Tax movie

[gae]

Asshts, both of you.

Hey!!! Did you know Kerry served in Vietnam?

[Piña]

Hey, did you know that you're gonna get to take up the tax burden while dubya and his buddies get huge tax breaks?

[LanDroid]

Hey, did you know that you're gonna get to take up the tax burden while dubya and his buddies get huge tax breaks for taxes they avoided paying??? Can't wait 'til my character is ruined by inheriting enough money to get into THAT scam! Perhaps if I vote Republican that will happen in my next incarnation. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

<font color="#000002" size="1">[ August 17, 2004 10:54 PM: Message edited by: LanDroid ]</font>

[reason]

I'm sure you believe everything shown in your presentation.

[reason]

Dems Ask Wrong Question For Bush: Tax Burden Shifts to the Middle
Government Politics Election 2004 08/13/04 - -

Since 2001, President Bush's tax cuts have shifted federal tax payments from the richest Americans to a wide swath of middle-class families, the Congressional Budget Office has found, a conclusion likely to roil the presidential election campaign.

The CBO study, due to be released today, found that the wealthiest 20 percent, whose incomes averaged $182,700 in 2001, saw their share of federal taxes drop from 64.4 percent of total tax payments in 2001 to 63.5 percent this year. The top 1 percent, earning $1.1 million, saw their share fall to 20.1 percent of the total, from 22.2 percent.

Over that same period, taxpayers with incomes from around $51,500 to around $75,600 saw their share of federal tax payments increase. Households earning around $75,600 saw their tax burden jump the most, from 18.7 percent of all taxes to 19.5 percent.

The analysis, requested in May by congressional Democrats, echoes similar studies by think tanks and Democratic activist groups. But the conclusions have heightened significance because of their source, a nonpartisan government agency headed by a former senior economist from the Bush White House, Douglas Holtz-Eakin. The study will likely stoke an already burning debate about the fairness and efficacy of $1.7 trillion in tax cuts that the president pushed through Congress.

[reason]

What trav's brilliant movie doesn't depict is that Bush has done most of his tax cutting on nonwage earnings. Stock ownership is grossly overly skewed to the extremely wealthy and much less to the middle class, despite the oft quoted statistic of the majority of Americans now owning stock.

It seems cutting taxes on wages - on actual work - would be more productive than cutting taxes on dividends that go to a relatively wealthy few. If Bush is really serious about getting people to work, perhaps he would have removed the disincentive to work by focusing on middle class wage tax cuts.

But that's not what he did. The reality is that the gap between rich and poor is greater than it has been in twenty years.

[reason]

One last comment about trav's movie that I found particularly interesting. It asked something to the effect of "How many people have been hired by a poor person?"

Well, maybe the answer is to create more wealthy people - not further enrich the ones who already are.

Sound good, travy baby? Turn on the brain waves...the movie's over!

<font color="#000002" size="1">[ August 17, 2004 01:07 PM: Message edited by: reason ]</font>

[reason]

Originally posted by LanDroid:
Hey, did you know that you're gonna get to take up the tax burden while dubya and his buddies get huge tax breaks for taxes they avoided paying??? Can't wait 'til my character is ruined by inheriting enough money to get into THAT scam! Perhaps if I vote Republican that will happen in my next incarnation. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

<font color="#000002"><font size="1">[ August 17, 2004 10:54 PM: Message edited by: LanDroid ]</font></font>

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ohhhh, now let's not get all high and mighty, LanDroid. We all *try* to dodge taxes. There aren't too many people who sit down in April and try to pay *more*. We all try to give the government the least amount possible. I don't fault the rich for being like the rest of us. The only difference is that they have more to lose by not being like the rest of us.

Let's face it: If you had a boatload of money I'm sure you'd be using all the loopholes at your disposal.

Also remember this: The money belongs to us, NOT the US government. We need to think in terms of keeping what's ours, not withholding what "belongs" to the government.

<font color="#000002" size="1">[ August 18, 2004 08:12 AM: Message edited by: reason ]</font>

[reason]

Absolutely surreal. I heard exerpts of his speech and he actually was saying 'why tax the rich they cheat anyway.'

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, that's not exactly what he said. I think he used the word "dodge," and there's a big difference.

Despite Bush's inability to understand the importance of crafting his words carefully, what he said is accurate.