How I learned to start hating others and love the AMT..........
The other day I was talking to Dave about the multitudes of middle class families that are responsible for paying the Alternative Minimum Tax this year.
So today, Dave sends me a link to this story and I just had to blog about it. Best part about the email was that he said I should write for CNN.
The best part of this story for me, is the fact that it addresses one of the biggest reasons I hear from people as to why they vote Republican.
"I vote Republican because Republicans lower my taxes and give less money to the poor, who don't work as hard as I do because if they did, they wouldn't be poor."
This is my favorite reason for voting Republican. It says, "I don't care about anyone other than myself." That is God's way.
Let's pretend for a minute that even though you have a good job and you make a lot of money, you are not in the 1/10th of 1% of the richest people in this country. It is easy to know if this is you or not because if you are not on the Forbes top 400 richest people in American list, you are not the 1/10 of 1%. I think you have to be a billionaire to be in the top 400 now.
Now, since you fall into the other 99.9% of this country that is not on that list, here is how Shrub's tax cuts have helped you.
"Because of poor design, millionaires are actually less likely to owe AMT than middle-income people with kids," said Tax Policy Center director Len Burman told the House Ways and Means Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee....Burman and others at the House panel hearing said that the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 will double the number of people subject to the AMT unless lawmakers act to reform the tax.
That's because the tax cuts lower tax liability under the regular code, forcing some to pay the higher AMT bill. Without the tax cuts, the number of taxpayers subject to the AMT would already be high - 16 million by 2010 - unless the income exemption levels are indexed to inflation. But with the tax cuts, that number doubles to 32 million." CNN
The other day I was talking to Dave about the multitudes of middle class families that are responsible for paying the Alternative Minimum Tax this year.
So today, Dave sends me a link to this story and I just had to blog about it. Best part about the email was that he said I should write for CNN.
The best part of this story for me, is the fact that it addresses one of the biggest reasons I hear from people as to why they vote Republican.
"I vote Republican because Republicans lower my taxes and give less money to the poor, who don't work as hard as I do because if they did, they wouldn't be poor."
This is my favorite reason for voting Republican. It says, "I don't care about anyone other than myself." That is God's way.
Let's pretend for a minute that even though you have a good job and you make a lot of money, you are not in the 1/10th of 1% of the richest people in this country. It is easy to know if this is you or not because if you are not on the Forbes top 400 richest people in American list, you are not the 1/10 of 1%. I think you have to be a billionaire to be in the top 400 now.
Now, since you fall into the other 99.9% of this country that is not on that list, here is how Shrub's tax cuts have helped you.
"Because of poor design, millionaires are actually less likely to owe AMT than middle-income people with kids," said Tax Policy Center director Len Burman told the House Ways and Means Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee....Burman and others at the House panel hearing said that the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 will double the number of people subject to the AMT unless lawmakers act to reform the tax.
That's because the tax cuts lower tax liability under the regular code, forcing some to pay the higher AMT bill. Without the tax cuts, the number of taxpayers subject to the AMT would already be high - 16 million by 2010 - unless the income exemption levels are indexed to inflation. But with the tax cuts, that number doubles to 32 million." CNN
Which brings us to the key point.....Bush's tax cuts DO NOT help the middle and even what is considered the upper middle class. Again, if you are not on that top 400 list by being a BILLIONAIRE, the tax cuts are hurting you.
"I vote Republican because they let companies and rich people keep more of their income which means they will invest that income in jobs and private sector social services"
TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS DOES NOT WORK! This was proven in the 12 years that Regan and Shrub Sr were in the White House. They quadrupled the national debt (don't you wish that we still had that small of a debt?) and proved that their theory did not work. But like the good Republicans they were, instead of getting rid of bad domestic policy, they kept hanging onto it. That doesn't sound like anyone else we know, does it? Why let the FACTS speak for themselves?
Now here is where I am going to really blow your mind.....
You know that fabulous job you have that earns you a great income, does that job have anything to do with the economy?
If you answered yes, then a vote for a Republican is a shot in your own foot.
Now wait a minute....how can I justify that statement you ask?
Let's examine my job for example.
I work at a car dealership where we sell GM products. I am the Business Manager which means I get people financed and sell insurances that no one thinks they need until something happens and they can't pay for their car. Now, 100% of our customers and I am going to say 99.9% of all of GM's customers are considered middle class. Remember the upper class in America is 1% of the entire US population. (Here is a link to a fabulous chart showing the explanation of classes in the US compiled by the US Census)
Now, since Shrub is taking money out of the middle class's (remember, middle class is 99% of the population) pockets, he is taking money out of my customer's pockets. Which means they spend less money. Which means I make less money and therefore spend less money. Which means that waitresses, stores, websites, etc all make less money because remember, 99% of the population is going through this.
So, if you are not a billionaire, do you still feel it is smart to vote Republican?
And don't worry, if you are sitting back with a smug look on your face that says, "I vote for family values," I will prove you wrong in another post.
1 comments:
Some people vote only for family values, for politicians who are against abortion, for example, and gay marriage. They then ignore the other things the politicians are for, like higher taxes and less money to help those who are less fortunate (who are less fortunate because they just can't hold a job no matter what they do and not because they're lazy or incompetent, though those are arguments for a later post). And these are people who insist they are Christian, but don't seem to like to do much for their fellow (impoverished) people except a few quarters into the Salvation Army kettle every Christmas. Oh, pardon me. I mean "Holiday Season." Are Republicans all for Political Correctness, too, and responsible for the renaming of the Easter Bunny to the Spring Bunny? I don't know. I am sadly uninformed. Time to go check out dates on the calendar for the the next Wiccan festivals. In the meantime, I'm counting my middle-class self lucky to have a steady income with health benefits. Though if we didn't have kids, we'd pay a lot more taxes. Maybe if rich people had more kids and thus paid less in taxes we wouldn't be so down on them.
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