I asked a question earlier, where I questioned if the wealthy should pay more taxes or not...?

Question

there were some people who answered "yes", and while I respect your opinion, I have a follow on question.

If the wealthy should have to pay more taxes, wouldn't that deter people from wanting to become wealthy, if the consequences of their hard work is more taxes?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AtsWehDMJ4NseEB.u8_b8Erty6IX?qid=20070414075956AAEgARR

Answer 1

Everyone should have to pay the same amount of taxes. it should not be more or less just because you are wealthy or poor.

I am not wealthy

Answer 2

Yes they should. As I move up the social and economic ladder, I accept more responsibility. I am not rich (yet), but am working my tail off to be better off. The more I get, the more I pay in taxes, support the Church, help others, etc. While just starting out with my family, I took more, and now I give more. I would not stay at $20,000 a year and not try to get $40,000 a year because I would pay another couple thousand in taxes. Yet, be reasonable. The liberals think the wealthy should carry the entire burden, not just their fair share. But don't let them fool you. If you increase taxes anywhere, we all pay. Think when you buy a car. You pay sales tax and all the other fees, you pay more so the dealer, the shipper, the manufactorer, the parts makers and so forth can all pay more to their employees because they need to pay income taxes. You pay more for the taxes and tariffs on all the imports, raw materials, fuel for shipping, etc. My guess would be on a $20,000 car, you've paid maybe $7,000 in taxes. It may be directly paid by the big business and the wealthy, but you still paid more for the car so they could afford to pay it.

Answer 3

First of all the rich DO pay more taxes! 84.6% of all taxes are paid by the top 25% of wage earners.

The top 50% of earners pay almost all, 96.7% of taxes.

The top 1% of wage earners pay an incredible 36.89% of all taxes!!!

I know this is hard to believe for some because the media would NEVER report this, but look for yourself, check the IRS's website: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/04in06tr.xls . This is the data from the latest tax year.

Furthermore, it still would not deter people from wanting to become wealthy, because it is not taking all of their money. I think we should have a flat tax. It would be fair if everyone, regardless of income, race, sex, etc. had to pay the same amount. How would this not be fair?

Answer 4

That would deter people from getting wealthy. The Dems had a 90% tax bracket in the 50's. JFK reduced it to 70 % in the 60's. It took Reagan to reduce it to the current 33%, more fair. The top 10% of taxpayers pay more than the remaining 90%. I would say they pay their fair share.

Answer 5

Why is it that NO one ever defines what specific amount is defined as wealthy???

All of these discussions that "debate" the belief that ...the "rich/wealthy " should be forced to provide for others because it is the moral/humane/proper thing to do are
based on the age old human trait of jealousy.
Human society has always had beggars, thieves that want to take others goods/wealth, scammers, AS WELL as philanthropists, folks who help others because they can.
Charity is a individual decision; A society that forms a government that elects to use Citizen Taxes to provide for IT"S elderly,infirm/disabled, orphans,and uncared for /abused kids is uncommon. The USA is generous: Our form of government offers opportunity but NO Guarantee of success/wealth... Those that work hard,learn skills,create a plan to achieve MAY succeed beyond their wildest dreams.
Humans thrive when they are allowed the freedom to decide how they want to live and what plan they need to execute to attain their desires. Humanity has always had segments of any society that wants what everyone else "has"
Forced charity is coercion....

Answer 6

If you were say an NBA star that was going to make 10million a year and you were told you had to pay 3 million in taxes leaving you 7 million to live off of, would you care?

If you were making 40k a year and told you had to pay 10k in taxes leaving you 30k to live off of, would you care?

So what you are saying is if you can get rich, hard work, nepatism (Bush), or however you can, that you shouldn't have to pay more than a guy that may be a bit on the dumb side and can only getting a job making 20k a year? Called robbing the poor. It goes both ways, but as I see it the more you make the more you pay should be the way it is...wether it be a flat tax or not, it has to be equalized and can't be Bush Bias any longer.

Answer 7

I think the wealthy should have to pay their due amount. Not more than everyone else but what they actually owe. They have so many tax credits and deductibles they can remain rich while we down here pay our due taxes w/o the deductibles and tax credits they have so much of. So make it equal. We all have the same privileges or none at all. It may deter some but it wouldn't me!! I'd love to try to be rich and pay the taxes!

Answer 8

The people who answered yes to your question don't care if that makes them less wealthy, because they're under the false assumption that if the rich pay more, they'll pay less.

Those in favor of a more progressive system don't realize that that system does not hurt those who are already wealthy, but it hurts those who would like to become wealthy, since we don't (and never should) tax wealth but we tax income. If you're a Kennedy and don't have to work to spend Daddy's ill-gotten booty, you don't care what the tax code says about income, since all of your money is tax-free.

Answer 9

The "rich" pay more in property taxes and sales taxes.
The redistribution of wealth is what communism was based on and only the party bigwigs made out.
Take care of the widows and orphans,everybody else get a job.

Answer 10

You are absolutely correct in your assessment. Ask the wealthy people of France who are being taxed at a higher rate due to their income. Oh wait, you can't because they are leaving France! LOL France has lost multitudes of Billions of dollars of revenue from their ignorant socialist stance on heavier taxes for the rich.