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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: TimF who wrote (43735)6/11/2010 7:47:10 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 71588
 
Re: "Neither is necessary, when the difference is so large."

WRONG.

Precision in terms is necessary for any argument.

And it is utterly impossible to answer a question about 'is the tax load higher or lower' for one period of time vs. another WITHOUT specifying the exact period or time (the year or years).

Re: [definition for Middle Class] "No its a quite adequate answer in this context."

WRONG.

It is also *impossible* to say what the tax load on the "Middle Class" is until and unless you specify exactly what income range is "Middle Class". (Whatever it may be.)

Re: [Using the metric of 'all taxes' will make it a very difficult and tedious comparison] "Only if you want to examine every point to the most minute detail,"

YOU were the one who wanted to talk about "TOTAL tax loads".

I'm an old country boy. To me "total" means total. Means "all". And that gets complicated whether you know it or not.

(On the other-hand, in the interests of clarity and brevity, I would have been perfectly happy to just talk about FEDERAL INCOME TAX plus STATE TAX. But again... you were the one bandying about words like "total". To me simply getting to "most" would have been sufficient for the purposes of discussion.)

Re: [I simply point out that MANY economists would disagree with your position] "Then they would be wrong. Transfer payments to you do not reduce your taxes."

I NEVER said that it 'reduced your taxes'.

What I said, (what the economic argument is), is that often enough much, or even all, of your paid-in capital is RETURNED to you directly. Sometimes even the returned amount is multiples LARGER then what is paid in. Arguably that is a difference in kind.