Financial Shakeup this weekend

[AMoore]

ccm911 wrote:

AMoore wrote:

I would welcome any bible thumpin' gun totin' no tax payin' self involved, status quo lovin' torture monger, world bullying, natural resource burnin' future ignoring, right wing conservative to this dialogue.

And do I see a Hummer listed in your fleet?

H-3 with 5 cylinders, gets terrific milage, and I take the bus to work every day. There are 7,000 miles on the odometer including 2,000 trip in November.

[AMoore]

emayer wrote:

How does this affect you? If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes.

Is this true if you are selling your primary home and purchase another home thereafter?

[emayer]

Ccns23 wrote:

Unfotunately, our taxes will have to be raised anyway. That wonderful war over in Iraq has stretched us to the limit, the deficet keeps rising, and our government keeps wasting money bailing out corporations instead of it's constituants.

But, until people stop bitching on online forums and actually get together to make a difference nothing will change. And yes, I'm a hypocrite for saying that but it's the truth. People will complain to each other till they are blue in the face, but when was the last time that the people actually organized together for a common goal AGAINST our govenment? I mean, the government is supposed to be for the people not the other way around.

+1! I think some of us raised similar sentiments before and would rally behind anyone offering a common-sense approach to dealing with our nation's problems. I feel the ideal way would be to have additional parties in the fray to counterbalance the two extremes we presently have. Let's get 'er done!

[AMoore]

Yesterday McCain stated that the Democratic candidates want to implement the biggest tax increase in history. 

Hidden between the lines is the fact that it is not an increase, but an end to the temporary tax breaks given to the rich under the current administration.

Whether you agree with the candidates position or not regarding taxes, I hate to see this type of spin on a position.  Yes, I know they all do it.

[emayer]

AMoore wrote:

emayer wrote:

How does this affect you? If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes.

Is this true if you are selling your primary home and purchase another home thereafter?

I am not sure of the answer here. I'll try to investigate when I get a chance...

[emayer]

AMoore wrote:

Yesterday McCain stated that the Democratic candidates want to implement the biggest tax increase in history.

Hidden between the lines is the fact that it is not an increase, but an end to the temporary tax breaks given to the rich under the current administration.

Whether you agree with the candidates position or not regarding taxes, I hate to see this type of spin on a position. Yes, I know they all do it.

My issue here is that these breaks weren't given to the "rich" alone. This affects all of us and the candidates (on both sides) should come clean!

[ccm911]

[Ccns23]

I just don't understand why we can't just go to a flat tax. 3 levels, 10% ,15% ,20% depending on income. Eliminate all the nonsense with these ridiculous tax codes that no one (even the IRS) truly understands. Impliment a NATIONAL sales tax and ELIMINATE state taxes. We all live in the same country, why should it cost me more to buy TV in Pennsylvania (6% state sales tax) then it does in Delaware (no sales tax)?

I mean, this is the problem. We are literally being taxed to death. Isn't that why we went to war with England to begin with? I don't know, I just don't get it I guess.

I have no problem paying my fair share of taxes, but when I look at my paycheck and see over 25% going to taxes alone (don't even get me started on healthcare) it's just really disheartening. I earned the money, not the government.

[emayer]

I'll see if I can source this infomation, it was provided to me in an email from an employee.  Looking at the numbers and from what I have read elsewhere the projections seem to primarily follow the repeal/ expiration of the Bush tax cuts.

I like the concept of a flat tax as it is the most straightforward and equitable thing to do.  I'm guessing it hasn't gained traction because if we calculated the total percentage contributed from all the various taxes combined we would be shocked at how much the overall income tax would have to be in order to offset this.  I wonder if anyone has ever taken the time to compute a yearly tax burden based on an average salary/ lifestyle?

[emayer]

Wellardmac wrote:

emayer wrote:

I'll see if I can source this infomation, it was provided to me in an email from an employee. Looking at the numbers and from what I have read elsewhere the projections seem to primarily follow the repeal/ expiration of the Bush tax cuts.

Well, that's my main problem with the numbers. They have said that they would only repeal the tax cuts for those earning over $250K. The numbers quoted don't makes sense from what I've read from both candidates.

Here's a summary of their proposals from CNN and the Brookings Institute.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/04/pf/taxes...eck_taxes/

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxtopics...matrix.cfm

I think you've been punk'd. The numbers you're quoting are just not credible.

I particularly like the second link as it looks at the tax impact of the candidate topic by topic and then sources the information at the bottom of the page.

I would say partially punk'd! I just found the following link myself and would submit that Obama's projections (not Hillary's) are more in line with what I submitted:

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/tpcconten...rix15a.pdf

I would also go so far as to say that Hillary will not be able to cover her spending proposals with her existing tax plan especially if healthcare is factored into the equation.

As for the turbotax calculation, what I mean to say is whether anyone has gone through the process of calculating an individual's entire tax burden eg. federal, state, local, gas, sales, etc. to determine what the percentage of income would be. In other words, if we lumped all the individual taxes together it would not suprise me if this represented at least 50-60% total income. I'd have a few more Porsches in the stable if my tax rate were a mere 18%!!

You're right that most do not have the inclination, time or financial savy to piece this together which is why our politicians continue to pull the wool over our eyes...