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OK...so lets get this straight...Joe the rich ass plumber,,,who is tetering on the decision on buying his company...Is bent out of shape about a 3% tax increase because he makes over a 1/4 million/year...but will get a $3000.00 credit for each person he hires and a 50% tax credit on health care... But unfortunately does not have a plumbers license so now he will unemployeed in dire need of the "hand outs"...right?
This turned out to be another fantastic stratagy...
Correct, so whoever you support for President, Joe is now "Joe the Hired Hand".
Tax Credits: speak for themselves and it's the only way to give money to people who mostly don't pay any taxes in the first place. Some call it welfare.
The excessive taxing of successful people: not much more socialistic than this idea: The top individual income tax rate, for example, would be increased by 13%, to 39.6%; the next-highest rate would be raised to 36%. The top rates on capital gains and dividends would rise by a third, to 20%
The Social Security payroll tax would be raised between 16% to 32% for families making over $250,000 a year. This means that the real returns these people get from their lifetime payments into the retirement program will be driven below 0%, according to my own previous research, which was published by the Cato Institute and elsewhere.
Death Tax: Mr. Obama also wants a permanent federal estate tax, with a top rate of 45%; his health-insurance plan includes a new payroll tax on employers; and he also contemplates several increases in the corporate income tax, including a new so-called windfall profits tax on oil companies.
Oil companies make one of the lowest profit margins in our business structure. The death Tax is designed to keep people from passing on their wealth to family members. Again this is the idea in a socialistic structure to keep anyone from having to much power and wealth....that's something you don't hear much in America.
His American Opportunity Tax Credit would provide a $4,000, fully refundable tax credit for college tuition expenses.
For 100 hours community service. That's $40/hr for untrained un-skilled workers obviously not coming out of their pocket since they are in school. So who pays? The people at the top that already pay. If you put a number on the people that pay from $1 and up 60% of Americans pay that but the average income comes out to $21.20/hr. So you tell me who pays.
His Mortgage Interest Tax Credit would provide a 10% credit -- refundable -- to offset mortgage interest payments for lower- and middle-income families. His Health Care Tax Credits, which the campaign says "will ensure that health insurance is available and affordable for all families," include "a new refundable 50 percent health tax credit on employee premiums paid by employers."
Currently existing tax credits would also become spending programs in the Obama tax program. The Savers Credit would be made fully refundable, and would be expanded, according to the campaign, "to match 50% of the first $1,000 of savings for families that earn under $75,000." The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit would be made refundable and expanded to allow "low-income families to receive up to a 50 percent credit on the first $6,000 of child care expenses."
I don't even know what to say over this.
The Earned Income Tax Credit is already refundable. Mr. Obama would expand it to "increase the number of working parents eligible for EITC benefits, increase the benefits available to noncustodial parents who fulfill their child support obligations, increase benefits for families with three or more children, and reduce the EITC marriage penalty, which hurts low-income families." In short, welfare spending is to be increased by paying more money out to low-income income tax filers.
The Earned Income Tax Credit is already refundable. Mr. Obama would expand it to "increase the number of working parents eligible for EITC benefits, increase the benefits available to noncustodial parents who fulfill their child support obligations, increase benefits for families with three or more children, and reduce the EITC marriage penalty, which hurts low-income families." In short, welfare spending is to be increased by paying more money out to low-income income tax filers.
All those should speak for themselves. The only thing we are short of is government buying up businesses......ohh well that's underway also. I see this as a huge leap towards socialism rather than hesitantly (through understanding what Socialism means and has meant throughout history) edging that way.
Thank you for this detailed sketch! I see much clearer now. Still, I question what does socialism in particular mean to you? Do you have an emotional stigma toward it and why? You list many points in Obama's plan which are, If I am understanding correctly, aimed toward a kind of standardization where standardization wasn't needed before. I understand that you do not like that idea. But surely there is a difference here between what Obama is proposing and socialism, isn't there? Or perhaps it is more "socialistic" than before. It is moving towards socialism, or something like that.
I am not socialist, nor am I promoting socialism. I am not educated enough on the subject. I am just curious how and why that word carries so much weight. Is it fear of becoming like the USSR? In a previous post, you mentioned that soon we will be called the USSA. Can you draw any parallels--specific parallels--between how the USSR conducted their tax plans and how Mr. Obama's intends to implement his tax plans? Or the progression toward certain government standardizations?
I see a weak connection between Obama's plan and the USSR, a connection driven mainly mainly by fear of becoming a former enemy and a fear of perhaps (by chance) adopting an opposing political ideology (maybe by mistake or gradually). It's true that the USSR failed, but is it not also true that America's free market capitalism has proved less than successful recently? We have moved far from Adam Smith and the invisible hand, though I think perhaps there is a way of retaining American capitalism and the political structures which support it while also entertaining certain socialist techniques in a time of economic crisis. In this respect, I don't see much of a difference between Obama and McCain other than Obama is focusing on quelling the economic crisis while McCain--based on what I've seen in the debates, which, granted, is not much--is focused on attacking Obama. Perhaps I'm just far too out of the loop.
Again, I want to stress that I am not socialist in the slightest. I'm to ignorant on the subject. I am not a political theorist or an economist. You did a terrific job of creating a realistic argument that was very well thought out and well supported. Thank you for taking the time to explain your thoughts.
Wurzelbacher said Obama's tax plan wouldn't affect him right now, because he doesn't make $250,000. "But I hope someday I'll make that," he said.
So this faux plumber hypothosized a situation where he would make over 250,000/year..and Obama told him that he would have a 39% tax rate instead of a 36% tax rate....
so what is the issue with that? what is the point?
Joe is in trouble. The media and the Obama thugs are coming after him. Coming after just your average, everyday, hard-working American. They must bring him down, destroy his credbility, his life.
They have set their sights on this guy all because he has made the One look bad.
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Joe the Plumber on MSNBC
