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To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (114133)	1/3/2001 10:31:10 PM
From: Skeeter Bug	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

victor, two things need to get done. 1. the govt needs to stop being self serving - never gonna happen. so, let's be realistic and assume the status quo (something reagan didn't do, to his shame and our detriment). 2. since a flat tax will reduce the wealthiest tax contribution by $100s of billions, who is going to pick up the thousands and thousands per middle income family tax tab to make up the difference? are the homeless going to pick it up? wrt the mortgage deduction, it only REALLY helped the real estate folks and those people who already owned their home pre deduction. why? b/c w/o that deduction, housing would cost much less on an absolute basis b/c folks wouldn't calculate in the deduction to find their max pain house purchase. therefore, they'd pay less. net, net, they'd actually spend within 1% or 2% in actual purchasing power either way they did it. few others TRULY benefitted. 6 of one, half a dozen of another. a graduated tax rate is fair, imho. when i had little, i appreciated paying little. now that i have more, i'm not gonna try to make the little guy pick up my tab. when i'm super rich, i won't mind paying higher tax rates b/c i will realize that good fortune played a big role in my making it to the top. i work with folks who have 30 years experience in an industry and keep reminding me of it. why? they are insecure b/c i get so much done. they can't compete on anything other than being older. they also make much more than i right now. they aren't nearly as good and don't provide nearly the benefit to the company i do. they should feel lucky ;-) you see, my belief system DOES NOT change with the size of my pay check - as tends to happen FAR too much.

To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (114133)	1/3/2001 11:04:22 PM
From: Skeeter Bug	Respond to of 164684

victor, two things need to get done. 1. the govt needs to stop being self serving - never gonna happen. so, let's be realistic and assume the status quo (something reagan didn't do, to his shame and our detriment). 2. since a flat tax will reduce the wealthiest tax contribution by $100s of billions, who is going to pick up the thousands and thousands per middle income family tax tab to make up the difference? are the homeless going to pick it up? wrt the mortgage deduction, it only REALLY helped the real estate folks and those people who already owned their home pre deduction. why? b/c w/o that deduction, housing would cost much less on an absolute basis b/c folks wouldn't calculate in the deduction to find their max pain house purchase. therefore, they'd pay less. net, net, they'd actually spend within 1% or 2% in actual purchasing power either way they did it. few others TRULY benefited. 6 of one, half a dozen of another. a graduated tax rate is fair, imho. when i had little, i appreciated paying little. now that i have more, i'm not gonna try to make the little guy pick up my tab. when i'm super rich, i won't mind paying higher tax rates b/c i will realize that good fortune played a big role in my making it to the top. i work with folks who have 30 years experience in an industry and keep reminding me of it. why? they are insecure b/c i get so much done. they can't compete on anything other than being older. they also make much more than i right now. they aren't nearly as good and don't provide nearly the benefit to the company i do (to put this in perspective, my presence - and my presence alone - produced a marginal addition of $50 million/yr in revenue for a company i worked for as a mfg supervisor). they should feel lucky and they shouldn't piss and moan about how bad their lives are b/c of the tax man. in addition, my view is internally consistent. my belief system DOES NOT change with the size of my pay check - as tends to happen FAR too much. i'd argue more often than not.

To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (114133)	1/4/2001 11:24:23 AM
From: Olu Emuleomo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

>>>There ought to be no income taxes on the first 20k or so, then after that, everybody pay the same % Very well said. I agree with you on this. Some people want a free ride. They want others to pay a greater %tage of their income in taxes, while they pay the minimum. That just sounds un-American. Another reason why Gore lost. I can still hear "wealthiest 1%" in my head. I'm sure most of us on this thread do not belong to the wealthiest 1%, but we can see the basic unfairness of forcing wealthier people to pay a greater %tage of their income in taxes. Steve Forbes plan is close to being the fairest. People below a certain income level pay no taxes. After that, everybody pays 17% with deductions for home-mortgage expenses etc.. --Olu E.