Equality?

[adamsgt]

Was reading a column at the Town Hall web site about Phil Mickelson the golfer who's upset at how much taxes he'll be paying in California. The following is a comment posted by a reader.

Loyal Democrat Wrote:
The man should indeed apologize. For every surplus dollar he has, that is one dollar that was denied to a poor person. Thus, by hoarding so much wealth, the man has in effect stolen from the poor. Why such theft is not grounds for imprisonment just shows how rotten our greedy nation really is.

Once a person makes enough to pay their basic bills, they have enough money. Their surplus income should then be taken away and applied toward paying for the needs of the people who are not lucky enough to get a high paying job. People cannot achieve true equality so long as some are permitted to have more than others. Our nation was founded upon the principle of equality, yet we still endure inequality in the living standards.

Interesting how some people think. Especially telling is the phrase "permitted to have more than others".

 

[Geronimo Jim]

The government school system has done it's job.

 

[mike in co]

anyone want to bet that the original poster DOES NOT WORK for a living ?
either a government employee or a bottom feeder off the government handouts.

i cannot believe that anyone who ever EARNED A DOLLAR BY HARD LABOR would post such crap.

mike in co

 

[spfld]

This nation is getting sicker by the minute. We're losing our country folks.

 

[Boyd Allen]

The more extreme a position is, the more damage it does to the premise on which it is based. Posters such as that one, do more for their opposition than to promote their own position. To me what is much more dangerous, it that little bit of poison that hides within a "cookie" or reasonableness. Eat enough of those cookies and you will be poisoned. With taxes, it has been the same as with freedom...give us a little bit more, just a little, and we can solve the problem. I think we can all see how well that has worked. We are being nibbled to death by ducks.

 

[Fred J]

It's none of my business to know how much another individual earns. It's also unfair for our Marxist style Officials crusade to take it away from then is greater percentage than they take from me.They need a consumption tax in this country to replace all the IRS and State/city, puts on us now.
Should anyone apologize, HELL NO!!!!!!

 

[Hunter]

They need a consumption tax in this country to replace all the IRS and State/city, puts on us now.

That is a very regressive tax structure and its "unfairness" can be well-argued.

 

[idaho bruce]

Ayn rand

I quote "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need". I am reading her book "Atlas Shrugged" at this time. She wrote this book some time ago and it speaks to the users, abusers, looters, etc... within our society. Still true today!! Bruce

 

[zippy06]

That is a very regressive tax structure and its "unfairness" can be well-argued.

I will bite.
What is the "unfairness"?
Where is the "unfairness"?

And please argue well.........Go on.......Remember you started it.

 

[mike in co]

the world is not fair...
life is not fair.....
fair is what democrates use to justify thier exsistance.......trying to make life fair...


for the rest of us, life is what we make of it....

 

[jim]

It never ceases to amaze me the jealously exhibited by so many people in this country towards successful individuals. I have worked all my life and am by no stretch of the imagination "wealthy" however I admire others who are successful and have accumulated some wealth. We truly have become a nation of "takers" - individuals who firmly believe they are "owed" something for merely existing and a government full of liberals who firmly believe it's their job to take more and more from those who do work and contribute to society.

Sad indeed - Europe here we come!

 

[John B]

Unfortunately, what is happening in the US is not unique. The mass indoctrination of young people through union controlled public schools is a world wide issue.
I grew up in a socialist country and I can tell you from personal experience that all the stuff the left is currently pushing for has been tried before. It does NOT work. Unfortunately, it will probably take a total economic disaster before the majority realize the system of "unilateral equality" is just a marxist dream. Sure, there should be a safety net for those of us who are on hard times, but that safety net can only be in place when there is a healthy economy fueled by successful people who want to be rewarded for their success.

 

[jo191145]

I quote "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need". I am reading her book "Atlas Shrugged" at this time. She wrote this book some time ago and it speaks to the users, abusers, looters, etc... within our society. Still true today!! Bruce

Good for you Bruce!
The best novel ever written. It was written (1947-1957)as a dire warning to America concerning our non adherence to the principles this country had been founded upon. Its setting? "The day after tomorrow". The book was always meant to be more relevant today than when it was written. But only if we paid no heed. We did'nt. She was scorned and ridiculed, still is. Back then the country was booming, Rand was a nut.
The headlines we see in the news every night come straight from the novel. Rands predictions are coming true. Atlas is beginning to shrug.


“If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders - What would you tell him?"

I…don't know. What…could he do? What would you tell him?"

To shrug.”

When your done with the novel you'll understand. You may want to know more. I recommend this http://atlasshruggeddocumentary.com/ You can rent/buy it from Amazon and stream to your computer.
Ayn Rands story is amazing itself. Amazing a young woman that lived through the birth of Communism then made her way here simply because of the Constitution and Bill of Rights told her this was the only place a person could be free. Amazing that in just a short time here she realized this country had veered off path. Amazing she saw our future today if we did'nt self correct.




“Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot”
― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

 

[fishbone]

The ninny that wrote that Nickleson should not be able to keep more than basic need of his earnings would scream if movie ticket prices were set up as follows;
$3 to $50 dependent on your earnings. If he had to pay $12 for his ticket and the guy in front of him just paid $6 bucks, he would raise holly hell about it being unfair.

 

[GerryM]

Definately a commie.

 

[VT52]

Therein lies the problem.

If someone with minimum wage would have to pay exactly what everything cost, he would not have money left for food. Hence taxes are in % of your income and not a fixes $ ammount; the rich guy pays mare and helps the less fortunate still attain a certain level of service/care.

Extremes are not good: Everybody earning the same is communism, Rich not paying more is obscene materialism. We have to find a middle ground somewhere.

 

[tobybradshaw]

Therein lies the problem.
...

Everybody earning the same is communism, Rich not paying more is obscene materialism. We have to find a middle ground somewhere.

I guess the USA is in good shape, by your standards, because the rich do pay more -- a hell of a lot more. The top 0.1% of income earners pay 17% of the country's total federal income tax revenue, the top 1% pay 37% of the total, and the top 5% pay more than half of all federal income tax (59%).

The bottom HALF of income earners contribute 2%.

So, when we hear that "the richest Americans need to pay their fair share," does that mean MORE or LESS than they're paying now?

http://taxfoundation.org/article/summary-latest-federal-individual-income-tax-data-0#table6

 

[Hunter]

I will bite.
What is the "unfairness"?
Where is the "unfairness"?

It's not reasonable to spread the cost of gov't equally among all people (the poor simply can't pay a pro-rata share). If it's not reasonable to do so, I would argue that it's not "fair" to do it (although I understand there is not universal agreement on the term "fair"). Likewise, it's not reasonable (thus, "unfair") to spread the cost of gov't solely on a consumption tax because that puts a heavier burden on the poor. (BTW, the heavier-burden logic is supported by the story of the widow's mite.) Why is it not reasonable to rely solely on a consumption tax? When the full effect of that is felt by the poor, there will be rioting in the streets.

Even if that individual makes a hundred million dollars per year, why should that individual have to pay (in taxes) for somebody else to eat, to go to school, to drive on the roads, to have a house? Answer: that individual shouldn't have to.

A society based on your answer will not last long. (BTW, the answer to your question is that the gov't says so -- and, as you know, the gov't has the right to say so.)

 

[Bill Ohio]

I guess the USA is in good shape, by your standards, because the rich do pay more -- a hell of a lot more. The top 0.1% of income earners pay 17% of the country's total federal income tax revenue, the top 1% pay 37% of the total, and the top 5% pay more than half of all federal income tax (59%).

Bingo. The government, and those who use the government as their bullies to redistribute the money of the people who earned it, think that the wealthy should be FORCED to pay the way of others. That Joe the Liberal's kid should be able to go to college courtesy of the rich family up the street. That's immoral.

Say you're a lazy slacker who watches from your campsite while the folks in the adjacent acreage build a house, a farm, and otherwise provide for themselves because they understand they need to do so to survive and be happy. You do none of those things, because the government man will show up and force them to share with you. Think that's okay? Then you're socialist and the enemy of personal responsibility. Pathetic, too.

Pay your own way. Or pay the consequences. That's called being a responsible adult. Scary? Not for right-minded people.

 

[Bill Ohio]

The Corporatocracy is King. Believe it. Is it any wonder the gun lobby gets a bad rap?

Defeat the monetary system as we know it, and you solve 95% of the problem.

Your logic lives up to your handle. The USA is the greatest nation in the history of the world. The uncontrolled spread of government, who produce nothing but problems, and then extort more money and power to solve the very problems they created, is why the USA is doomed.

The gun lobby doesn't get a bad rap except from the liberal press and the government -- who forgot decades ago that the PEOPLE (i.e. individual citizens) are in charge, that the government is supposed to serve the people, rather than try to rule them.

Whatever you're smoking, it isn't the tenets on which the USA was founded and thrived. How do you like living in Cuba?