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Originally Posted by jayeff
I thought this was going to be a question about why people with children are given extra tax allowances: something which has always puzzled me. A shame it turned out to be just another bash state benefits thread...
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tax allowances are far different than hand outs. A tax allowance is given to someone who ACTIVELY EARNS MONEY AND PAYS TAXES.
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Originally Posted by jayeff
you are going to start pulling apart the inequities of taxes and benefits, either declare that you have an entrenched view about a particular aspect or else go through the whole smorgasbord from top to bottom.
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I have an entrenched view that says everyone should pay the same amount of tax but I'll settle for the same percentage. The rich should not be taxed at a higher rate just because the voting pool is predominantly NOT rich and politicians cater to that.
[/QUOTE]There is something patently naive about a middle class guy whingeing on about how he pays for someone's baby, when he may be having to take out loans to pay for his kids' college while some wealthier guy has had the funds stashed away in tax-free trusts since the day his children were born.[/QUOTE]
No, actually they aren't naive, they understand the world. They understand that people who talk about tax free trusts just like the status quo and aren't serious about change for the better. Most responsible people have children when they can afford them and only have as many as they think they can afford. Why should a middle class family who wants 3 kids, only have two because so much is taken in taxes they can't afford the third.
The problem is not the rich, the problem is the poor and the politician's them.
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Originally Posted by jayeff
Sure there are inequities, they run from top to bottom and the middle class is mostly on the losing side. But don't kid yourself the picture would change too much if benefits for the poor were slashed.
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well, thats only because the polititians would spend it elsewhere.
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Originally Posted by jayeff
you wanted to be thorough, you could even ask, why in the US and most of western Europe, there are sliding rates of tax on everything from income to property? Why do you get tax relief on a mortage but not when you buy a Harley Davidson? If we are good capitalists, shouldn't every individual pay exactly the same tax regardless of income and how he/she chooses to spend that income?
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Again, the sliding scale exists because of the "stick it to the rich" mentality that politicians and people who talk about tax free trusts can muster. If we all paid the same, the middle class would stop voting for polititians who do nothing but spend money.
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Originally Posted by jayeff
I live in a town of 10,000 people. The equivalent of the population of 7 towns like this one live homeless in our capital city. In that same city, men living a mile apart have life-spans that are 20 years different. If you can be proud of a country in which those are realities and you are damn sure that you, your children, your grandchildren, etc., will always be able to handle every speedbump life puts in their paths, by all means campaign to cut benefits. Don't be too surprized if you have to spend all the money you save on security and protection, but hey, it's your choice.
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hmmmm, here in my state they stopped paying welfare mothers more money when they had more kids and guess what? they magically stopped having kids.
Lets not pretend that most people living in poverty aren't there because of their bad choices or those of their parents.
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Originally Posted by jayeff
you are done with that, maybe you can do something about the US having the most expensive education system in the world, yet one which functions so badly. Then perhaps you can fix the most expensive health care system so that it costs less and serves people better. Lots of ways to save yourself money if you put your mind to it...
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this is nothing more than a falicy. we don't lead the world in eveerything because we're dumb and lucky. the bottom of the barrel whom we presently pay to reproduce, drag down our overall statistics.
same with healthcare.
when people who have all the money in the world get sick, they come to America to get cured.