Here's another first world problem...
Posted on 09/26/2017 1:22:45 PM PDT by Kaslin
RUSH: Well, this is not gonna make my buddy happy. I just had a news alert here from the Wall Street Journal: “Republican Tax Plan to Allow for Top Individual Rate Above 35%.” Right now, it’s 39.6%, and when my buddy learned that it might be lowered to 35%, he was… Ah, he was okay, but it was not what he was expecting. It’s not what he thought Trump was gonna do. Now when he finds this out, it’s not gonna be pretty. I’m gonna hear about it. “Republican Tax…” I haven’t had anything to do with it, but I’m gonna hear about it.
Wall Street Journal news alert: “The Republican tax plan being released [tomorrow] will open the door to a top individual tax rate that is higher than the 35% that has been in previous plans, according to two people familiar with the discussions.” I need to remind all of you in the 39.6% bracket that this is what populism is. The vast majority of people aren’t anywhere near that 39.6% rate. It’s more than you think, but not a majority. “Tax cuts for the rich” are not populism. They are conservatism, but they are not populism.
In populism, you fire your shotgun and try to hit the majority of people no matter where they are, no matter what they think. The root of the word is “popular,” and if a majority of people want a wall, you say you’re for a wall if you’re a populist, whether you’re a conservative or a liberal. That’s what populists do. So populism is for cutting everybody else’s taxes, but the rich have got to “pay their fair share.” Now, obviously, that’s a liberal view. It’s a liberal way of looking at things, but it also happens to be the populist way, supposedly.
I mean, given the mind-set of the American people now. I’m gonna find out more about this as the week unfolds. This is just an example. The Republican Party, they just could be doing so much. They could be scoring so well. They could be just running the table. They could be setting themselves up for power for a generation, and they are not doing it. And it’s just sitting there! It’s just sitting right in front of them. All they have to do is grab it.
Flat tax is the best tax, fair to everyone. But because social security disproportionately taxes mid/low income, and low capital gains disproportionately helps high income earners, this is just a crude way to balance it out, and good politics as well.
I don’t think that dropping the highest bracket 4.5 points while raising the lowest bracket 2 points is what populists had in mind.
I have a populist tax cut!
Repeal the 16th amendment and go back to “imposts and excises” as mentioned in that musty document called the Constitution.
Health care, no wall, and now tax hikes.
And all anyone can talk about is the NFL.
Remind me again why the rich need a tax cut at all? They seem to have done quite well, relative to use working class guys, in the last several decades.
Poor people spend, they don't invest.
Investment is what makes the economy grow.
Seriously. Is there something magical about the number 35?
The rich are Democrats. Screw them.
How about a low corporate tax that the consumers ultimately pay? It should all go for defense. $600 billion. Then a flat tax for everyone else. The taxes can be divied up amongst the lowest income earners thereby insuring a minimum income. The only requirement is PROOF of 2000 hours worked per year. The higher the GNP the higher everyone’s income.
Tariffs, no more income taxes.
and go back to tariffs.
Though the lower income pay proportionately more of the SS tax, they pay very little in income tax. Some virtually no income tax.
Though the rich proportionately pay less in ss taxes, they also use proportionately less ss and medicare.
Just as SS taxes have a cap, so do the latter payouts
As far as capital gains tax, that you say supposedly helps the high income earner. It only helps in terms, that they aren't paying the higher tax brackets of normal income.
They are still paying a higher tax rate than the majority of lower income earners are paying.
Do you know any poor people who provide good paying jobs and benefits for others?
We have cigarette taxes to stop us from smoking.
Alcohol taxes to deter consumption of alcohol.
Soda taxes to curb soda drinking.
To follow this line of thinking then, income taxes are to discourage people from making income.
The highest earners have a lower overall tax rate (Social security + Cap gains + income tax) than the middle class because they make more money from capital gains, and don't pay social security taxes on income over ~100. A flat tax would be the best fix, but absent that, a higher rate on income isn't the worst thing. Lowest income earners are getting a free ride with tax credits. It would be better if they were paying something so they had some skin in the game.
“It’s not what he thought Trump was gonna do.”
And that’s the problem, Trump doesn’t write tax code. Congress does. If you think Trump is going to do something then you must think in terms of what can be done via presidential power only. Alas, the tax code is not one of those things. Despite Trump claiming “he” would cut taxes, he can’t and if you took him literally youre now disappointed.
Also, though the middle income pays SS tax, until $127K. The "rich" business owners, who employ them, match it.
Middle income people are also the ones who invest and benefit from lower cap gains, just as the wealthy.
Middle income also have deductions that protect a higher proportion of their income than the rich, thereby keeping them in lower tax brackets.
I'm not in favor of helping these people...
perhaps cut the capital gains on people under a certain income...
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