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Non-Tech : Who Really Pays Taxes? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michelino who wrote (210)	8/15/2000 7:25:59 AM
From: Montecristo No.2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 666

Dear Michelino: Did I attack you personally? I could have called you a class envious jealous loser turned to Communism for an excuse, but did not. You make a number of assumptions and generalizations about my personal circumstances that are completely inaccurate. 1. We live well within our means. 2. We work for a living and personally generate our own income. 3. We come from relatively modest backgrounds. 4. No one is looking for your pitty. Not that you would care about any other facts, since it appears that our income status automatically classifies us as evil in your eyes. The class you and your comrads seek to anihilate for the good of the proletariat. The fact remains that in a free market society those who excel and are willing to work hard should be rewarded. But forgive me, you are ideologically opposed to a meritocracy. Those who work less should make less period, and be happy as you are living within YOUR means. You seem to have a problem with consumer spending, which has been one of the factors driving the current economic boom. Well, let's go with a flat tax and/or a consumption tax instead of the convoluted and UNFAIR tax system we have now. Except that I suspect you would not be satisfied with anything less than the bolsheviks taking over. I'll give you an anecdotal and poignant example of what is wrong with the entitlement mentality. A few months back my wife was going through builders' model homes looking for decorating ideas. At this particular community, the homes were priced in the seven figure range. This lady also touring the model home starts complimenting the sales agent about the beauty of the home, and then deftly proceeds to ask if they don't "set aside a certain number of homes for people who can't afford them"....SHE WAS ASKING FOR SECTION 8 HOUSING! Wish I could take more time to write. But I have to WORK. mc2

To: Michelino who wrote (210)	8/15/2000 10:29:47 AM
From: PMS Witch	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 666

I don't have first-hand knowledge about the wealthy in our society as I've started at the bottom and, so far, haven't climbed all that far. I was fortunate to have read a couple of book by Stanley (I think that's his name): The Millionaire Next Door and the Millionaire Mind. In the first book, he outlines that the majority of U.S. millionaires are hard working every day people who do not have outrageous lifestyles, and who, by a vast majority, have earned their own wealth. (Few inheritances) In the second book, he outlines just what makes self-made millionaires different from the rest of us: They have a profoundly developed desire to extract the maximum utility from whatever resources they have available. (My interpretation of the book.) If this author's research is sound, it appears that the prosperous among us resist the current taxation policies not because of their greed, but instead, because they perceive the whole system is so totally flawed it cannot possibly achieve the worthwhile goals we all support. I fully realize that reading two books doesn't validate my opinions, but I do feel that the author's research was much more far reaching than any of my personal experiences. In many areas, I use the eyes and ears of others to extend my sampling of the world around me, so I have little reservation in doing the same in this case too. Cheers, PW.