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Originally Posted by Chung Tran
why don't you describe why I am wrong, instead of merely saying "you refuted nothing"?
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I already did. It's the first reply to your original post in the other thread. I described why higher capital gains tax rates are detrimental to the economy, and why raising the capital gains rate may cause the actual revenues realized by the government from the tax to decrease. I noted that your and other like minded people's primary motivation for raising the tax rate is to fuck the rich, even though doing that may reduce prosperity for society as a whole, and reduce the total amount of capital gains tax collected by the federal government. I also noted the USA tax system, including ALL taxes, is the most progressive in the developed world. If you'd like to verify that go to the OECD report:
http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/growingu...dcountries.htm
Or if you don't want to register to download then you can pull the Excel file showing the relevant data here:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/422013187855
In the Excel table, look at the very last column. This is share of taxes paid by the richest 10% of households divided by the share of income of the richest 10%. For the USA, it's 1.35. This number is higher than the ratios for other countries, indicating the tax system in the USA is the most progressive in the OECD (i.e. developed world).
One of the reasons, as I noted, that the USA has the most progressive tax system is because it doesn't have a large value added tax (VAT) that screws the poor and middle class. I believe that a VAT is a bad thing. Most Democrat politicians disagree with me, because they want to take more money from the poor and middle class to grow government. They would rather take it from the rich, but there's only so much you can take from the wealthy. You're limited to taxing 100% of their income and 100% of their net worth.
The data in the OECD study are from during the period the Bush tax cuts were in effect. The income tax system became even more progressive after Obama and the Democrats ended the tax cuts on January 1, 2013. I don't know what the effect of the Trump tax cuts will be. Overall I suspect they will lower the progressivity of the tax system, but not to the levels during the Bush administration (that is, the levels at the time of the OECD study). However effective tax rates for some taxpayers in the upper decile, like me, will actually go up as a result of Trump's tax "cuts."
In summary, the belief that the rich in the USA are undertaxed versus the poor and middle class is horse shit.
After your initial post, you wrote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chung Tran
speaking of FICA taxes, the poor and minorities will get back much less of what they paid in, because they tend to die younger and not collect, and many Illegals pay in to Social Security, and either leave the Country later, or paid in under a bogus number, and can never collect. you Republicans are the Greatest Bullshitters known to Man.
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This is ridiculous. In the case of Medicare, there's no cap on what you pay in. If you make $10 million a year in self employment income, then you'll pay 2.9% of that, or $290,000, for the Medicare tax. If you receive $10 million in salary, you'll pay in $145,000 and your employer will pay $145,000. Some guy who makes $50,000 a year will pay $1450 or $725, depending on whether he's self employed or salaried.
So you seem to be saying that the guy who's paying $1450 for the same insurance is getting screwed. He paid 0.5% of what the rich guy paid and he's getting screwed. Right.
Similar reasoning applies to social security although it's not nearly as extreme, because social security is capped at $128,000 income, and also because if you put more into Social Security, you get more out. You however proportionately get less of what you pay in if you make more money. In reality, all the old people make out like bandits. They'll collectively get more out than they put in. Social Security is a huge Ponzi scheme. The Millenials will be left holding the bag. Unfortunately the stupid fucks are like new Amway and Herbalife recruits, they don't know they're getting screwed so they'll continue supporting people like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump who tell them everything is just fine, or we should double down on social security and medicare.
As to illegal immigrants involvement in the social security system, you sound like Trump. They aren't stealing as many jobs, and paying as much in social security and Medicare as you would imply. What they pay in is a drop in the bucket compared to everyone else.