Tax in Australia

So are you saying that 71.3 percent of every (unit of currency) that they earn should be taken away from them? Frankly...I would say "F" it and go on welfare if that were the case. What is the point of busting my gonads and seeing only a quarter or so of what I make.

That top 10%...just how many PEOPLE is that by the way? This wealth...how was it distributed 200 years ago? Top 1% perhaps?

Capital gains tax? Besides...Joe Blow's (or my) 401k or IRA does the same thing...out of money that isn't taxed in the first place.

 

No, I didn't say that. Maybe you should reread my post, a little slower this time....

 

Pop. of Switzerland ( in 2000 ) 7.2 Million.

= 720 000 Top 10 % That`s a lot of pesos per person.....

 

Correct me if I am wrong...but If I mis-read it then you have never heard of tax brackets? I know darn well if I were to earn triple what I am earning now I would be paying a significantly higher percentage of my income than I am now. I am reasonably sure that those making 100 times my income are paying a higher percentage of their pay in taxes than I am...but...those people probably employ other people...who also pay taxes. Therefore...they are not only paying more taxes than I am...they are paying a higher ratio of taxes to income than I am and also generating additional taxes by employing people who pay taxes in a business that is also paying taxes and probably supplying a service or goods to another business that is paying taxes and employees that are paying taxes....... Wealth creates wealth if allowed to. In that list of countries I don't see any that are run under dictatorships, communist ideologies or any other systems that don't allow the freedom to MAKE money and keep it. If you get to keep a good portion of it...you want to make more so you go out and use your money to make more money and fuel an economy in the process. The biggest problem we have right now is that much of the "wealth" that is exchanged nowadays is on on paper...it doesn't exist in reality. It is bets on what will happen or bets that it won't. If you are creating wealth out of thin air and filling a balloon with it, when it pops you have nothing left but a buggered rubber. How can you get any kind of taxes out of a buggered rubber? US housing fiasco...perfect example. Too many crappy houses sold for too much, mortgaged to the hilt to people with too small pockets at outrageously low financing. Suddenly the houses aren't worth what is owed on them, interest rates jump up and people find out they bought more than they could chew. Buggered rubber!

Personally I don't see how taxing the people who can actually create wealth (which has a causal effect of creating jobs and additional tax income) to a ridiculous degree as some folks would like to do has any benefit. YES...there are a lot of folks who don't make a lot that pay taxes...but they work for the ones that create the wealth, the jobs and the goods by using their wealth to start or support the companies that employ them. I work for Tyson Foods...I am a maintenance puke who pulls down around 50k with LOTS of overtime. I don't ever remember demanding that John Tyson go out and start processing chickens for me. However...he did start a company that processed chickens...for the sole purpose of making money for himself. He succeeded enormously and now I make a living working for that company. For THAT he should be penalized by paying incredible amounts in taxes? Same,same Bill Gates? Or anyone else that is a wealth creator while at the same time earning great wealth? I just don't see the logic in killing the golden goose, or keeping it underfed and malnourished.

 

Must continue later. Gotta get a couple of hours of ZZZ before going to part time job before going to full time job. Will return to be harangued after 7 am my time.

 

No arguments there lewis.

This is the issue I think ....

Quote:

House in the 1930-1940 was financed 5-15 years
House today 20-40 years
Car in 1930-1940 1 Year max
Car today Average is 5 years with some to 10 years.
Food in 1930's purchased with disposable income
Food today avg financed 6 months

That`s just bad...

And worse still ...your " economy " will then vaporize under unsustainable personal debt , no disposable income , and all that goes with it.

This time , it sounds like a " **** , where are the consumers ? " Buggered rubber .

It`s all about keeping a balance.Not so easy.

 

Amazing how the super-rich don't even have to defend themselves, these days. People who make '50k with LOTS of overtime'--or considerably less--do their fighting for them, for some reason. In your situation, that's uncomfortably close to the chickens sticking up for Colonel Sanders.

If you think Bill Gates and John Tyson are paying a higher percentage of their wealth and income in taxes than you are, you're living in a fantasy world.

C'mon: do you really believe Bill Gates is paying "35% on (his) income over $372,950; plus $100,894.50," just because that's what the maximum tax bracket is for people 'married, filing jointly'? I guarandamntee you he isn't. And the accountants and attorneys he pays instead aren't costing him any 35% of his income, either.

Nothing in your lengthy post properly justifies the fact that more and more of our nation's wealth is being concentrated into fewer and fewer hands each year, meaning your share of it is shrinking steadily. Nor does anything you said explain exactly why that's such a wonderful thing....

 

Indeed it does sound that way.Nuggets , anyone ?

 

There are quite a few really angry people on this forum aren't there ?

 

Although there are exceptions, I would say most of the folks you're thinking of are passionate and excitable, rather than angry. I remember about forty years ago I was having a noisy go-around with my father about something, and my mother burst into the room crying, "I can't take any more of this. Why can't you two just get along?" We both sat there staring at her and wondering what her problem was, because we were perfectly happy and having a great time. We were years past the angry parent/defiant child phase of our relationship; we just tended to get loud once we got going.

I don't remember what the discussion was about, but I was right.....

 

There may be guzzis ....

This thread does not seem that way to me.

Politics ...a hotbed of opinions ....

All in all quite reserved and orderly I would say.

Go to climate change .....

 

Im not angry. I think a lot of people here make some very well thought out and intelligent arguements, no matter how much I dissagree with them.



K9

 

It isn't considered income in the US? I know it is here in Canada. (Not that I've studied our tax system too deeply, given that I'm a student. Far too many zeros and small numbers filled into the forums, and most of my taxes come back to me.)

 

Dividends are not taxed at the same rates as 'ordinary' income in the US. Bush pushed hard to make them completely tax-free, but wasn't successful. He did, however, manage to lower the rates to basically the same rates applied to long-term capital gains.

I believe those lowered rates will 'sunset,' or expire, in 2011 and at that time the rates will revert to what they used to be.

I probably shouldn't have thrown dividends into the argument; It's a bit of a sidetrack into a whole issue of its own. Some people claim that since the companies have already paid corporate taxes, a tax on dividends is essentially double taxation.

 

old chestnut

Things become old chestnuts by being true.