Why do liberals complain about tax cuts for the wealthy?

Question

... after all, dont the wealthy pay most of the bills?

Answer 1

Yes, the more you make the more you are taxed. Liberals believe in share the wealth and punish those that are successful.

Answer 2

Liberals complain about tax cuts for the wealthy because although they do pay a bulk of the taxes that are collected, they are only paying a small percentage of their income. However, people who make a median income or a small income pay a much higher percentage of their income.

It's not a fair system. Rich people may complain about paying a high amount of cash, but they don't have to worry about choosing between food, electricity, or taxes!

Liberals believe in creating what Rawls (the political philosopher) calls "equality of opportunity". So, if I'm paying 20% of my income for my taxes, and my income doesn't cover my health insurance, food and housing costs, then I don't have the same chances to succeed that someone who's making a LOT more money (and pays a lot more taxes) but is only paying 10% of their income.

It's really a fairness issue. Life isn't fair, but liberal ideology believes that government exists to increase the fairness, the equality, in society.

Furthermore, "Supply-Side Economics", or as it was renamed for the Bush administration, "Trickle-down economics" has been shown TWICE not to work. If you give the rich more money, they already have all of their creature comforts so they tend to save it. If you give the poor more money, on the other hand, they are more likely to go out and buy something they need, and thus it is the POOR that stimulate the economy, not the rich.

EDIT>>>Liberals DO NOT believe that you should punish the successful. They believe that you should provide equal opportunities for success. Here's an analogy: Two guys sign up for the military. One guy is fat, the other is not. The fat guy must work much harder to get the same things done. Some make it, and others do not.

But in the military, if you don't make it, you just go back to your life.

In life, if you don't make it, you don't have the money to buy food and you end up homeless, in jail, or dead.

And that's where most of the lower income people would be if it weren't for social programs. And like it or not, even conservatives would balk at the amount of people in poverty that there would be in this country without social programs.


ANOTHER EDIT>> Willis... you're wrong. Socialism and Liberalism are two VERY different ideologies. Socialism believes in TOTAL equality. Meaning, they DO punish people for excelling.

Liberals do not believe in punishing those that have done well. It believes in giving everyone equality of OPPORTUNITY. Comparing liberalism to socialism makes as much sense as comparing conservatism to fascism.

Furthermore, Akkita, I am very sad to hear about the hardships your family has suffered from. However, the "death tax" only applies to assets that are worth a LOT of money... this year it's been raised to $2,000,000,000. Unless your mother was LOADED, then the "death tax" wasn't what bankrupted your father. If that's what the IRS said (or his accountant, or Turbotax) then he should get a lawyer. The estate tax affects primarily the VERY wealthy, not poor working people.

Answer 3

Why do conservatives complain that the wealthy pay most of the taxes and are against raising the minimum wage? Don't they want the poor to pay a bigger share of the taxe bill?

Answer 4

I'm sorry, but you sound so uneducated...

Anyone who's ever taken a Globalization or Economics class probably learned that money trickles UP and that the wealthiest 10% hold more money combined than the other 90%.

Wealthy don't "pay most of the bills" because they're the minority.

Answer 5

Because the wealthiest 1 percent of the populace pays little or no taxes compared to the middle class. If America provides you with a place to make a good living than you should put your share back into the infrastructure that provides it. If they payed a proper percentage and we didn't get involved wasteful wars we would be able to balance the budget and provide our brave men and women in the armed services with a better wage and retirement. We would be able to insure that the Americans who want to better their lives through education to become successful and further help the infrastructure with their taxes have an opportunity to get the education, and training they need regardless of the poverty they were born to.
To simplify Life Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Answer 6

The wealthy are the most able to pay. The wealthy have many vehicles to avoid taxes. The wealthy usually pay less on their last dollar of earnings than to the middle class (capital gains and dividends are taxed at only 15%, while income from wages can be taxed up to 35%). The very wealthy receive much more in dividends and capital gains than they do in wages.

Answer 7

Why does everyone think the wealthy get so many tax cuts. When you hit the 50% bracket there is not a lot of incentive to give back anything else. The folks who are in the upper tax brackets are the ones who create jobs, buy products and keep the money trickling down.

Answer 8

yes bill gates is rich and says we need the estate tax, so did warren buffet, then put all his money in a charity that wont get taxed,

and about raising minimum wage, that money doesnt just come out of the air, raising it will cut those jobs, making a small business owner give his 5 or 10 employees a 2 dollar or so raise could bankrupt him, that would make the libs happy because there are another 10 welfare recipients to vote for them


for people saying the richest dont pay taxes, have you researched this AT ALL? just a quick google search shows the top 1% pay 35% of all taxes, other sites are closer to 50%,
one site says the top 50% of earners pay 96% of taxes

i am poor as heck, but these things being said are just wrong, and if i ever do make alot of money i sure dont want to pay 50% taxes on it because people want to take it for themselves

Answer 9

Because they're the wealthy.

The wealthy are supposed to pay higher taxes than the poor. That's how taxation works.

Answer 10

Liberals need someone to blame. The rich make an easy target because everyone that isn't rich wishes they were. But can't figure out why they aren't ......

The fact is the wealthy do pay taxes and also can hire companies to do their taxes, they know how to invest and give charitable donations that are tax deductible.

What I want to know is why we still have a "death tax"?
It is bankrupting the poor, killing small business not the rich as most law makers preach....
My father is almost 70 ,living on social security and makes well under $20,000 a year for working 40+ years. But his wife's death nearly bankrupted him and took all their retirement savings. Her cancer took every bit of their medical coverage but still he had to pay the "death tax" after she passed away on income they used to have before the cancer....

Answer 11

Bill Gates, the richest man in America, is one of them. He thinks he should pay more in taxes, so include him in the group of liberals complaining that the rich get off easy.