong house, that it would somewhat give cause and reason for demanding lower taxes. After-all the rule of law is wholly dependent on a distinct American Cultural asset that has been devastated; the notion of "fairness" in the rule of law and other dealings.
Funny, I never hear that though from the ideologue who are absolutely convinced that they are right and don't give a fuck if their parents can no longer collect social security even though they took out a HELOC to pay for said "libertarian - right wing hack's" education who figures everything is theirs even when parents come knocking at the door for looking for a little payback for giving their little ideologue/ sociopath life to which they say "FUCK YOU, you shouldn't have fucked and had me and raised me. We all have choices , you made yours, now get the fuck out"
Hopefully the joy of raising sociopath children will be yours so there isn't even a wince when you drive over your parents dead frozen/bloated bodies. "Hey kids, that's one way to get a free burial in a mass grave- HAHA. Make it too disgusting to look at - snort".
"Damn Dad, that 's why we love ya, we know we get to do the same - hahahahah".
You claim "business people don't hire or fire to save on taxes" is not a questions people ask. "They hire or fire based on the number of customers they have" is the correct point What makes a good customer? Someone with some fucking money. Someone who was not robbed by their government. Governments steal our productivity which equates to slavery. Instead of 40% of your productivity being taken away and you were forced to be enlsaved at a work camp for 40% of your working life, doing whatever the government commanded, would you still feel the same way? Unfortunately most conversations about taxes end up being a debate about the what, where, and how much the governemnt should be allowed to economically pillage us or other groups. The better conversation would be to ask "Should we allow the government to rape us at all"?
40% of your productivity being taken away
That's pretty funny as there has been more than enough claims that 50% of Americans pay no taxes at all on this site, that being the group that would most likely be customers of small business unless of course the income group you are referring to would be customers of a Porsche /Mercedes dealership
Tiffanys doesn't seem to have problems nor does most of the businesses with good reputations that cater to the wealthy even though "40%" of so called productivity is taxed. Which leads one to wonder how many trust fund babies and investment dividend earners which are shopping addicts like say a Christie Mack, where productivity is defined as dressing up in new designer clothes and showing up at someone's favorite vanity cause.
"Add up state income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, junk fees, etc and tell me the American people don't get taxed enough."
That's exactly what I thought. Do the Chinese have provincial income taxes? If not, then the central government might be collecting more and passing some of the funds back to the provinces. Municipal income, sales, or other taxes? Same deal. It may not be possible to track, for example, total sales taxes paid as a percentage of income for each income group. But for this article to make sense, it has to give the total taxes paid to all governments as a function of income level. Otherwise, this is just accounting slight of hand.
I am not a liberal, but it is interesting you peg me as such. I don't believe in the nanny state, I hate the TSA, I think the military industrial complex is a cancer on our society, I believe in gun ownership, etc. The fact that I understand the role of taxes and government in society does not make me a liberal. Rather, it makes me a thinking person able to see beyond the black and white of pure ideology. Some of the country's success in the 1950's and '60's resulted from the after-effects of world war II. But the middle class grew up because of a more egalitarian system where CEOs did not make thousands of times as much as workers. Henry Ford understood it when he made sure his own workers could afford to buy the cars he built. We are losing that core element of our economy.