The Republicans in Minnesota are whinging again because the Democrats want to raise taxes on the rich. By “rich” they mean couples with incomes above $400k and individuals with incomes above $220k.
They want to do this because the failed “no new taxes” policy of Gov. Pawlenty has driven property taxes through the roof. As you may recall, property taxes are largely regressive in that lower income people pay a larger percentage of their income towards them. They want to raise income tax on the rich so they can lower property taxes on the rest of us.
The Republican doofus who was on MPR this morning brought out the same old tired rhetoric. “We’re taking money out of one pocket and putting it in another” and “Rich people are the drivers of are economy and we don’t want to drive them away”.
What a load of bullshit. If the rich don’t like paying a disproportionate tax burden then they should give away all their money so they can be part of the “lucky” majority that are not rich. No one would make that trade. They also have no problem taking money from one pocket to another so long as it goes into their pocket.
Taxes should be as low as possible but no lower! The rich should pay more in taxes. When I’m rich, God willing, I will not bitch about taxes. Incidentally, I’m not rich and I still don’t bitch about taxes.
lolife 
Taxation, imho, is based on the ideology of “let’s all chip in to make this happen”.
also, imho, governement works. Of course I am speaking ideologically and “big picture” from the local to the federal the vast majority of Gov. does work quite well.
are there abuses of both? of course and it can and should be fixed, but neither should be done away with.
I think we agree but from different angles.
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and blanket statements are smart also?
I agree with your premise. I am just trying to point out the arguement against such ignorant blanket statements. They sell great until you look inside then they fall apart.
Taxes are bad! damn right they are, I agree.
so lets close the schools, and let the roads go to hell….well, wait a minute some taxes are good…so we should keep the good taxes and get rid of the bad taxes.
big government is bad! agreed…so lets de-regulate and dissmantle…well wait a minute, some government is good.
Blanket statements work on the masses but need to be “tweaked” when reality sets in.
and by the way, someone does have the job of killing puppies and it is probably government funded by the democrats (Humane society)
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Oh yeah, I forgot…
duh
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So, there is no waste in government? There is no place that the government can be more efficient?
And yes, raising taxes is stupid and reducing government is smart. How much of their income do you want “the rich” to pay in taxes, 30%, 40%, 50%, 90%? When do we stop raising taxes? How much is enough?
And, as you know, all people to the right of you are against museums, against feeding crack babies, against building schools and education in general, against helping old people, and for killing puppies.
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so then, tax raising is stupid
government reduction is smart
does de-regulation fit under the guise of governement reduction? it must because that is how it usually gets packaged… so de-regulation is smart…hmmmmm
and if we raise taxes to start a headstart program or to fund bussing for seniors, or feed crack babies,or build a school or support a museum or clinic,or the NEA, or, or, or….this is stupid?
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Voting to raise taxes is ill-advised, ignorant and short-sighted.
Working to reduce government waste and spending takes courage and brains.
And your right, I’m not a Republican, never said I was, and officially I’m an Independent.
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It’s true, small businesses get raped on taxes. That’s because (as you know) we get taxed on profit regardless of whether the profit was distributed to us or not. It sucks ass and I’ve been personally stung by it all my life.
But my point is: we do this and that we do it is a patriotic act. The Republican rhetoric of “the worst place for a dollar is with the government” is disingenuous and unrealistic. It is a ploy to win elections. I can already see the GOP pouncing on this thing in Minnesota in the next election.
Voting to raise taxes takes courage and brains, qualities sorely lacking in the Republican party.
Face it, micadelic, you’re not a Republican.
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Just to be clear, people with “taxable incomes” of $200k – $550k per year are not as “rich” as you might think.
If you are a sole proprietorship, all of your sales volume could be considered as “income” when it really isn’t. Plus, people who are self-employed are taxed at a higher rate than people who are not. One of the happiest days of my life was when my business incorporated!
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Surprisingly I almost agree with you BUT…
My problem, and the issue that most people don’t get when they think that people that have personal incomes of over $220k are rich, are small business owners who are sole proprietorships. These kinds of businesses employ a surprisingly large amount of people in this country. I know, because at one time I was one of them. I had an “income” of over $300,000 but that does not take into account all the expenses, cost of goods, etc, etc, etc. My actual take home was less than $50,000.00. So when they raise taxes on personal incomes over $220k, it affects a lot of small business people that really don’t make that much money and are forced to cut back because of it. So raising taxes in this manner really does harm the economy.
I have argued that for this and other reasons, a new class of business needs to be created. So called “small businesses” as defined by the government are huge compared to most businesses and the rules that apply to them do not work very well for what I would classify as micro-businesses. I could go into much more detail but suffice it to say, these tax hikes on the so-called rich affect a lot more people with real incomes like you and me than you might realize.
So the Republicans are not as retarded in this matter as you contest.
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taxes piss me off when I have to pay them.
in my business I rarely have to pay a cent. deductions,accountants, lawyers get a piece so that the taxman gets basically zip. The laws are written for the wealthy and for business.
rationalization: we employ people who pay taxes and consume. we create the economy.
witholding from my fulltime job kicks my ass. the burden of the middle class
capital gains from marrying above “my station”.? They take, basically half.
I am in the same bracket as those who make 2x to 200x what I make. That frustrates me a bit.
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