Need some political help
Shawn and I had a political discussion the other night, and it got me thinking even more about the upcoming election and the positions the candidates have espoused. Why are Republicans so against giving tax breaks to lower and middle classes and not those who make over 250K? Wouldn't it make more sense for the economy to help the majority of our society which are the lower and middle class? Won't that help people get out of debt, give them some breathing room to be able to "buy more", which in turn will help spur the economy? I guess I'm just having a hard time understanding why we should always give tax breaks to those who make a lot of money and not help out the majority of the populace. Can someone help explain this to me?
In our discussion, Shawn and I also agreed that we are sick of the logical fallacy that those who are wealthy will have to pay extra taxes to help those that are lazy, uneducated slackers. That's so false. Shawn and I are in no way part of the elite, nor are we part of this clumped together "lazy" underclass. True, we don't make a quarter of a million nor do any of our friends who are all educated, hardworking, holding steady jobs, paying off student loans, buying their first houses, and many who are new parents. These are the middle class that need that opportunity to get the economy rolling again I would think. These people could take an extra vacation next year. They could buy a new car. They could get work done on their homes. They could set some extra money aside for their kids' college tuition. I feel like the Republicans focus on the 1% who make up the upper class and that sure doesn't describe all the people I know. Guess I just always think what would help my family and friends most. So please help me understand that which seems most obvious to me and my friends and family.
Oh and one more thought I had was since the Republicans tend to be the more religious party, isn't it the more Christian way of thinking to do what's best for everyone? To help our fallen brothers and sisters? So if you are blessed and have done well for yourself, shouldn't you be open to helping those less fortunate? Not that I consider myself less fortunate by any means. I think I've been blessed with an amazing life, but I know there are others out there who are facing hard times that I am willing to help, those who've lost their jobs because of downsizing, those who've gone into financial debt because of an accident leaving them with astronomical medical bills, the list goes on and on. Even if all we believe in is the Golden Rule of do onto others as you want them to do onto you, then I would think we would want to help those who have fallen on hard times so they, too, can enjoy life to its fullest. And this is good Karma that we will see returned to us some day. Again, just my thinking, but I'm trying to understand more of the other side in this ever confusing political debate.
posted by marisa @ 9:41 AM
3 Comments:
What a great set of questions. I don't think the question should be Republican versus Democrats but Conservative versus Liberal. In general Conservatives believe that less government is better government. While Liberals believe that government can solve our problems.
We already have a progressive tax system where those who make more pay a higher tax rate. There is nothing wrong with this but to raise taxes on those making more than 250K or on the gains that you make by investing just so you can give a rebate to those who don't pay income tax doesn't seem fair.
It would be like taking away a students hard earned A so that a student with an F can get a C. It may help for that class but the F student still will not have the ability to get and keep a job because he does not have the knowledge.
Another thing to think about is who creates jobs. I have never found that someone who is just getting by will create jobs. People who make lots of money start new businesses or hire people to do things for them. There is talk of raises taxes on large companies. You have to remember that companies don't pay the tax you do in increased price of the goods they sell.
I fully agree that that the Christian way is to help but it should be my choice who I help and how much. When the government takes my money some of my money goes to paying workers to figure out how to give the money away. So very little of my money gets to the people that need it.
Here is another way to look a higher taxes on those that make more. When a child does something we want them to do we reward them and when they do something wrong we punish them. If we really want people to get ahead and make more money (which generates more revenue for the government) then we should not punish hard work by raising taxes.
Finally the worse thing you can do to an economy that is in trouble is raise taxes. Look at history that is what Herbert Hover did leading the the great depression.
I wouldn't call the middle class F students. By providing them relief, they will spend more on goods and services driving business profits up.
I agree that the middle class is not like F students the middle class works hard to try to get ahead. You might be right but if they get any relief they would be better off saving it and not buying more stuff they don't need and can't afford.
I just ran across this and it does a good job of explaining the progressive tax system. And it talks about beer drinking something I can relate to.
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. They could all just pay $10 since they all drank beer; or, if they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest of the 10) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh would pay $7. The eighth would pay $12. The ninth would pay $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59. So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed OK with the arrangement until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good and faithful customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer bill by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80'.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.
But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'
They realized if they divided the $20 savings by six they could each reduce the amount they were paying by $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.
So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill the same way Tax Savings are dispersed, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings) - so 5 men are drinking for free. The sixth now paid only $2 instead of $3 (33% savings). The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings). The tenth (the wealthiest) now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free, now along with the 5th too. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their total dollar savings. 'I only got a dollar out of the $20', declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, 'but he got $10!' 'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man.
'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!' 'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!'
'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. '$20 was given back and we didn't get anything at all. This system exploits the poor!'
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night, the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists, academics, writers, actors, poets and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction.
Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University of Georgia
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible
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