Tea party Rep.: Only $400,000 left after ‘I feed my family’

[neoconn]

Source: RawReplay

Tea party Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) used himself as an example Monday while arguing against President Barack Obama’s plan to make sure millionaires pay about the same tax rate as the people that work for them.

“In my own case, I own LLCs,” Fleming told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing. “The income flows to my personal tax return and whatever is left over after taxes are paid, I feed my family on the one hand and on the other hand, I reinvest in my business.”

“With all due respect, The Wall Street Journal estimated that your businesses, which I believe are Subway sandwich shops and UPS stores — very successful — brought you last year, over $6 million,” Jansing noted.

“Yeah, that’s before you pay 500 employees, you pay rent, you pay equipment and food,” Fleming agreed. “Since my net income — and again, that’s the individual rate that I told you about — the amount that I have to reinvest in my business and feed my family is more like $600,000 of that $6.3 million. And so by the time I feed my family, I have maybe $400,000 left over to invest in new locations, upgrade my locations, buy more equipment.”

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/09/tea-party-rep-only-400000-left-after-i-feed-my-family/

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You must be kidding me? No touch with reality!!!

[tanyev]

1. Oh, the poor dear.

:cry:

[bluerum]

2. Yup. That hits the soft spot in my heart alright.

[ixion]

3. just a paltry half-a-million left over to play with

poor baby. :nopity:

[penndragon69]

4. WAAAAAAA !

Cry me a river.

[Cirque du So-What]

5. This will generate tons of sympathy across America...TONS, I tells ya!

I hope this gets broadcast far & wide, although I expect the corporate media to turn a blind eye.

[louis-t]

6. They're not helping themselves, are they?

By the way, if he reinvests a little more in his businesses (which will help the economy), his tax liability won't change.

[WingDinger]

7. The guy is a dumbshit for lumping it together. He deserves more to reinvest.

But, he is a liar. His writeoffs are far too great for reality.

[Beam Me Up]

8. That was $200,000 to "feed" his family. Damn. What are they eating besides "high" on the hog? n/t

[qanda]

9. This was a pure gift! I have seen it posted all through my Facebook feed

This is the kind of message that can stick with the masses. All they have left is $400,000 when all some have left is .40 and some pocket lint.

[ramapo]

10. This is as about as stupid as it gets

First, he collects a salary as a government employee. That should feed his family.

Second, if he upgrades his locations, buys equipment, hires more people, etc., then all those costs are business expenses. HE DOES NOT PAY TAXES ON THOSE DOLLARS!

Now if he needs to leave profits in the business at year end in order to run the business, then he pays taxes on those profits. And yes he pays at the "high" rate. As our old accountant always said, having to pay taxes on a $600,000 profit is a HAPPY PROBLEM.

If he does not like paying taxes as an LLC then don't be an LLC.

[boppers]

42. I totally get the math.

If he's running a bunch of LLC's, he gets all kind of "small business" tax benefits, waivers from employer law, etc. All those laws that apply to "large businesses" don't apply.

What he's bitching about is not the taxes on the aggregate $600K, it's that he's paying any taxes at all. His LLC shell game isn't working out as well as he wanted it to.

[drm604]

11. Wait a minute, maybe I'm not understanding something here.

If he uses that $400,000 to upgrade his existing locations and invest in new ones, then it's not part of his net income is it? Isn't it expenses?

Also, according to Wikipedia: http://tinyurl.com/4x5w5ev

he has a wife and 4 children. It costs him $200,000 a year to feed six of them? :shrug:

Maybe he should start going to a dollar store!

[spooky3]

20. check out this thread on gawker:

http://gawker.com/5841749/congressman-spends-200000-a-year-on-food

Others agree with you.

[DeSwiss]

12. Feed the kids?

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15372106388">Fleming is married to his wife Cindy for 30 years and the father of four adult children.

- Riiiight......

K&R

[texshelters]

13. Poor baby

He'll never own an NBA team or a Manhattan condo at that rate.

He really is suffering.

Can we really keep letting the poor eat and keep paying teachers and mental health professionals while people like Rep. Flemming go without?

Peace,
Tex Shelters

[coalition_unwilling]

14. Translation: "Oink, oink, oink" - n/t

[IrishAle]

15. Have some Sympathy Folks....

... Hows he going to have enough money to donate to GOP Teabagger reps without at least 2 mill to spare?

Republican Senate and Congressional reps cost money you know.

[spooky3]

16. Hey, Johnny, if your net income is $600K, that's AFTER you've paid for new locations, upgrades, and

equipment. I thought you successful businesspeople knew what "net income" means.

Maybe you think none of us ever took an accounting or tax course, but it's only a matter of time before yo run into reporter who has.

And that's assuming you're telling the truth about the $6.3 million and $600K, which I doubt.

[notadmblnd]

17. He could always try eating at a food kitchen that serves the homeless

:shrug: I'd bet that what he doesn't say is that all his assets and expenses are corporate owned and paid and that 400,000.00 is just his walking around money.

I'd like to know what him and his wife eat that costs 200,000.00 a year. I don't think I've eaten 200k of food during my entire life time and I'm in my mid 50's

[AnnieK401]

28. He owns Subway Sandwich shops, why not eat there for free!

Since he owns restaurants, he shouldn't have to spend that much for food.

[Warpy]

18. It sounds like he needs a new accountant

You know, one who would explain very carefully to the poor dear that there is a difference between gross income and net income and that gross income is not what the IRS taxes.

Then he needs to be asked how he'd live on 5% of that income since that's probably what he pays his full time workers.

Then he needs to be slapped around just because he's such a stupid, selfish bastard.

[spooky3]

19. Check out the evidence that Fleming is lying here:

http://gawker.com/5841749/congressman-spends-200000-a-year-on-food

In particular, check out the open secrets .pdf linked in the last post on the page.

[mike_c]

21. it's HARD making ends meet on only $400,000 that's left, um...

...after making ends meet. I'm gonna need some help expressing my sadness about the injustice this poor man must endure: :nopity: Ah! Smilies to the rescue!

[SoapBox]

22. ...what a jackass.

Fits the Party of Thug, Bully and Jackass.

[valerief]

23. He may as well do himself in now. There's no purpose in living on only 400K. nt

[KeyserSoze87]

24. You hear that?

It's the world's smallest violin playing just for this teabagger representative, because--oh no, anything but that!--he'll be left with only about half a million dollars after he pays his taxes and feeds his family! Where's my tissue box?

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[jwirr]

25. So is he telling us that he does not get to deduct the costs of running

his business from that before taxes? He will not have to pay on the whole 6 million.

[Tanelorn]

26. Let your family eat cake

[LeftishBrit]

27. My heart bleeds.

[Trillo]

29. $600K ÷ ($7.75 x 40hrs x 50weeks) is almost 39 years

His yearly *disposable* income is roughly the equivalent of 39 years of full-time minimum-wage labor!

[bloomington-lib]

30. He's saying he has 6 million before he pays his 500 employees and rent and whatever else

500 employees making a small amount of 20,000 a year costs 10 million, so if he's paying a poverty wage of 10,000 a year, he's still paying 5 million. The math doesn't add up. He's either paying them even less or the 6 million before paying employees is a lie.

[crim son]

31. Well, everybody is suffering now.

He's just going to have to wait to upgrade, invest and buy more shit, just like the rest of us. Ignorant pr***.

[JJW]

32. Do the math

$5 million/500 employees is $10K per employee. He admits paying for rent, equipment, etc. So on average each employee makes far less than $ 10K gross. How are they going to live on that when he and his wife spend $ 200,000 on just food?

[Thor_MN]

33. Well shit. There goes one of the more healthy fast food options.

I will never put another dime in this asshole's pocket.

[spooky3]

36. yeah, you can bet his family's not spending that at Subway

I love California Roll Sushi at my supermarket but even if I could eat it every day, it wouldn't add up to his family's "food bill."

[workinclasszero]

34. These teabag assholes are so cut off from the reality that

the other 99% of us face each day.

Try makin it to the end of the month on social security you rich bastard!

Or on the minimum wage you pay your employees, slimeball!

[sarcasmo]

35. 400,000 would make me feel like a multi millionaire, where do these douche bags come from?

[Odin2005]

37. "Let them eat cake."

[jmowreader]

38. I'm not buying the numbers

He owns 33 Subways in northern Louisiana, plus a bunch of other stuff. If he's spending $5.7 million to run his business, and he only spends money on the sandwich shops, it costs him $172,727 per store. 500 employees comes to 15 people per sandwich store. Divide $172,727 by 15 and you get $11,515 annual pay per employee. At the $7.25/hour minimum wage, each one works 1588 hours--or 30 hours per week.

So we've accounted for payroll, and not rent, food costs, taxes, utilities, the 12.5 percent royalty and advertising fees, an exterminator to remove the occasional alligator from the parking lot...that and his kids are grown so they shouldn't be living at home... I think we're looking at $6.5 million in business profit, not $6.5 million gross.

BTW, if this man is running 33 restaurants plus his UPS stores, he SHOULD have them in a Schedule C corporation, not a fucking LLC. LLCs are for small business, and any concern with more than 100 employees (like Fleming's) is considered a large business by the federal government.

Fleming brags about creating jobs, but he seems to specialize in piss-poor ones.

[daleo]

39. If all the poor people in America would send him just one penny each

Then he could do right by his suffering family. Oh, the humanity.

[sakabatou]

40. Lemme take out my angstrom-sized violin

:nopity:

[JI7]

41. maybe he just needs to work harder, Buffet, Gates etc are making a lot more

taxes aren't holding them back. this guy needs to get off the govt job and earn his money like the otehrs. lazy crying punk.

[Systematic Chaos]

43. He could have $400,005 if he lets me take a huge fiber dump on his worthless head.

n/t

[Vinca]

44. Hey, hey, hey. He's just one of the people.

:banghead: What's he own? Cake shops?

[Blasphemer]

45. He's lying about what he has left

No way do I buy that. A whole lot more is going into investment or retirement accounts. But, even if true, give me a break! Does he really expect sympathy with so many families living below the poverty line?

[harun]

55. +1

[MahayanaLotus]

46. Yes, It's True

Truth IS stranger than fiction.

[Blue Owl]

47. What an out-of-touch POS

n/t

[Bluzmann57]

48. Sometimes one has to wonder why they even talk

I sure wish I had that much money to feed my family. Or even one fourth of that. Or on on hundredth of that. What the hell is the matter with this guy? His constituents must be cringing at this one. To which I can only say, You get what you paid for.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

49. No pity for whiny, greedy rich people who don't want to pay their fair share. n/t

[and-justice-for-all]

50. Teahadist are a fucking joke and the Koch brothers..

can go fuck themselves.

[r0nr0ntaiwan]

51. A bit of context

This person claims that his businesses pull in $6,000,000 per year. After most is said and done, he can keep about $400,000. This means that he's keeping less than 7% of what his businesses bring in. With that remaining $400K, he uses this money to grow his businesses, upgrade them, open up new businesses (which require a good bit of research) and buy new equipment. None of this is cheap.

As for millionaires not paying the same tax rate.... if it's income tax, they pay the rate that others in their brackets pay. But capital gains taxes are different taxes. They're different for a reason and capital gains taxes are kept low for a reason.

[lunatica]

52. Evidently he spends $200,000 a year on food for his family

Is that even possible?

[Mad_Dem_X]

53. Poor thing...

*Only* $400,000? How can one survive on that meager an income? :eyes:

[r0nr0ntaiwan]

54. context

Actually, I'm not sure his point was, "Feel sorry for me. I ONLY have $400K at the end of the year." Rather, the point he was trying to make was that his businesses make $6,000,000 per year, or more. But, after all his his taxes, insurance, and many other expenses, on top of feeding his family, he has $400K left over. This means that at the end of the year, he has less than 7% of what his businesses pulled in. And he uses that $400K to upgrade and expand his current businesses, as well as buy equipment... and he uses that money to start up new businesses, as well. To my knowledge, simply researching a new location can be costly, not to mention the costs of actually filling up the new building and getting it running.

I didn't get the impression that he wants people to feel sorry for him... but I believe he was trying to let people know that he's not a millionaire, simply because his businesses make millions. And this is a valid point, in my opinion.