"Occupy the Capitol" Movement Activity in Sacramento (house, incomes)

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by sacramento916

Anybody who believes that the rich pay too much in taxes, or more than the Middle Class is not very aware.

The wealthiest class pays less as a percentage of their income through all the loopholes, write offs (they can afford very talented accountants, mind you), than the Middle Class. Many pay less than 15% of their income which is in the tens of millions to taxes, while the Middle Class pays up to 20-30-40%.

When I talk about wealthy, I'm talking about those who make millions. People who make six figures are not wealthy, they are just middle to upper middle class at best.

Relative to California income taxes and the complaints from the "occupy" movement in California, your observation isn't relevant.

What you are pointing out has to do with federal income taxes, not state taxes.

California has a system where the wealthy currently pay far more than practically any other state.

[Curmudgeon]

CA colleges and universities cost students more than Harvard.

Hard to believe: Harvard cheaper than many UC schools - Daily Democrat Online

Is this nuts or what?

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

CA colleges and universities cost students more than Harvard.

Hard to believe: Harvard cheaper than many UC schools - Daily Democrat Online

Is this nuts or what?

Not at all, Harvard and many of the other highly ranked private universities have massive endowments allowing them (for the time being) to give full scholarships to anyone accepted whose family makes below a certain income level:

Harvard Financial Aid Initiative for low and moderate income students, under which families with incomes currently below $60,000 are not expected to contribute to college costs. Beginning in the fall of 2012, financial aid will be further expanded for low income students, when this income level will be increased to $65,000.

We do not consider home equity or retirement accounts as resources in our determination of a family contribution, and aid packages do not include any loans. A typical student may receive over $150,000 in Harvard scholarship assistance over four years


Financial Aid Office


Aid is completely need based, so students from wealthier families will find Harvard to be very expensive.

[sacramento916]

Originally Posted by ringwise

Since that McDonald employee pays NO income tax, or gets money back, your argument doesn't make sense.

If, like most Libs, you start yelling that it's more than income tax, the rich pay a larger percentage through sales tax than the poor.

That is absolutely untrue. When I was going through college, I earned close to minimum wage. And I remember roughly about 15-20% of my income going towards taxes. Later on, after I graduated college, I had a full time job earning less than $40,000 and roughly about 20-25% of my income went through taxes and deductions. Now I earn far more, and I pay much less percentage in taxes than I did ever before.

[ZhugeLiang]

Originally Posted by sacramento916

Romney himself has admitted that he pays less than 15%, do you think that's a huge tax burden? Stop spitting out ideology.

15% of what Romney makes is probably more than what the guy at MickeyD's is paying out. Just sayin'. Oh and the guy at MickeyD's pays no federal income tax. What was that about ideology again? Take some of your own advice my friend.

And I'm not bringing ideology into this. I'm merely taking issue with some of your comments which I find to be quite bizarre.

[Gtownoe]

Originally Posted by ZhugeLiang

Feel free to spend more of your money in taxes. No one is stopping you. Raising taxes on the rich won't accomplish anything, not that we don't already tax them heavily to begin with.

The students ought to be protesting against school administrators for squandering so much money away.

Except increased tax revenues

[Gtownoe]

Originally Posted by ZhugeLiang

So the top 10% of wage earners paying 70% of the tax burden is just an illusion then?

That is due to the immense amount of wealth they own, not due to them paying a large percentage of their income in taxes.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by 1AngryTaxPayer

Why are people so afraid to work while in College? I worked full time and had a full load for a while but usually worked full time and went to school part time. It took longer but I financed it myself.

In all fairness to students, tuition inflation has greatly exceeded the general rate of inflation for many years now. It's not the same as when you went to college.

[ZhugeLiang]

Originally Posted by Gtownoe

Except increased tax revenues

An astute observation, and yet you managed to miss the point completely at the same time.

If we're already in a cash crunch in CA, then raising taxes on the those with the highest incomes is pointless. If more money didn't solve the problem before, why would it be the solution now? Time to reevaluate spending.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Majin

The "cut the fat" is a straw man argument people like the make about the budget (both at the state and federal level) because it doesn't mean anything and is a distraction.

Actually, even liberals like Elizabeth Warren, Obama's consumer czar have said that the current model for college/university is not financially sustainable. She dedicated a chapter to this in her book: The Two Income Trap.

Amazon.com: The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents are Going Broke (9780465090907): Elizabeth Warren, Amelia Warren Tyagi: Books