Obama & The Buffet Tax Question...

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   lady_love158posted 12 years ago

   Obama and Warren Buffet thinks the tax system isn't fair. Buffet a billionaire says he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary, and thinks the rich should pay more to make the system fair. So, wouldn't lowering the rate of poor people have the same effect, and why isn't Obama pushing for a lower rate for the rest of us?

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      Nick Lucasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Obama is banking on the notion that people dont understand the difference between income and capital gain taxes....buffet paid more than his sec just maybe not in income taxes because he paid himself very low and then took his money through capital gains and paid the 15% rate on capital gains........Obama is an idiot!!!!!

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         lady_love158posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Right, and if that isn't fair why not make 15% the top rate? Wouldn't we all then be paying the same rate and wouldn't that make it fair? Wouldn't we then have no reason to hate the rich?

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            Nick Lucasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            yeah but if he did lower taxes not as many people would be putting their money offshore.....that might hurt my business hahaha j/k

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      KeithTaxposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      There are two answers:
      
      1.) Because lowering taxes when the budget is already $1.5 trillion short is dumb.
      
      2.) How do you run a country if you need to cut everyone's taxes to zero, the same amount General Electric paid.

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         lady_love158posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         If you take away all the tax deductions (or ahem... "loopholes") then everyone would pay the same rate, say 15%, what Buffet pays and that would make it "fair". Isn't that Obama's goal? No one said anything about zero tax.

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         Nick Lucasposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah and GE that you mentioned......the CEO is also Obamas' head of council on new jobs...interesting isnt it....and buffett has tax problems for not paying going 10 years back

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         Evan G Rogersposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         51% of the country doesn't pay taxes.

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            John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Evan, you keep coming up with this pretty meaningless statistic!
            Do you mean 51% of the work force or 51% of the population, including children, stay at home mothers, the retired, the disabled etc?
            
            And do these "none taxpayers" escape all sales taxes, property taxes and the like?

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               lady_love158posted 12 years agoin reply to this

               He's talking percentage of federal tax filers. The number I heard was 47%. Some filers actually get back more than they paid.

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                  John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  Thank you Lady L, but you neglected to answer the final point.

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                     lady_love158posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     No one escapes all taxes, there are just too many!

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                        John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        So Evan is wrong to say that 51% pay no taxes.
                        
                        Thank you.

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                           lady_love158posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                           No he wasn't. Generally when we (in the USA) talk about government and taxes we are referring to the federal government and federal taxes. We have a progressive (federal) system that allows 47% of tax filiers to escape paying any federal income taxes and in some cases make a profit by qualifying for a negative tax. No matter how you spin it a large portion of the population doesn't pay federal taxes yet enjoys the benefits of the government.

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                              John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                              That sounds like spin to me, if you're being selective about who pays what tax then you should say so.

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   SparklingJewelposted 12 years ago

   Here is the Associated Press' factcheck on the notion that the rich are taxed less ...
   
   
   http://news.yahoo.com/fact-check-rich-t … 42868.html
   
   is there a way to sort it out to come up with a blanket statement of who does or doesn't pay less?

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