Tax Breaks for those over $250,000

[baysidebob]

Into this mix of overpaid I feel we have to throw in sports figures as well. In my estimation no baseball player is worth $140 million over six years. Not just baseball players but all sports players as well. They are paid these hugh amounts of money, then when their playing time is over within a couple years they are flat broke. I use to be afan of professional sports but with the wage figures they are getting now, I find it very hard to get behind a team.

[fjimp]

I certainly wish I had not read the "Wiki" article. I once thought I was middle class now I realize I have no class at all. There was a time I figured the house I lived in and my income rated me as middle class. Now that I am retired I have neither the nice spacious home or the the income. Then again since 2008 I keep reading the middle class is sinking into oblivion. I guess I have a lot of company. As an aside every time Obama refers to "Those of us earning over $250,000" I am given the impression from his smug grin he is bragging. Jim

[dgale]

Well-put Ed. Our world has gone completely bonkers over the almighty dollar, and seems to want nothing else but to make more of it, at (seemingly) any cost. It's a frightening illness, leading us further and further in the wrong direction...

How many years in a row does one need to make $10 million/year? One and you should be set for a long time to come, unless you have a lifestyle that is way beyond reasonable (at least reasonable in the eyes of someone who makes $70k/yr and is glad to have job security and a warm, fed, happy family.

[nil]

As an example, consider Mountain View, California.. where you find the headquarters to Google...

The median sales price for a detached single family house last month was about $735k... and you're not getting much house for that money with the average cost per square foot of about $600... It gets even worse about 2 miles further north on us101 where prices in palo alto are about DOUBLE because every parent thinks they offer the best schools there with stanford nearby.

So, assuming you were hired by google and you wanted to live within 5 miles of work, you're not likely to be able to find a house on income less than about $135k/yr, and those people in Palo Alto or Los Altos who are willing to pay double for a house will need at least double the base pay or about $280k, and that doesn't leave much left over for things like taxes, daycare, food, clothing, lawn care (since you're going to be working 80 hours a week to make ends meet), etc...

I am not trying to argue either side of the tax break issue, just trying to shine a light on why $1 a day for food (fyi, no clothing, no housing provided in that number either) in africa is quite different from $1 a day to try to live in a place where every company is trying to attract the best talent to get that edge they need to become the next billion dollar business. People aren't going to want to move to an area if they can't afford to live there.. so the pay goes up and the cost of living goes up... and well.. perspective gets lost and $500k starts to look like a bargain for a 851sq ft house next to a major highway.

After living in this area for 14 years (and coming from texas, where I probably could have already gone back and retired several times due to the difference in cost of living), I love the weather and love the work and would never want to move back to texas, despite the insane cost of living..

Now as for those people making ten million dollars per year.. I have no idea what motivates that... though to get a house with the kind of space I could have in texas for modest means, it would cost probably $5M-30M for the house, and I can imagine that's where that kind of income gets sunk.

[skou]

[quote="bhurley"]Think about this:

“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.”
&#8213]

Here's a similar one.

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” Thomas Jefferson.

steve

[skou]

There has been much discussion in the near past amount taxes for those who earn over $250K per year. All during the campaign, I wobdered just who are they talking about. It must be the really elite few in the top 2% bracket.

This article makes me continue to wonder. It seems to indicate that it is certainly not the average working folks that are in this category. They must be talking to and about only those who live off their capital gains and corporate profits. It is certainly not the salaried and hourly workers that I worked with.

Furthermore, there have been some big changes since I was out there in the "working force". I worked the last few years of my working career as a Systems Engineering Manager but I did not bank the kind of money reported here. Even then, these folks are not making over $250K per year.

Dusty, most small business owners run them as a single entity with their personal accounts. That $250K could be the small shop owner's total gross profits. And, if it is, kiss that business goodbye.

And, all his (or her) employees, too.

Congress is the only group of people that make more than their employers! I've never gotten a job from someone making less than me!

If you would like to see the thought behind these actions, look up the Cloward and Piven theory. And, tell me that BHO is not trying to accomplish this.

steve

[dgale]

I grew up for the most part in Southern Marin County, in a town that is now the most expensive in the entire Bay Area. As a kid it was much more a mix of affluent, hippie, redneck, middle class etc., but now it is a very gentrified place where it costs $3500-$4500/month to rent a 2-3 bedroom condo and where people pay $3+ million for a house with a nice view and tear it completely down and rebuild some $5-$10 million spread. My mom still lives there since she always has and can afford it because she was able to sell the house my Dad built for about $50k in the late 60's for about $3.5 million after he passed away...gave her enough to buy a condo closer to stores etc. for $1.5 million and use the rest to live comfortably for her remaining days.

When I go to visit her, she is surrounded by people with more money then I can ever imagine. A gentleman friend of hers owns a 50 ft yacht at the local yacht club and on a whim decided he wants an east coast boat as well, so he just bought a 90 ft yacht in Florida and is hiring a full time captain who will live on the boat and be at his beckoned call to take the boat to whatever eastern seaboard port of call he desires to cruise around for a few weeks and then back home...the rest of year I guess the captain just works on his tan and waits for the phone to ring with the next destination. Another couple she knows there own vacation homes all over everywhere - they own a big spread with multiple house in Aspen CO, a big house in Florida, another in New Mexico, and they have a hunting cabin and property somewhere else. Most of what I hear of them is traveling around the world and I think these multiple dwellings typically get used once or twice a year at most.

Anyway, just a whole other world beyond the one I and most everyone I know lives in. Certainly there are expensive places in this Country to live and work (Silicon Valley and Manhattan are obvious ones) and I suppose it is a choice to take a job in these places and hence have to pay the commensurate cost of living...but then there are folks who have so much money they own houses worth more than my entire neighborhood and only use them on a whim. Again, it's not s as clear cut as lower class, middle class, and upper class...there are all various ranges from destitute to wealthier than many small nations. I'm not sure where the $250k figure comes from but to be honest, I have a hard time sympathizing with the unbelievably people in my Mom's town (and tons of other overly affluent communities in this Country) when it comes to them ponying up a bit more. Reality is many of them probably pay a much smaller tax rate than you or I.

[charlese]

... Reality is many of them probably pay a much smaller tax rate than you or I.

I seriously doubt this! Maybe less in percentage, but hardly less in actual dollars.

[dgale]

I seriously doubt this! Maybe less in percentage, but hardly less in actual dollars.

That's why I said "rate" - obviously they pay more in actual dollars.

[Gene Howe]

This thread seems to be further evidence of the need for a VAT to REPLACE the income tax and all of it's inequities.