People who make $250,000 or more a year can afford a tax hike.
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Re: People who make $250,000 or more a year can afford a tax hike.
#2The question is not "Can they afford a tax hike?" The question is, "Will they continue to gross $250,000 and take home less of it, or will they find a lower-stressed job and make less?"
The answer is probably the latter, for a lot of folks.
Re: People who make $250,000 or more a year can afford a tax hike.
#3The question is not "Can they afford a tax hike?" The question is, "Will they continue to gross $250,000 and take home less of it, or will they find a lower-stressed job and make less?" The answer is probably the latter, for a lot of folks.
I'm right there on that line. Honestly I pay a TON of taxes already. Very high rate, lots of taxable income. Cutting back to be under 250k would probably make more sense than making 255k and paying a lot more in taxes.
I don't mind taxes and social programs. I do mind paying for unending wars in the Middle East (not making a political statement, just a budgetary one). Cut some of the crazy expenses, and I'll be happier paying my taxes, and you probably won't even have to jack them up.
Re: People who make $250,000 or more a year can afford a tax hike.
#4The question is not "Can they afford a tax hike?" The question is, "Will they continue to gross $250,000 and take home less of it, or will they find a lower-stressed job and make less?" The answer is probably the latter, for a lot of folks.
Uh. No. The answer is the former, for the absolutely overwhelming and unspeakably vast majority of them. And for the rest, there are a dozen equally qualified people ready to do that job for them.
Re: People who make $250,000 or more a year can afford a tax hike.
#5The question is not "Can they afford a tax hike?" The question is, "Will they continue to gross $250,000 and take home less of it, or will they find a lower-stressed job and make less?" The answer is probably the latter, for a lot of folks.
Really? That doesn't make any sense to me. "Oh my, I'm making marginally less take-home money. I should completely change my career and get even less money!"
Remember it's a marginal tax system. They would only get taxed more on the amount they are making over 250k.
No matter what the tax rate goes to, you'll still be bringing home more money by having a higher paying job.
Re: People who make $250,000 or more a year can afford a tax hike.
#6Of course they can "afford" it. But so what? Every single billionaire can "afford" to be taxed at a 99% rate.
The bigger question: is it in any way fair, just, or moral to tax society's most successful more heavily just for being more successful?
EDIT: The other salient question that I forgot to mention is: "why do we need more taxes?" Our government already can't manage what they have with any sort of reasonable efficiency. Are we really supposed to believe that they'll do better if we give them more money?
Re: People who make $250,000 or more a year can afford a tax hike.
#7Why is Politics such a predominant topic on HN?
Re: People who make $250,000 or more a year can afford a tax hike.
#8The question is not "Can they afford a tax hike?" The question is, "Will they continue to gross $250,000 and take home less of it, or will they find a lower-stressed job and make less?" The answer is probably the latter, for a lot of folks.
Or they might mask their income, or elect to receive it in other forms like stock options. I think capital gains get taxed at 15%, soon to be reverted to 20% (still less than 39%).
Re: People who make $250,000 or more a year can afford a tax hike.
#9The US federal income tax exists to raise revenue for the federal government. It does not exist to level the playing field, make things fair, or to hinder high-producers.
This whole debate is framed wrong, on both sides.
Re: People who make $250,000 or more a year can afford a tax hike.
#10Why does a married couple still have the same 250k threshold? Does marriage immediately cancel out all the expenses one person in a relationship might encounter?