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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (143265)	10/26/2008 1:13:10 AM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

Meanwhile "the top 5%" pay 60% of federal income tax revenue. How much do the top 5% pay into the social security and medicare system? Do you realize that we have a 32 trillion dollar unfunded liability for medicare to cover the baby boom generation? How much of this MASSIVE BURDEN is being paid by the top 5%? Effectively NONE. Thats why the income tax is skewed. Because the FICA tax is regressive. They cancel each other out and in the end, you have Warren Buffett paying half the rate of his secretary.

To: TimF who wrote (143265)	10/26/2008 3:12:02 AM
From: geode00	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

How much tax did Paulson (the other one, not Hank) pay on his $3.7 billion annual income in 2007? McCain whose family income from Cindy's inherited wealth was $4 and $6 million for the last two years takes SS as well as a 100% disability, tax-free payment of $58,000 per year. SS goes to everyone who paid in as it is not an entitlement for retirees but a mandatory insurance program. Corporations pay a much smaller share of the pie than ever before. I believe it is some 7%. 50% of corporations pay no income tax. The 'rich' get dividends and stock appreciation from companies that do government business and not just Halliburton. Companies like Exxon, while making record corporate profits, get tax breaks totaling anywhere from $8-$18 billion...hard to tell exactly how much. Iraq is a bonanza for government contractors -- private corporations charging way too much for what they provide...think KBR. Walmart is the single largest user of government services in the USA. Walmart, therefore, and the Walton family and shareholders use Medicare and Food Stamps and other programs designed for 'poor' people who happen to be their under paid employees. They can pay them less because the taxpayer picks up the difference. You cannot simply separate the 'poor' from the 'rich' because the poor are used by the rich to become ever richer. If the 'poor' are not educated or treated when they are sick the 'rich' suffer as well. The 'rich' benefit in a much larger way from being part of the USA than do the 'poor' so the 'rich' should pay much more of the costs as they benefit much more from roads and bridges, defense and regulation, government in general than do the 'poor.' If you have $100 million to protect then you should pay more for police (for example) than someone who has $1,000 to protect. It doesn't work that way so the 'rich' guy is getting a much larger benefit than he is paying for. The money goes out in various forms but the rich are getting richer while the middle class shrinks because of policies that favor the rich. The situation is more complicated than just a handful of top level numbers but the system stinks and we all know that it does.