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Originally Posted by classicman
Here is a great article. Ibs, I'd like your takeaway on it.
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Well, I'd say, broadly, that I don't accept the argument that you should include his corporation's tax rate in his tax calculation, so that's irrelevant to me. When the article says
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A question for any political candidate today is whether he or she agrees with the Bush tax ceiling. If not, how high above a third is he or she willing to go?
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I think that one-third is too low of a ceiling. I think the argument that they're the "working rich" doesn't mitigate the fact that they're the rich, when it comes to taxation. And I think that the capital gains loophole, for example, should be closed.
I'd be all for simplifying the tax code, and I think loopholes and deductions that unfairly benefit the wealthy should be closed, but I think that the wealthy should pay a significantly higher tax burden than the rest of the population, because I firmly believe that without government investment and support, not a single one of them would be in the position they're in. We don't and never will live in a Randian capitalist society, where the wealthy make it on their own merit alone, and those who make it should give back at a higher rate than those that don't make it, to help promote the government infrastructure, institutions, and bureaucracy that is an integral part of what contributes to financial success in the market and help establish the next generation of "self"-made wealthy.
This is not to detract from the immense wealth, prestige, and success that the wealthy often deserve. I'm certainly not in a position to make that kind of money, and those that aren't born into wealth, who DO pull themselves up by their bootstraps, definitely deserve what they make. I'm not saying they'd be nothing without the government. I'm not saying it's the government that they owe their success to. But the roads, the regulations, the investments, the education, the infrastructure... the government helps. And so those that manage to get wealthy, should have to not only give back, but give back more.
more or less.