Why are people so dead set on hating wealthy people?

Question

Ok, I am not rich by any means, I work paycheck to paycheck like most other Americans, but I have a huge problem with people wanting to punish the rich just because they work hard and are successful. The richest Americans already pay around 95% (I think its 95 it might be 93%) of all income taxes? What should they be paying?

And yes that is fact you can find it on the IRS website.

Osbert, I dont listen to Rush, so I am not trying to quote anyone. This questyion came from all the questions on here about taxing rich people even more than they are.

Answer 1

Because Socialism is becoming more and more entrenched in our society. Success is bad mediocrity is encouraged. Sad isn't it?

Answer 2

Of the 6.5 billion people who populate the earth, there are less than 150 who are worth over a billion dollars. Of these 150, I can think of two (Gates and Buffet) who have actually done their share in contributing to improving the plight of mankind. The rich control 98% of the worlds resources and that would be their fair share of the taxes. Your 94% figure is ridiculously overstated, though it is still not their fair share. Most of the ultra rich did not work for their money and misspend it. Paris Hilton is the prototype for this leisure class. Many of the CEOs are overpaid and do little to earn their huge compensation. Recent scandals involving Enron and Tyco show how much wealth has been stolen without paying taxes.

Answer 3

The fact is that corporations pay less and less of their fair share-Enron got a refund more that double what it had paid. Supposedly, corporations help evryone else so they get bonused. I'm not sure how Enron helped us but...if the "rich" think they're being overtaxed, instead of looking to the middle class, they should look to the corporations...oh. that's right-they own the corporations.

The tax rates-there are few "wealthy" that pay anything close to the rate quoted by the IRS. Before their taxe return ever go to the IRS, their tax attorney lowers their "taxable rate" drastically, through legal tax loopholes not available to the middle class.

Yes, I've come to agree, after years of seeing the tax returns of the wealthy, what their gross is, what their taxable income is-
we need a flat tax! A flat tax as a percentage of income-not a flat amount. No deductions.

Answer 4

I think it's time we look at other things than increasing taxes on the already overburdened tax payer in every bracket.
There is an interesting fact in the 2000 census. It states 17% of the households in the U.S. are receiving public assistance, welfare. It also states that 4% of the households where the head of household is a U.S. citizen receive public assistance.
Clearly, this shows 13% of the household in the USA are getting welfare and are not even U.S. citizens. It would be interesting to see the actual tax dollar amount that is going out to these non-citizen households.
Perhaps some cleaning up in the entitlement programs might free up a few billion dollars.

Answer 5

I want to be rich. Someday, perhaps I will be but at my age it's gonna be by winning the lottery. I've worked for 40 years, my retirement looks like it's ok, my health is fine.

But your question poses an interesting question: hating the rich. I think it comes from rumblings from the new Congress to increase the taxes of the rich. I want to see real and I mean real tax relief for the middle class (and from your question, I think you fall in that category). President Bush's last big tax cut gave enormous amounts of money back to the rich and gave us a check for, golly, I think I got 300 bucks or something.

I want substantial middle class tax breaks. Target us, not the rich who often are the big contributors to parties and those in power themselves.

Answer 6

Doesn't it make sense that the more money you make, the more you pay in taxes. Say you make $20,000 a year and pay 5% in taxes to the government, or $1,000. Now say someone else makes $200,000 a year and pay 5% in taxes, or $10,000.

Now lets just say there is a flat tax where every American pays $1,500. The person making $20,000 would be paying 7.5% of their yearly income. The person making $200,000 would be paying .75% of their income.

Don't you think that would be unfair to the person who makes $20,000? The way it is now, each person pays the same amount of taxes in relation to their income, and that is the fairest way.

Answer 7

Wrong you are ken. People don't hate wealthy folks, mostly they are just envious. What people dislike is arrogant wealth, and the rich do not pay ninety anything percent of the taxes in this country. Middle-class Americans pay something like eighty five percent of the taxes. Think about what you are saying five percent of the people pay ninety five percent of the taxes. Didn't you and I go over this before?

Answer 8

Obviously not an econ major. The middle class always has and always will make up the bulk of the tax base for any modern democratic country. They have to because there's more of them. I don't hate any wealthy person, but if my tax rate is, say, 30% so should theirs. Why should I have to pay a larger percentage of MY income because I don't earn, or had been given, large amounts of money? Trust me, the richest Americans DON'T pay 95% of all income taxes. Maybe you tuned into the I'm a Rich Sucker site, but it wsan't the Internal Revenue Service.

Answer 9

I'm as poor as they come and I don't hate rich people. Sure I'm jealous of them because they don't have to scrimp and save for everything they want, but I don't hate them, I just wish I had thier money. Although I'm not so keen on those rich people who haven't worked a day in thier lives and scab off thier families, I'm fairly sure that scabbies don't pay tax, so them I hate. Oh by the way if there are any rich people reading this, MARRY ME!!!!!

Answer 10

I agree with Ethan, above.

Our people (especially young people) have been bombarded for generations by communistic propaganda that says that all outcomes should be equal--that is, that noone should own private property at all, and that anyone who is competitive and wins a lion's share of resources is somehow evil and should be punished in a Robin Hood-style liberal socialist dystopia called Billary.

We see it more and more in the schools, where horrifying stories in the media are pointing out the success of "self-esteem" campaigns that inflate grades without any sort of academic achievement, social promotion of minorities and stupid kids based on mere class conflict and resentment of those that actually do the work and perform, diversity fetishism and affirmative action nightmares that dumb-down our population and destroy the very idea of high standards, excellence, and quality...

Communism attempts to guarantee that even those who don't work get the same amount of resources/rewards as those who strive to be, and create, excellence. At its fundamental level, communism is flawed, failed, and evil--far more evil than any capitalistic excesses, because communists kill millions in order to enforce their dystopia and prevent the free excercise of the human entreprenuerial spirit, free political speech, etc...

When you tax something, you get less of it. When you subsidize something, you get more of it.

Socialists want to tax achievement and work; therefore socialist/communist economies flouder and fail because they destroy incentives for production...they subsidize torpor and mediocrity, so that is what results in a large scale.

Capitalist systems reward performance, productivity, creativity and excellence--that is why free markets that result in lots of rich people also facilitate a flourishing middle class and a relatively well-off lower class (there really aren't any truly "poor" people in our economy, unless they willfully refuse to participate).

A rising tide lifts all boats.

Answer 11

What's your evidence that wealthy people are hated?

I guess wealthy people are worshipped here. Every utterance, every gesture is like a message from the Oracle at Delphi.

As Tevye says in Fiddler on the Roof, "When you're rich, they think you always know."

Rich people get the benefit of the doubt on everything just by virtue of ecnomic status. Character traits that would be weird and perhaps psychotic in the general public become cute eccentricities if you are wealthy.

I'm not sure what planet you've been living on.