John Craft says:

I guess it would be obvious who to vote for if you are making over $ 266 k….otherwise it looks like the handling of the deficit might be in better younger hands.

QB says:

Does anyone is US care about the debt? Not just the politicians, but the regular voter?

bobbo says:

Uncle Dave==thanks for the link. Yea, the Deficit Spending plans of the candidates certainly should be part of the evaluation==or given that so many here are only interested in their personal tax rate today, would it matter at all?

Gareth says:

@James Hill #9

I am afraid you, along with many Americans live in a dream, the American dream, a place the rest of the world knows doesn’t exist.

Those that earn more money have worked hard and have been successful. Those that do not pay taxes live on the bare minimum they need to survive. This is a fact.

You believe though that we should cut the taxes of those that earn a lot, since they deserve more of the money they make. A fair point. However, with less taxes on the upper brackets there is far less money to spend on things the country needs.

A decrease on tax for the lower bands creates a much higher standard of living for the poorest people in your country.

I wonder, if you earned $10 a day, and had to support a family would you be so quick to give someone earning $3million a year some more money?

The system is the way it is, because it is the only fair system. Those that earn more have to spend more on taxes as they already enjoy a very high standard of living, those that earn less require more of their income to sustain a reasonable standard of living.

The United States needs a Health Care system, which is paid for with a dedicate national insurance tax. A health care system which is available to everyone, and the care you receive is based on you needs not your wallet.

While you believe that the United States has the best health care system in the world, you are sadly mistaken.

I do not live in the United States, but myself and others continually wonder, what on earth is wrong with you people. Every election, every bill you pass, every single day, you allow your country to fall down the gutter even further.

To even be considering a vote for McCain, who cannot even make a decision he stays with for longer than a day only indicates you to be the most dangerous nation on earth. As another reject president will likely send your’s and every other country on the earth into total disaster.

Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

Cutting taxes on the rich stimulates the economy because they then spend more,

Is there any independent financial analysis that supports this argument?

dusan maletic says:

@13: From USA Congress, Joint Economic Committee:

“High marginal tax rates discourage work effort, saving, and investment, and promote tax avoidance and tax evasion. A reduction in high marginal tax rates would boost long term economic growth, and reduce the attractiveness of tax shelters and other forms of tax avoidance.”

QB says:

#14 Most of the old eastern bloc has a flat tax along with Mongolia, Iceland, and Iraq.

Anyway, do you favor the elimination of other taxes coupled with a flat tax structure?

JimD says:

McBush – EVEN MORE TAX CUT FOR THE RICH !!! Whodda Thunk It !!! Voters don’t want what the Repukes are peddling !!! Sayonara, John !!!

Dave W says:

Has everyone forgotten that the (arguably) greatest economic miracle of the 20th century, that is the United States economy between 1945 and the early 1970s included marginal tax rates as high as 94% with a low of 70%? Back in the days when we had a real economy based on actually making things besides lattes?

bobbo says:

Overtaxing the rich is not a good thing to do. Society should be structured so that such disproportionate incomes/wealth accretion do not happen in the first place. Many simple changes in capital gains/exclusions/tax dodges/corporate benefit plans could be made to bring this about then class warfare around the tax rates could more easily end to focus more closely on “what works?”

To that end, its always amusing to see those folks claim the minimum wage cannot be raised .25 an hour because the economy can’t afford it but if you cut the pay of a $35 Million executive to $20 Million, he will no longer be motivated to work.

Silly the right wing bat shit people lap up as ice cream.

TomB says:

#4, Maybe we shouldn’t go to war then.

#11, Those that earn more have to spend more on taxes as they already enjoy a very high standard of living,

By what standards do you measure this with? Communism?

#22, I hate to burst your bubble, but those rates were on “net income” which differed significantly from “taxable income.” Income received has held steadily around 30% of GDP, regardless of the income tax rate (that includes federal and other).

In a nutshell, it doesn’t matter who cuts what from whom — 30% is what they want. By 2075, that percentage will be around 40% but that’s another problem.

Speaking of graphs:

If Ron Paul had been in that graph, it would have had one bar:

$0+ — 0% Tax

Sea Lawyer says:

Maybe instead of debating why the “rich” shouldn’t be able to keep more of their income, we should ask why it is that this government costs us 2.5 trillion dollars a year in the first place.

Misanthropic Scott says:

#29 – TomB,

I just have to ask, did Sea Lawyer ever say s/he was a man?

orangedog says:

I’m a single guy who doesn’t have more money than God, has to work for a living and didn’t have a gaggle of kids he couldn’t afford in the first place. Translation: I’ll be getting screwed under either of these “plans” while everyone else goes to the bank.