How much am I supposed to pay for the right to live in a civilized society? Why is it right to give me a tax break when I can well afford to pay more in taxes, while the nation runs a deficit that it is going to foist of on those who are less well off? And why cut my taxes first instead of those who make less? Have you no fucking sense of justice and fairness? You're the dumb SOB who's paying for that $60,000 tax cut, you know.
Originally Posted by TexTushHog
It's always hilarious to see someone with no understanding of an issue call somebody else a "dumb shit!"
TTH's last statement is ridiculous for the following reasons:
First of all, how in the hell can TTH have any idea what IB's income is? As far as I know, IB has never said what he does for a living or offered even the slightest hint of what his financial status may be. Perhaps he is a professional or business owner whose income is equal to or greater than TTH's, and is similarly comprised in terms of what portions are made up of ordinary income, capital gains, qualified dividends, carried interest, and everything else. I that case, he would benefit to an equal or greater degree from the tax rate cuts.
On the other hand, if IB's income is less than TTH's, he may be in a lower tax bracket, in which case he pays income tax at a substantially lower rate. In fact, taxes were cut by a higher percentage for lower-bracket taxpayers than for the affluent.
Or perhaps IB is retired, in which case he may pay tax at a low rate since his income might be composed of capital gains, qualified dividends, and tax-free muni-bond interest. So in none of the above cases can it reasonably be said that IB is "paying for" TTH's tax cuts.
In a larger sense, it should be noted that we are "paying for" everyone's tax cut with borrowed and printed money, since our fiscal deficits are very large and the tax burden across the income strata, particularly for the non-wealthy, is considerably lower than it was in the 1970s.
We will eventually have to address the issue with big tax increases on some people, but it is impossible to predict how the load will be distributed across the income strata, so it is not possible to predict what income groups will end up "paying for" TTH's tax cut.
Politicians will undertake great efforts to avoid raising taxes on households with incomes less than about $250K, and will not do so until forced by severe debt crises.
Perhaps by that time a substantially higher percentage of baby boomers will be retired!
But a lot of people younger than about 55-60 are likely to get a very raw deal.
