• Have no idea where you got that idea. We are well enough off and we pay plenty. And under "Obamacare" we are charged more for the same procedures. Talk about "second-class" citizens!
    • Ice man
      There is a big difference between well enough off and rich. The rich are provided tax loop holes that are not available to -as you put it - second class citizens, or the poor. The heaviest tax load is paid by middle class, but my point is that I disagree with people living on small retirement pensions paying tax at all, while the rich don't pay their share.
    • officegirl
      What are these "tax loop holes"? Charitable giving? Supporting unprofitable businesses? All of which keep $ in circulation. As do investments on which we can lose the whole amount. How many "rich" people do you know who don't pay "their share"? And oh just what is "their share"? Legal "share", moral "share", spiritual "share"? Punitive "share"? I would say the "rich" pay more than "their share" all told.
  • The earned income credit is designed to assist with some of the disparity. Source:
    • Ice man
  • Referring to your comments above in response to "Officegirl." Okay, so what is the amount that you think the rich should pay? What is the golden number? You speak as if it is some solid number written in the stars. In truth, 47% of the country pay no income tax - at all. The top 1% pay 24% of all the taxes. (The top 20% of earners pay 84% of taxes.) The poor pay no taxes, except for SS, Medicare and Medicaid - which everyone pays because everyone benefits regardless of income level. (Except Medicaid, which everyone pays but only the poor are eligible to receive. Plus, depending on the state, some may pay state and/or local taxes.) You need to get your facts straight. ( The proper level of taxation - in grown-up world - is that which strikes the balance between economic efficiency and return for effort. No one is entitled to someone else's money, but as we recognize an ethic of common provision we make allowance for taxation to benefit those in less fortunate circumstances. That said, tax too much, and everyone ends up poorer. So now, what is your golden answer - based on the facts. Remember, "fair" is a four letter word.
    • Ice man
      Wow, those are impressive numbers and I guess I should have done more research before pissing you off. I don't have any "golden" number or answer to give you. It just pisses me off that I know elderly people who have had to sell their homes to pay for medical and tax bills while hearing of the rich stashing hidden income.
    • dorat
      You did not "piss me off." However, I have been in the politics biz for nearly 20 years and I grow exceedingly tired of emotion substituting for reason and sloganering substituting for analysis. Anecdotes are not evidence by which policy can be determined. Moreover, just another stat for you - by far, the richest demographic in America is the 65 and older set. SS, Medicare - and now Obamacare - are effectively transfer payments from the young to the old, or to put it another way, from the poor to the rich. (Why are SS and Medicare politically invincible? Because the old vote and the young do not. Want to know the most powerful lobby in America? AARP - the Association for the Advancement of Retired People.) Unfortunately, too many people live by anectdote and stereotype to actually think through the implications of what they advocate.

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