A “real liberal” is someone who chooses to do good things for other with their money. These guys want to tell me what I have to do for others with MY money!

Those of us in the top 10% pay about 85% of the bill FOR EVERYTHING & guess what, the other 90%, who only pay 15% BENEFIT!. By the way, since they out number us 9 to 1, they use at least 90% more than us. Not counting welfare & all the gov’t handouts that we pay for but do not qualify for because we are “rich.” I drive a 10 year old F-150.

You would think they would at least have the decency to say “Thank you!”

1) I am not in the top 1%
2) Wealth and Income are not the same thing
3) You didn’t answer the question.

How much is enough???

Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thanks for not answering the simple question, thereby making my point. So nice of you to check in from Australia to comment on US tax policy.

Thanks for reading and commenting. Note I never said that there should be no taxes. I understand that government services require revenues. I fully support a very limited government, and a consumption tax to fund it. My question remains how much is enough? I use the same roads you do, but I pay more. And for the record, I drive a 5-year old beat-up Ford pickup, not a Mercedes.

Drinky Cow,

That is exactly the type of intelligent response I expect from an Obama supporter. Put down the pipe and get a job!

Now for the bit your really going to HATE — from your link above

“he top 1 percent of tax returns paid 39.9 percent of all federal individual income taxes and earned 22.1 percent of adjusted gross income, both of which are significantly higher than 2004 when the top 1 percent earned 19 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI) and paid 36.9 percent of federal individual income taxes”
THATS 22% of ALL MONEY EARNED in the US, gee I wonder why they pay tax — maybe cause the are rapping the economy.
But it gets better — “the AGI of the top 1 percent of tax returns fell by over 26 percent. In that same period, the AGI of the bottom 50 percent of tax returns actually increased by 4.3 percent.” — WOW! Your 1% seems to be getting along nicely while the 50% are getting rapped!

So I ask, idiot american, How Much BULLSHIT is Enough?

However, I don’t assign the same conclusions that you do. I think you have one major flaw in your reasoning:

“That’s right, half! 50% of my income goes to others.”

Taxes are not “money that goes to others.” Taxes go to the state or country of which you are a part. I get really tired of wealthy people pretending that they are some kind of money-printing island being raided by filthy savages. As if money simply issues from their loins spontaneously, as if they are some kind of wellspring of cash.

The fact is that we are all part of a larger economic and societal fabric. Why should I pay taxes for better public transportation when I drive my Mercedes to the company I own each day? Well, maybe so that my employees can afford to get to work. Why should I pay federal income tax? Well, maybe to ensure that there will be an educated workforce in this country to work for my company in ten years’ time. Do I personally walk into my company and make all the money magically appear each day? No. I am the product of my family, the school I went to, my own hard work, and the help of many others. Do opportunities simply fall from my pant legs? No, they come about because of the larger economy operating around me.

Do I owe some of my success to “others?” Yes. Either because they helped me, or because my personal genius could not create wealth on its own without their participation.

Do I have a staked in investing in this country? Yes. Unless I am effing Stephen King and brilliance simply falls off my lips. I guess even he needs a literate population who can afford to buy his books. Better pay those taxes that fund education…