A one-percenter speaks out

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Most people view the Occupy Wall Street movement as the ideological opposite of the Tea Party, yet they share a remarkably similar motivating principle: a concern that our economic system has become fundamentally unfair.


Consider my own situation as a member of the top 1%. For 2010, my wife and I paid $115,310 in federal income tax on adjusted gross income of $723,984, an effective tax rate of 15.9%.


Why so low? Mostly because the vast majority of our income comes from investments—stock dividends and capital gains—which are taxed at a maximum rate of 15%.


If we had made the exact same income purely from the sweat of our brows, we would have paid approximately $155,000, or over a third more, in federal income tax.


To put it another way, in order for a working couple to have the same after-tax income as us, they would need to earn over $64,000 more than we did(and this isn’t even taking into account Social Security and Medicare taxes, which are paid on labor but not on investment income).


No wonder the gap between the richest 1% and the rest keeps growing.


The government is subsidizing the wealthiest Americans, making it easier for them to stay rich and harder for working Americans to join their ranks.




http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesl...s-than-someone-who-earns-it-all-by-hard-work/
 
One Percenter
fat-bastard-michael-moore-s--large-msg-124529250832.jpg
 
Of course, the right argues that these tax loopholes are essential to encourage the wealthy to create more jobs.


Regardless of whether this is factually true—and as one of those wealthy “job creators,” I am highly skeptical—this argument clearly implies that its proponents do not think fairness calls for equal taxes on equal income.


Rather, they think that it is fair that the “job creators” pay less in taxes than the job holders themselves.


I am amused that the right thinks that capitalists like me are more virtuous citizens than middle class workers, but I wish they would honestly admit that they think that inequality is good and we really need more of it.




http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesl...s-than-someone-who-earns-it-all-by-hard-work/
 
Return of Dune said:
Keep showing your true colors loser.
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My true colors are Red, White, and Blue. You don't even know what a real American is.

Oh boy, a Michael Moore fan. I can tell you're really really smart if you like Michael Moore. You two have a lot in common. Yep, yep.
 
Alias said:
My true colors are Red, White, and Blue. You don't even know what a real American is.

Oh boy, a Michael Moore fan. I can tell you're really really smart if you like Michael Moore. You two have a lot in common. Yep, yep.
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You didn't like Farenheit 9/11?

That was a brilliant flick.
 
Alias said:
Oh, for sure. Michael Moore is a damn genius. My God, you people don't even know when you're being conned. No wonder you need a govt nanny.
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It's funny you talk about "being conned," because you were conned hook, line & sinker by Bush on the Iraq war.

That's why Farenheit 9/11 is so good - it really exposes the truth about that.
 
Millionaires should not be paying income tax at a rate lower than their secretaries'.


But correcting this inequity is only a small step toward fairness.


The more serious inequality problem facing the United States involves overall wealth, not just income.


While the top 1% of Americans earned 21% of the nation's income, they owned a staggering 35% of the wealth in 2006-07, the most recent year for which statistics are available.


We should be taxing that wealth directly, and not merely focusing on million-dollar incomes.


http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/20/opinion/la-oe-ackerman-wealth-tax-20110920
 
Onceler said:
It's funny you talk about "being conned," because you were conned hook, line & sinker by Bush on the Iraq war.

That's why Farenheit 9/11 is so good - it really exposes the truth about that.
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Oh, for sure. I'm not the one who watches movies made by a one percenter who claims to be speaking for the 99%. LOL.
 
Alias said:
Oh, for sure. I'm not the one who watches movies made by a one percenter who claims to be speaking for the 99%. LOL.
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You didn't see Farenheit 9/11? It's a great flick - you should really catch it.

I never saw Moore "claim" to be their spokesman. He just agrees w/ what they're trying to do; there are quite a few 1 percenters who do have basic agreement w/ that.
 
America had a surplus before the Bush tax cuts.

Now we have record deficits.

Time to let the Bush tax cuts expire.
 
Onceler said:
You didn't see Farenheit 9/11? It's a great flick - you should really catch it.

I never saw Moore "claim" to be their spokesman. He just agrees w/ what they're trying to do; there are quite a few 1 percenters who do have basic agreement w/ that.
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Michael Moore is a liar and a con man. I never said Michael Moore claimed to be their spokesman. He claims to be watching out for you, though,.
 
Alias said:
Michael Moore is a liar and a con man. I never said Michael Moore claimed to be their spokesman. He claims to be watching out for you, though,.
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You said he "claims to be speaking for the 99%." You realize that's saying he's the spokesman, right?

You don't seem to understand what a lot of words mean.
 
Onceler said:
You said he "claims to be speaking for the 99%." You realize that's saying he's the spokesman, right?

You don't seem to understand what a lot of words mean.
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Excuse me, I meant to say "speaking to".....

Do you believe Michael Moore identifies with the 99%?
 
Looks like Failias has class envy over Moores' financial success.
 
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