Why do Democrats feel that is okay to steal from the rich?

Question

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070425210747AA9dL2t&r=w&pa=AptqD2bwHTHf6eaOYKkyvED7ckpbDqtV5WjsegyuVdAXkKYaoW1rDKcr..4e17AH4auC.0uf0o50eg--&paid=voted

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said on Sunday he would consider raising taxes on the wealthy in addition to his earlier proposal to roll back tax cuts ushered in by President George W. Bush.
Earlier this year, Edwards became the first Democratic candidate to embrace taxes hikes to fund an ambitious health- care plan he estimates would cost from $90 billion to $120 billion a year. Under that plan, he would eliminate tax cuts Bush implemented for those making more than $200,000 a year.

We are NOT paying more to help the less fortunate. We are being ROBBED! I give to charities and I want the ones I give to to be MY choice, not the governments. Higher taxes on the "rich" punishes success.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070429/pl_nm/democrats_edwards_dc

wrong link above

Answer 1

The Ant and the Grasshopper - Two Scenarios

*- OLD VERSION - *
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer
long, building his house and laying up supplies for the
winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and
laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come
winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper
has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

**MORAL OF STORY - BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOURSELF.***


************************************************************

**- MODERN VERSION -**
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer
long, building his house and laying up supplies for the
winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and
laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press
conference and demands to know why the ant should be
warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
*CBS*, *NBC*, *PBS*, *CNN*, and *ABC* show up to provide
pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of
the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with
food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, in a country of such wealth, this poor
grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

*Kermit* the Frog appears on *Oprah* with the
grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's
Not Easy Being "Green."

*Jesse* *Jackson* stages a demonstration in front of the
ant's house where the news stations film the group
singing, "We shall overcome. " Jesse then has the group
kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

*Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry *exclaim in an interview with
Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of
the grass-hopper, and both call for an immediate tax
hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the *EEOC* drafts the Economic Equity and
Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the
summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a
proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing
left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is
confiscated by the government.

*Hillary *gets her old law firm to represent the
grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and
the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that
*Bill Clinton appointed from* a list of *single*-parent
welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up
the last bits of the ant's food while the government
house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, which crumbles around the grasshopper because he didn't maintain it's up keep. The grasshooper dies after being crushed by the un maintained walls. George Bush is being blamed for this along with all his white house staff the case is still pending.

Answer 2

Eliminating a tax cut is a TAX INCREASE.

Not sure all dems feel this way but I know all of the socialists in the party have either bought into the marxist line or they believe they will end up in the Vanguard of the Elite.

A progressive tax is stealing, it is discriminatory, it is WRONG and immoral. Any tax that is higher on some than others is wrong, the fair tax would be wrong. The only taxes, and I choke when I say this, that would not be discriminatory would either flat or sales and I believe sales would be better. Can you imagine how fast the revolt against congress would be when the dems have to pay $12 for a Big Mac, $2 for the burger and $10 for the tax.

People have no idea how much the confiscatory tax steals, they have no idea how much money is wasted in government, no idea how rich a congressman gets while in office. CONGRESS HAS TO CHANGE.

And what is this lunacy about healthcare. In AMerica EVERYONE HAS HEALTHCARE, REGARDLESS OF ABILITY TO PAY, 24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK, 365 DAYS A YEAR. So can we stop talking about healthcare. What these idiots are talking about is GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED HELTHCARE, and that is insane. If you want healthcare to improve, eliminate government from it completely, stop lawsuits with punitive damages, let the BUSINESS of healthcare take care of itself. It is a BUSINESS, and the market corrects bad performers and rewards good performers.

SOCIALISTS, that is what this is all about, these idiots in congress are the Vanguard of the Elite, after they strip us of what is ours, they will still have their 10,000 square foot homes and their $400 haircuts.........why,,,,,,,,,,,because they deserve a little more than the rest of us,,,,,,,,,,,,,since they are the ones who brought us this wonderful system called SOCIALISM.

Socialism is the epitome of evil and must be exposed and struck down wherever it occurs.

man RLP, you got my blood pressure pumping with that one.

WAKE UP AMERICA, IT IS YOUR MONEY, not the socialists

Answer 3

Edwards admission that he would consider tax hikes on the rich is either honesty or stupidity, depending on how you want to spin it. The last candidate for president that did that ( as was noted in the article ) ended up winning only his home state and the democrat's stronghold of the District of Columbia. Mondale was right to want to do that, Reagan sent us into great debt, by having it both ways, spending money without the necessary revenue.
As for whether it's all right to more heavily tax the rich, of course it is. As people who have answered the question before me have said, EVERYONE contributes to the creation of wealth ! However, I will grant you that the people who are the successful in business endeavours deserve to be richer, because they either have more valued talent or they took more risk. Now you can either increase workers wages, or you can indirectly pay them more through taxation to get the money owed to them for their contribution to society.
I don't care if your rich, and I'm not. I just want enough to give my family a comfortable living, I don't need a life of luxury. As far as you saying you want to be allowed to decide who you give your money to through charity, the fact is that it must be put into law that you will be forced to, because too many rich people will not share their wealth and do their part to help the poor. You do have some choice you know. Thats what charitable tax deductions are for.
In summary, there needs to be a profit motive to spur economic activity, but society in general should get enough of the wealth from the financially successful to afford a comforable existence for those that are not as successful, which frequently as nothing to do with them being lazy.
Edit:
After I submitted my answer, I realized I got my Top Contributer badge back for politics !! There's a party goin on right here. A celebration...........

Answer 4

I really hope that you read all of these answers all the way through. Skip the ones that are nasty to you, personally, but learn something from the others!

I make less than 15,000 per year now, but I pay taxes. I don't get anything back, either. My taxes go to the same places the taxes of the rich go. They go to a war I don't support! They go for a lot of programs I don't believe in. But, they're taken out of my check by LAW!! If you don't like the tax code, get it changed.

But, think about this: Those with more should give more!

You seem to think that taxes just go into the government and then right out into the hands of people who don't deserve them; you have a warped idea that "welfare" is eating up YOUR money. "Welfare" has been greatly reduced--thank you, Bill Clinton--and is not used to support people who just PREFER not to work.

Even with me meager income, I give to the charities that I choose.

"Welfare" isn't charity!!

"Welfare" isn't the only thing taxes go for.

When my "ex" and I were in a higher (much higher) tax bracket, we paid more, too.

You are so naive and believe too many stereotypes.....I just give up!

Answer 5

Boy, do I ever feel bad now. Where's the dividing line between rich, average, poor? I got a feeling I might be rich but I want to know. Well not rich,rich, but you know. Lets say enough to make me feel guilty. Do you count what you have or just annual income. When do the appraisers come and tell me what my house is worth so I'll know how much I have to give away to assuage my guilt. I really want to do right here so I also need to know how much a month I have to give away from my income.When do I get to wear a workers outfit of clothes? When do I get to be called Komrad?

Nobody gave me any of my wealth, what there is of it, and the only way you're gonna take it is by force. I earned my little slice of the American dream now you earn your own. This class envy is totally Socialistic. Sooner or later only the 5% of the Politburo will have any money but the ones that are crying now will be happy to see others just as miserable as they are.

Answer 6

Wahhh! I have to actually pay my fair share of taxes because I am wealthy!

The middle class has been taking the shaft on taxes for to many years, now it is time for the wealthy to pay their share. Can anyone say flat tax?

It is interesting that you criticize Edwards on health care, but say nothing about the billions of dollars unaccounted for in Iraq.

You do not have a clue or are you a defense contractor?

Answer 7

Wow. I can't even read through this drivel. Class warfare is alive and well! I hope the folks that answered this by saying it's O.K. to tax someone who makes more money than they do, become successful someday. After the government fiscally rapes them year after year. we'll see if that tune changes. My wife and I have worked our behinds off only to watch this huge amount money being taken out of our checks and then used to fund garbage. if all the money was being accounted for, if it was all used for defense, social security, national infrastructure, I wouldn't have a problem. But knowing what I know about the government, it makes me sick to see how much waste exists.

Answer 8

Stealing from the rich....hmm....I don't know about that. It seems perfectly logical to place a greater burden on a society which can bear it. I like the notion that business owners, CEOs, and the like take greater responsibility for the course of the nation. With wealth comes power and with power comes responsibility. America has strayed from this and needs to be redirected.

Think about this...401Ks abolish pensions plans thus reducing cost by placing retirement upon the worker...PPOs are dictated by companies which drive rates up while reducing coverage to increase revenue....Out-sourcing of labor to foreign nations have nearly doubled during Bush's campaign which cost Americans millions of jobs....and so on.

Congress has been changed over, why? I would like to think that the American people are realizing that the ever growing income gap (perhaps you've read about it as "war on middle class") has been allowed by the government, politicians have been caught being crooked, and now the people are ready for a change.

To think, a suggestion such as this could win a lot of votes in times such as ours. The "little people" are growing tired of bearing the yoke and it is time for "upper society" to assume it's responsibilities.

Remember what I said, with money comes power and with power comes responsibility. If you don't like what candidate John Edwards said than perhaps you should speak with some affluent influential people and get them to stop resisting the responsibility.

Answer 9

I love that it's "stealing" from the rich. Why should the rich be the beneficiaries of tax cuts? Why should the ever-shrinking middle class bear the bulk of the tax burden?
This entitlement bunk from the wealthy always drives me mad...they're the first to say that "Only in America" can someone become as rich and successful as they have, but the last to want to PAY to keep it that way.
As another respondent has already made clear, the wealthy are far more able to deal with a bit of a hit to the wallet. Why should middle and lower-class families have to pay more to cover for the tax evasion the wealthy can manage to pull off?

Answer 10

Now here's a slightly different tact on the issue.

While some say it's jealousy, and others say it's only fair... I think there's something else lurking underneath... closely related to fairness.

The current tax law is so full of special interest loopholes/deductions, the "rich" are generally the only ones who can best "afford" to AVOID paying taxes by taking advantage of as many of those loopholes as possible... AND by hiring those (attorneys/accountants/brokers/consultants) who can help them do so. The "poor" simply cannot afford to AVOID paying taxes. The "middle class" is frustrated somewhere in the middle! (But don't we ALL try to figure out how to use as many deductions, etc. to lower our taxable income as much as possible, regardless of what our economic levels are? And rightly SHOULDN'T WE?)

Can you BLAME those who can't afford to AVOID paying taxes to feel a certain UNFAIRNESS in this? Can you blame the middle class for their frustration in not being ABLE to do what the rich can? The rich can take the MOST advantage of the tax law to AVOID (or "lower their taxable income") paying, but it then goes downhill from there.

The rich feel they are being unfairly targeted to PAY UP when they feel they've EARNED THEIR MONEY legally and ethically (those who have not done so legally and ethically... well, that is another matter), and are being taxed too highly as it is. I find it ironic that the "rich" are likely paying AS MUCH, if not MORE, for services ...attorneys/accountants/brokers/consultants... to AVOID paying taxes than the taxes they'd likely have to pay... or is our current tax system THAT punative that it is cheaper to pay an accountant to avoid taxes than to pay the taxes????

Well, let's get the situation straight, okay? I think that EVERYONE who works hard to earn their incomes feels that it is THEIR money, and WHY should the government take it away from them? Yes, we need a government, and we need to fund that government, but we need to find a system of funding that is FAIR... one in which EVERYONE pays the same rate... AND that EVERYONE ACTUALLY PAYS IT!!!

GET RID of all those rediculous deductions, exemptions, loop holes, etc. that are being used to avoid paying taxes. Set up one, simple, general "deduction" for EVERYONE, and that's IT. Problem with this is 2-fold... too many people with their thumbs in the tax pie, AND ... POLITICIANS who USE the tax code to manipulate our behavior. Neither of these groups want to give up THEIR power over us and OUR money... of course they think it's THEIR money!

There you have my HUMBLE opinion.