"Tax the Rich"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Helping your kids through grad school is a privilege reserved for the UMC. People like you should be taxed more. Only taxing the “rich” isn’t enough.

Ummm..nope, that is called "planning". We started saving for undergrad when we only had $200K (30 years ago) income. And we didn't start "Splurging in life" until we had enough saved for both kids to attend undergrad fully paid...that was done by age 10 and 8 for the kids. Then we continued to add a bit and let it grow for 10+ years to fund grad school.
But we scrimped and saved and lived a much lower "lifestyle" until 35+ so we could be financially set education wise. We bought a house for 50% of what the bank said we could afford in our early 30s (2nd house in our life), rather than splurging and spending more. It meant we could also afford to vacation and eat out and provide activities for our kids also while saving for retirement and their college.

"only" $200k income... lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taxes is theft plain and simple.

The rich have money to spare and taxes doesn't affect them.

If things were FAIR, then anyone making less than 100K a year and owning less than 2 million dollars of real estate, would have to pay ZERO TAXES.

So much of this post is insane... But mainly, no, taxes are absolutely not theft. Think of them as a membership fee for being part of a society.

By this logic, everyone should pay for membership. But that's not how our tax regime works. It penalizes the most productive and successful in order to benefit those who contribute the least productivity, for no apparent reason. It also distorts the economy and markets through ever-changing government efforts to apply social engineering through a system of tax-related incentives and disincentives, causing people and businesses to engage in behaviors they otherwise would eschew.

A fair system would be a flat tax where everyone, regardless of income, pays the same rate. People with higher incomes pay more, lower incomes pay less, everybody pays and feels the same amount of relative pain. The inefficiencies inherent in our convoluted system of deductions, income brackets, credits, and exemptions could be instantly eliminated.

Notwithstanding your obviously incorrect assertions that high income earners are necessarily productive and low income earners do not contribute to society, paying your f—king taxes for the benefit of a country which has allowed you to be financially successful, (relatively) healthy, and (relatively) safe IS NOT A PENALTY!

I really wish we could round up all of you “self-made” producers and drop you off in Somalia. Let’s see how productive you are then.

People with higher incomes are, by definition, more productive. They wouldn't be more highly compensated otherwise. They make more money, spend more money, invest more money, and they pay more taxes. People with lower incomes do less of all those things. It's simple enough.

Okay, I see the problem here. You simply don’t understand what the word “productive” means. And the bolded must be trolling, it’s so laughably stupid. Or maybe you’ve never actually had a real job?

Reality is that (for the most part - there are always exceptions) the most highly compensated among us don’t produce anything, or they don’t produce anything that is actually worth producing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do well. I am not complaining and feel very fortunate to have two very good paying careers. But we just did our end of year tax analysis with our CPA and our effective tax rate when adding federal plus DC taxes is 45% (36% federal, 9% DC and DC is only "low" because a lot of our income is through a DC C-Corp which is taxes slightly lower at 8.5%).

45% of our income going to taxes. Nearly half of what we take home. And yes -- we are utilizing every single tax strategy under the sun available to us and work with a very good CPA.

So let's change the complaint from "tax the rich" to "tax the billionaires" because the regular rich are playing PLENTY in taxes already. Sigh.

+1

Always have said that---when you add in State taxes, many of us are paying 45%+ on the majority of our income. yes, the first 400K is taxed less, but if you are earning $1.2M, majority is being taxed at the 45%+. Add in medicare tax (almost 2%) and you approach 50%. yes we make a lot, but not in the billions range. It's all wages and interest/dividends (and some Cap gains). So no way to "hide" the income. We are paying plenty, it's the really wealthy who manage to avoid it, as well as corporations.

So just go back to your meager 400k earnings and quit your crying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do well. I am not complaining and feel very fortunate to have two very good paying careers. But we just did our end of year tax analysis with our CPA and our effective tax rate when adding federal plus DC taxes is 45% (36% federal, 9% DC and DC is only "low" because a lot of our income is through a DC C-Corp which is taxes slightly lower at 8.5%).

45% of our income going to taxes. Nearly half of what we take home. And yes -- we are utilizing every single tax strategy under the sun available to us and work with a very good CPA.

So let's change the complaint from "tax the rich" to "tax the billionaires" because the regular rich are playing PLENTY in taxes already. Sigh.

I'm curious OP. Sounds like you and your partner make over $500k. Why not move to VA and save some money?

You don’t really end up saving all that much by moving to VA once you account for county, state, and property taxes. Maybe 1%? And for a lot of people that’s just not worth it.

In VA I save $10k a year on income taxes vs Moco MD on a 300k income. I pay about $500/year on car property tax that I don’t need to pay in MD. So in VA I clearly come out ahead.

You might not think 3.2% a year is that significant on 300k, but keep in mind it’s the after tax income that matters. 189k vs 197.5k which is 4.3%. It might not be enough to make me move to VA if I already live in MD but it is enough to prevent me from moving to MD from VA or another state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do well. I am not complaining and feel very fortunate to have two very good paying careers. But we just did our end of year tax analysis with our CPA and our effective tax rate when adding federal plus DC taxes is 45% (36% federal, 9% DC and DC is only "low" because a lot of our income is through a DC C-Corp which is taxes slightly lower at 8.5%).

45% of our income going to taxes. Nearly half of what we take home. And yes -- we are utilizing every single tax strategy under the sun available to us and work with a very good CPA.

So let's change the complaint from "tax the rich" to "tax the billionaires" because the regular rich are playing PLENTY in taxes already. Sigh.

I'm curious OP. Sounds like you and your partner make over $500k. Why not move to VA and save some money?

You don’t really end up saving all that much by moving to VA once you account for county, state, and property taxes. Maybe 1%? And for a lot of people that’s just not worth it.

In VA I save $10k a year on income taxes vs Moco MD on a 300k income. I pay about $500/year on car property tax that I don’t need to pay in MD. So in VA I clearly come out ahead.

You might not think 3.2% a year is that significant on 300k, but keep in mind it’s the after tax income that matters. 189k vs 197.5k which is 4.3%. It might not be enough to make me move to VA if I already live in MD but it is enough to prevent me from moving to MD from VA or another state.

Plus that money compounds over time. 10k a year invested for a few decades is easily 1M+

[Anonymous]

Taxing income is stupid if you don’t touch wealth.

What they should be doing is this: Reduce income taxes on the middle and UMC. Top income bracket should still be ~50% but that shouldn’t start until well over $1M/year.

Make up for this by getting rid of the long term capital gains rate, and make it impossible to borrow against your assets to avoid triggering a taxable event (at least tax the hell out of this).

People who are sitting on capital, not working an honest 9-5 for their money, should pay for it.

Tax then hell out of second, third, and fourth homes as well. Property taxes should be in excess of 3% for anyone owning multiple houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We do well. I am not complaining and feel very fortunate to have two very good paying careers. But we just did our end of year tax analysis with our CPA and our effective tax rate when adding federal plus DC taxes is 45% (36% federal, 9% DC and DC is only "low" because a lot of our income is through a DC C-Corp which is taxes slightly lower at 8.5%).

45% of our income going to taxes. Nearly half of what we take home. And yes -- we are utilizing every single tax strategy under the sun available to us and work with a very good CPA.

So let's change the complaint from "tax the rich" to "tax the billionaires" because the regular rich are playing PLENTY in taxes already. Sigh.

I have been saying this for years so thank you OP for posting!!
We are small business owners with HHI in the high 6 figures and we pay close to 44% in taxes like you every year. Meanwhile, billionaires don't pay because they technically don't make an income, but they take loans against assets which are not payable until death. Loans are not taxable, income is.

So yes, please don't vilify the top 1%, who are mostly small business owners (and employers) like us, or employed professionals like doctors and lawyers, who are paying their fair share in taxes! It's the top 0.01% you need to be angry at!

[Anonymous]

Our effective tax rate on a hhi of 350k is about 30%. I don't complain, and I would sure as hell not complain about 44% on 3.7 m HHI (which is basically our entire net worth in our 50s/early 60s).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Helping your kids through grad school is a privilege reserved for the UMC. People like you should be taxed more. Only taxing the “rich” isn’t enough.

Ummm..nope, that is called "planning". We started saving for undergrad when we only had $200K (30 years ago) income. And we didn't start "Splurging in life" until we had enough saved for both kids to attend undergrad fully paid...that was done by age 10 and 8 for the kids. Then we continued to add a bit and let it grow for 10+ years to fund grad school.
But we scrimped and saved and lived a much lower "lifestyle" until 35+ so we could be financially set education wise. We bought a house for 50% of what the bank said we could afford in our early 30s (2nd house in our life), rather than splurging and spending more. It meant we could also afford to vacation and eat out and provide activities for our kids also while saving for retirement and their college.

"only" $200k income... lol.

That’s 400k+ in today’s dollars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Helping your kids through grad school is a privilege reserved for the UMC. People like you should be taxed more. Only taxing the “rich” isn’t enough.

Ummm..nope, that is called "planning". We started saving for undergrad when we only had $200K (30 years ago) income. And we didn't start "Splurging in life" until we had enough saved for both kids to attend undergrad fully paid...that was done by age 10 and 8 for the kids. Then we continued to add a bit and let it grow for 10+ years to fund grad school.
But we scrimped and saved and lived a much lower "lifestyle" until 35+ so we could be financially set education wise. We bought a house for 50% of what the bank said we could afford in our early 30s (2nd house in our life), rather than splurging and spending more. It meant we could also afford to vacation and eat out and provide activities for our kids also while saving for retirement and their college.

"only" $200k income... lol.

yes, by age 28 we were making 200K as a couple. That is what happens when you choose the right major. Had we chosen different majors, we would have lived based on that income and still saved for college and retirement. If you want to make what CS/Engineering majors make, then you have to major in that. Or find the right path with your English degree (it can be done, but you might be a bit older before you manage that). But if we only brought in $75K or 100K, we would have lived accordingly and still saved 20-25% of our income. The key is budgeting and including saving in that budget....sometimes you might not always get what you want for a house or apartment or car, but it's smarter to find what works with your budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Taxing income is stupid if you don’t touch wealth.

What they should be doing is this: Reduce income taxes on the middle and UMC. Top income bracket should still be ~50% but that shouldn’t start until well over $1M/year.

Make up for this by getting rid of the long term capital gains rate, and make it impossible to borrow against your assets to avoid triggering a taxable event (at least tax the hell out of this).

People who are sitting on capital, not working an honest 9-5 for their money, should pay for it.

Tax then hell out of second, third, and fourth homes as well. Property taxes should be in excess of 3% for anyone owning multiple houses.

Why should my taxes be HIGHER for a 2nd home? If anything, I'm not using the resources 100% of the time in the area, so I'm already paying "extra". But you don't get to charge people more for how many homes they own (most don't own more than 2)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do well. I am not complaining and feel very fortunate to have two very good paying careers. But we just did our end of year tax analysis with our CPA and our effective tax rate when adding federal plus DC taxes is 45% (36% federal, 9% DC and DC is only "low" because a lot of our income is through a DC C-Corp which is taxes slightly lower at 8.5%).

45% of our income going to taxes. Nearly half of what we take home. And yes -- we are utilizing every single tax strategy under the sun available to us and work with a very good CPA.

So let's change the complaint from "tax the rich" to "tax the billionaires" because the regular rich are playing PLENTY in taxes already. Sigh.

I have been saying this for years so thank you OP for posting!!
We are small business owners with HHI in the high 6 figures and we pay close to 44% in taxes like you every year. Meanwhile, billionaires don't pay because they technically don't make an income, but they take loans against assets which are not payable until death. Loans are not taxable, income is.

So yes, please don't vilify the top 1%, who are mostly small business owners (and employers) like us, or employed professionals like doctors and lawyers, who are paying their fair share in taxes! It's the top 0.01% you need to be angry at!

+1

Definately the Top 0.01%+ that we should focus on, not the rest of the top 1%. Those are the people paying the vast majority of taxes in this country already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Helping your kids through grad school is a privilege reserved for the UMC. People like you should be taxed more. Only taxing the “rich” isn’t enough.

Ummm..nope, that is called "planning". We started saving for undergrad when we only had $200K (30 years ago) income. And we didn't start "Splurging in life" until we had enough saved for both kids to attend undergrad fully paid...that was done by age 10 and 8 for the kids. Then we continued to add a bit and let it grow for 10+ years to fund grad school.
But we scrimped and saved and lived a much lower "lifestyle" until 35+ so we could be financially set education wise. We bought a house for 50% of what the bank said we could afford in our early 30s (2nd house in our life), rather than splurging and spending more. It meant we could also afford to vacation and eat out and provide activities for our kids also while saving for retirement and their college.

"only" $200k income... lol.

That’s 400k+ in today’s dollars.

So you get there thru diligence and hard work. Yes, picking the right major helps you get there faster, but that is a choice anyone can make. Just like I don't want to be a writer/communications major, some don't want to be a chemical engineer. That's perfectly fine, but then don't complain that you don't make as much. There is room to do so, but not for everyone in that field. Let's face it, it's much easier to get a communications major than any engineering major, if it wasn't there would be more engineers and less people who drop out of those majors because it's too hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We do well. I am not complaining and feel very fortunate to have two very good paying careers. But we just did our end of year tax analysis with our CPA and our effective tax rate when adding federal plus DC taxes is 45% (36% federal, 9% DC and DC is only "low" because a lot of our income is through a DC C-Corp which is taxes slightly lower at 8.5%).

45% of our income going to taxes. Nearly half of what we take home. And yes -- we are utilizing every single tax strategy under the sun available to us and work with a very good CPA.

So let's change the complaint from "tax the rich" to "tax the billionaires" because the regular rich are playing PLENTY in taxes already. Sigh.

+1

Always have said that---when you add in State taxes, many of us are paying 45%+ on the majority of our income. yes, the first 400K is taxed less, but if you are earning $1.2M, majority is being taxed at the 45%+. Add in medicare tax (almost 2%) and you approach 50%. yes we make a lot, but not in the billions range. It's all wages and interest/dividends (and some Cap gains). So no way to "hide" the income. We are paying plenty, it's the really wealthy who manage to avoid it, as well as corporations.

Sounds like it would benefit you to get rid of the capital gains loophole.

Different poster, but I would love to get rid of the no capital gains tax on inheritances loophole.

Heck, I'd love to get rid of estate taxes at the fed and state level. Until then we will use trusts and gift all our kids/their spouses/grandkids/etc $18K from each of us yearly to spend it down (not that it will help much)

What you are doing, which is spending money and putting it into the economy, is one of the reasons there are estate taxes. Estate taxes are a good incentive to spend. It also prevents dynasties where it could end up that a couple of hundred family dynasties have hoarded so much money that it has a negative impact on the economy.

You forgot the incentive to give to charity as another way to avoid so many taxes. Most people would rather give to a needy organization before they give it to the government.

Don’t forget to pay for all educational expenses for children and grandchildren. It’s the best deduction they offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Helping your kids through grad school is a privilege reserved for the UMC. People like you should be taxed more. Only taxing the “rich” isn’t enough.

Ummm..nope, that is called "planning". We started saving for undergrad when we only had $200K (30 years ago) income. And we didn't start "Splurging in life" until we had enough saved for both kids to attend undergrad fully paid...that was done by age 10 and 8 for the kids. Then we continued to add a bit and let it grow for 10+ years to fund grad school.
But we scrimped and saved and lived a much lower "lifestyle" until 35+ so we could be financially set education wise. We bought a house for 50% of what the bank said we could afford in our early 30s (2nd house in our life), rather than splurging and spending more. It meant we could also afford to vacation and eat out and provide activities for our kids also while saving for retirement and their college.

"only" $200k income... lol.

That’s 400k+ in today’s dollars.

Even $200k in current dollars is 2.5x the median household income.