If you can afford luxuries like refrigerators and an Xbox you can afford to pay taxes. Everyone should have some skin in the game, or if you can't afford that why not give blood to the red cross and contribute in some way. Those of us that can afford health insurance may need it at some point.

Handouts and entitlements are killing this once proud country. Worrying about what others have instead working hard to make something of yourself is the staple of a loser society. It's easy to be envious of the rich, they represent what we all aspire to become one day, but they earned that money by working harder and smarter than everyone else, and they shouldn't be forced to pay more simply because they are far more productive and valuable to our society. After all these productive people are what make our economy move, without them we'd have nothing.

Think about this...if we didn't have extremely wealthy people then who would we look up to and what would motivate us? They give us hope and dare us to dream that by working hard and contributing someday we too can be successful. Now the government wants to take that dream away and let the least productive people leech for free off the most productive among us.

How many "ALL TAXES ARE BAD!" tea partiers are part of this new "THE GOVERNMENT ISN'T TAXING POOR PEOPLE ENOUGH!" crowd?

Bloody William: How many "ALL TAXES ARE BAD!" tea partiers are part of this new "THE GOVERNMENT ISN'T TAXING POOR PEOPLE ENOUGH!" crowd?

I had the same thought. The same people who complain that all taxation is theft are now complaining that people aren't paying enough taxes.

I guess proficiency in doublethink is part of being a right winger.

The debate around taxes when it comes to the middle class always have some moral component attached to it so it keeps us fighting among our selves. If we all treated taxes as an overhead cost that we should try to mitigate "conservatives" would shiat their pants in fear.

you've all been sucked into a troll thread.

Keep in mind, teabaggers think the poor are rich and the rich are poor. They really believe this.

They think owning a refrigerator is the good life, but making a million dollars a year puts you in the low middle class.

thismomentinblackhistory: 8/10. Too bad less artful trolls are distracting folks.

I was really hoping for an 8.5 there, but I suppose I'll just have to earn it. I can't expect 8.5's to just be handed out.

I note the MASSIVE decrease in corporate income taxes since the 1950s.

Taxing income from labor is immoral. That is all.

Here's my idea of "fair share":

The first $40,000 is free from all payroll tax
Eliminate the Social Security tax cap loophole
Tax capital gains and dividends at their owner's tax rate
Corporate profit repatriation tax is at the CEO's rate + a 10% surcharge
0.05% tax surcharge on income over $1,000,000

The poor pay income tax. Each month the governement takes income taxes from their check, that money is used for running the government and paying for junk and stuff.

at the end of the year, the government says "thanks poor people for helping out" you can have most or all of your money back"

whats the problem with that?

They still pay state taxes...local taxes...sales taxes...property taxes....

the idea that poor don't pay taxes is nothing more than right-wing whackoff material

If there were no taxes, deductions, or credits at any level of government, except for a single flat tax on any income, the results would look very much the same.

Chart is useless without showing the growth in the size of government during the same period. Then you'd really see how you're being robbed blind by the feds.

Kittypie070: you've all been sucked into a troll thread.

Well, yeah. I know the game is rigged, but it's the only game in town.

EnviroDude: If you were to remove all the "other" taxes (excluding state taxes), then you see that the poor don't pay.

So, the poor don't pay taxes if you take away all the taxes they do pay. Got it.

EnviroDude: If they aren't paying INCOME taxes, they are not paying their fair share.

Pile them on higher and deeper. We all owe the gooberment too much money now for slackers not to pick up their burden.

Everyday I wake up in the morning and thank the Universe that I am fortunate enough to have a well-paying job and make enough money to have to pay Federal income tax. I would not want to trade places with anyone who doesn't. But for those of you who feel slighted because you have to pay Federal income tax while poorer people don't then I suggest you quite whatever it is you are doing that is making you too much money and open up that job for someone who would appreciate it and would be happy to start paying Federal income tax again.

I know that facts and reality generally don't agree with GOP wishful thinking, Republican gut feelings, and all but really? You trolls/partisan hacks are really going to keep arguing this one?

Now it's really just getting sad...

FuturePastNow: I note the MASSIVE decrease in corporate income taxes since the 1950s.

That is not necessarily a decrease in taxes just a decrease in percentage of government income coming from corporate taxes. While decreasing the corporate tax rate is one way to cause this it is not the only possible explanation.

Class warfare is only bad when the dems...I mean repubs...I mean...oh fark it all anyway

impaler: EnviroDude: If they aren't paying INCOME taxes, they are not paying their fair share.

A dollar paid to income tax hurts 10 times as much as a dollar paid to FICA, excise, and state taxes. Everyone knows that.

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The second image, the table, is inaccurate because it fails to consider the employer contribution to payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, etc. The taxes on the lowest income levels about double when you consider this, though the effect on the wealthiest is negligible.

jst3p: FuturePastNow: I note the MASSIVE decrease in corporate income taxes since the 1950s.

That is not necessarily a decrease in taxes just a decrease in percentage of government income coming from corporate taxes. While decreasing the corporate tax rate is one way to cause this it is not the only possible explanation.

Yet corporations are able to control their "profit" which an individual who is on the lower income scale cannot do. Well, I guess they can by not working or taking a minimum wage job, and that hasn't worked well has it?