17 replies to this topic

[colion]

Why should the wealthy pay lower tax rates than the less wealthy in a society? Why does the middle class pay a higher percentage of it's income in taxes than the wealthy?

Sounds to me like a strong argument for a flat tax.

[Rogerdodger]

Is Bigotry ever wrong? Bigotry may be based on real or perceived characteristics, including wealth or lack thereof. Is it worse than selfishness or greed? Are selfishness and greed only displayed by billionaires? Is selfishness or greed a crime? Is a robber or thief not selfish or greedy if he is poor, or is that a bigoted view?

[diogenes227]

This Vanity Fair article on the 1% cites, for example, how the six Walmart heirs wealth equals the entire wealth of the bottom 30 percent in the US ---

How did they acquire their wealth? By speculating on the British pound?

Or by being the largest private employer in the world?

It is also the biggest private employer in the world with over two million employees

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wal-Mart

Uh, I guess it's up to me again to state the obvious...

How did the "six Walmart HEIRS' acquire their wealth? They did it the old fashioned way, like a lot of the belly-aching billionaires of today -- they inherited it.

That unnamed guy who made a bundle on the British Pound? He earned it himself.

[Rogerdodger]

How did the "six Walmart HEIRS' acquire their wealth? They did it the old fashioned way, like a lot of the belly-aching billionaires of today -- they inherited it.

And how is that ANYBODY else's business...unless they SELFISHLY COVET that wealth.

BINGO!


As the selfish, covetous thief and betrayer Judas Iscariot said: "That money could have gone to help the poor!"

Edited by Rogerdodger, 27 August 2012 - 01:12 PM.

[mss]

Roger,

Instead in addition to my day jobs, for decades I've worked in the inner city, serving in organizations that helped the poor, took care of the elderly, and assisted the mentally ill.

I've observed both decay and rejuvenation, the building of health clinics, nursing facilities, and health systems, the building of homes and communities, the support of education, and attainment for many.

My late father did the same thing in his 50's and 60's, helping administer a Children and Youth Clinic in the middle of the poorest 4 census tracts in the State of Kansas. My late sister was President of our local chapter of Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and spent her whole life on community building. Some of the organizations she helped start are going strong today, supported by the general community, not a single rich billiionaire with a selfish agenda. The clinics Dad helped administer are still providing medical care today.

Citing an instance, if true, where the help hoped for was not as much as wished, does not justify not caring, selfishness, or narcissism, nor does it denigrate the values associated with notions of social justice.

I often worked with people with strong Christian faiths who studied the bible intensively. Their goal was to feed, clothe, nurse, and comfort the poor and disadvantaged.

When faced with the obvious large scope of their task and the sometimes limited tools or results, they sometimes would point out an important observation Jesus made about social justice, a part of his work that has been called the "social gospel".
This passage can be found in Matthew,

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41-46)

The old testament has a similar suggestion:



Deuteronomy. 15:10-11“Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the LORD your ******* will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’”…


These are old ideas of fairness and justice that are found in all cultures.


Geo

In a posting such as this it is very important to properly identify who the Bible calls poor. It is not the lazy with their hand out or those not willing to work unless they can make more than the hand out.

The best :By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.(Genesis)

The number of real disadvantaged is small compared to the 43 million now on handouts.

I have done social work such as you mention for over 35 years. There are leaches out there.

mss

Edited by mss, 27 August 2012 - 03:15 PM.

[stocks]

six Walmart heirs wealth equals the entire wealth of the bottom 30 percent in the US

The bottom 30%

the main problem with the bottom 30 percent is that about half the children don't have married parents. Lower-income women often don't get married to the fathers of their children, and lower-income men often don't work.

kids of single parents have much worse prospects that the kids of married parents, including the problem of abuse from the sexual partners of single parents.

Now I have a word for the situation in which the bottom 30 percent is placed by decades of government and social policy dictated by the top 20 percent. I call it "injustice." I think that the educated top 20 percent has ripped apart the culture and the well-being of the bottom 30 percent like a tornado. They confiscated the right for the bottom 30 percent to solve their own problems and live life on their own terms. The top 20 percent built the society they wanted for themselves and they threw money at the people that didn't want, or couldn't compete, in their Brave New World.


http://roadtothemidd...-challenge.html

[Rogerdodger]

Define "HELP". Then "HELP" the helpless. Don't disable the able. Don't USE them to make yourself feel superior. And quit being obsessed with other people's wealth. It's none of your business. Don't USE them either, just to make yourself feel superior. Otherwise, who's really the hate filled narcissist? One unselfish guy rebuked those who greedily just wanted free food: "Truly, I tell all of you with certainty, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were completely satisfied"

Edited by Rogerdodger, 27 August 2012 - 06:44 PM.

[Rogerdodger]

The Rich Don't Pay Enough?
If you listen to America's political hacks, mainstream media talking heads and their socialist allies, you can't help but reach the conclusion that the nation's tax burden is borne by the poor and middleclass while the rich get off scot-free.
Stephen Moore, senior economics writer for The Wall Street Journal, and I'm proud to say former GMU economics student, wrote "The U.S. Tax System: Who Really Pays?" in the Manhattan Institute's Issue 2012 (8/12). Let's see whether the rich are paying their "fair" share.

According to IRS 2007 data, the richest 1 percent of Americans earned 22 percent of national personal income but paid 40 percent of all personal income taxes. The top 5 percent earned 37 percent and paid 61 percent of personal income tax. The top 10 percent earned 48 percent and paid 71 percent of all personal income taxes. The bottom 50 percent earned 12 percent of personal income but paid just 3 percent of income tax revenues.

Some argue that these observations are misleading because there are other federal taxes the bottom 50 percenters pay such as Social Security and excise taxes. Moore presents data from the Tax Policy Center, run by the liberal Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, that takes into account payroll and income taxes paid by different income groups. Because of the earned income tax credit, most of America's poor pay little or nothing. What the Tax Policy Center calls working class pay 3 percent of all federal taxes, middle class 11 percent, upper middle class 19 percent and wealthy 67 percent.

Liberal politicians harp about tax fairness. Here's my fairness question to you: What standard of fairness dictates that the top 10 percent of income earners pay 71 percent of the federal income tax burden while 47 percent of Americans pay absolutely nothing?

Liberal politicians are fully aware of IRS data that shows who pays what. Their tax demagoguery knowingly exploits American ignorance about taxes. A complicit news media is only happy to assist. We might ask ourselves what's to be said about the decency of people who knowingly mislead the public about taxes. Of course, I might be all wrong, and true tax fairness dictates that the top 10 percent pay all federal income taxes.
Walter E. Williams

Edited by Rogerdodger, 29 August 2012 - 01:23 PM.