If You Make Less Than $373,000 You Aren't Getting Any Effin' Tax Cuts

[stopbush]

That's the message the Dems should be screaming from the top of the mountains! The * "tax cuts" are not a tax cut - they are a wealth transfer.

If the Rs can effectively change the phrase "estate tax" to "death tax," why can't the Ds do the same with these wealth transfers that help only the top 1%?

The big, BIG problem in this country in understanding this is two-fold:

1. Most people don't think they're poor or even middle class. Most Americans think that they're better off than most of their neighbors because they live in their neighborhoods and have no idea what REAL wealth is. If they're making $40k and their neighbor is making $30k, they think they're "rich" compared to their neighbor. I saw this in NJ where people earning around $100k a year truly believed that *'s "tax cuts" were aimed at them. Even after they got their lousy $600 back in 2001 - which was, in reality, nothing more than an ADVANCE on their 2001 tax return! - and nothing else but raised property taxes. local user fees, etc, they STILL thought that * was going to give them even more $ down the road. And,

2. Most American's believe the Horatio Alger MYTH that they have the chance to become obscenely rich in this country. That keeps them from rocking the boat - they hope that some day they'll get those super-rich cuts as well, so they won't complain about the mega-wealthy getting theirs now. The media helps support this myth through "lifestyle" and celebrity worship shows that give Joe 6-pak hope that some day it'll be HIM on that show, not Donald Trump. But the truth is that the rich get their "tax break" every single year, while for most Americans, tomorrow never comes.

The Rs are busy preparing plans to cut domestic spending, even floating the idea that it's time to kill SS to pay for Katrina & Rita. And they WILL get this done because the majority of Americans think that rescinding bush's "tax cuts" will take $ out of their pockets, when in fact the exact opposite is true.

So why don't Ds get out there a put a DOLLAR FIGURE to the truth about who really benefits from RW policies? I'll even give them the phrase:

"Do you make $373,000 per year? Cause if you don't, the bush tax cuts don't go to you at all...not even a nickel's worth."

[skooooo]

1. Now wait a minute...

...I did get that $300 a few years ago. Admittedly, that's almost gone!

:P

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. I loved Lewis Black's take on that.

If your Congressman came to your door and told you the government was going to give you one dollar a day, you'd probably just piss on his foot.

[Angry Girl]

10. LOL! Thanks! Lewis Black is hilarious!

[Daphne08]

7. Mine was gone the first day -- paid on some bills.

It surely wasn't worth WHAT it has cost us as a country either.

[Up2Late]

12. I bought me a New Color TV with mine for my first (and current) House

I figured I should get something that would last longer than his BS "economic stimulus package," and so I had a good way to watch * destroy America.

[DBoon]

21. My wife and I signed over the $600 to Planned Parenthood

nt

[DemsUnited]

3. American's are STUPID. I remember when the cuts were proposed

some Democratic politicians (don't remember who) were trying to get the point across using actual real live visual aides--if you're middle class, your "tax break" will buy you this muffler (taadaa). And if you're in the upper brackets, the tax break will buy you this brand new fully loaded Lexus!!!

And the sheeple still said baaahhh.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

13. Straight up - it's a bribe.

"Vote for me and I'll give you $300." It's amazing how cheap the Presidency can come.

[Angry Girl]

14. Stupid? I don't think so. Uninformed? YES!

As long as the media are dominated by corporate interests and politicians, we're f*cked, no matter what our average IQ is.

[SharonAnn]

4. I agree. This "top 1%", etc is too abstract for a sound-bite.

People do know their annual wages, even if they don't know what percent their income puts them in.

The same with the Estate Tax. People need to know the actual numbers for this. They also need to know that in most cases, the value of the estate is largely untaxed so far. It comes from the appreciated value of property and investments.

Now, when you tell us something like ""If You Make Less Than $373,000 You Aren't Getting Any Effin' Tax Cuts"", we can all understand that.

Also, with the Estate Tax, if you tell me that estates under $xxx will pass tax free to the heirs, even though most of that has never had taxes paid on it, we can all understand that.

Though $1 trillion is an abstract number, most people can relate in terms of their annual income and the value of any estate they're likely to inherit.

[stopbush]

17. You are so right about that "top 1%" being ineffective,

especially when most Americans think, "hell, I may not be in the top 1%, but I'm pretty damn sure I'm in the top 10%, so I MUST be gettin' sumpin' from *'s tax cuts!"

[Up2Late]

5. You need a 3) The Wealthy control the MSM

We can scream it from the roof tops, but if they don't cover it, it won't be heard, or they can destroy our message as a small bunch of lunatics.

[orion9941]

6. At the time...

I was too poor to get a tax break. Hmmm...I guess poor people don't deserve tax breaks because money makes the man in this society.

[Bonhomme Richard]

8. Whooo...Had me worried for a moment..........

Just kidding. I can wish I had that kind of money.

[youthere]

9. DAMN! SO close.

:eyes:

[Guaranteed]

11. Excellent post. nt

[mestup]

15. The denial is SO pervasive and SO HUGE

that they just kill any messenger who tries to tell them otherwise. The entire sheeple population would need major intervention and psychiatric treatment to get out of that denial.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. Tax Cut Cult

[phusion]

18. $373,000 over ten years???

Sweet, I'm almost in! :)

[Hyperions legacy]

19. Yep.

That's about the size of it. What I find galling is that they insist that it's to "revitalize" the economy, as if the guys on top who "make and distribute all the products and services" don't need actual CUSTOMERS to buy the stuff. If the tax cuts had gone to the bottom fifth of the population, the Fed wouldn't be buried in debt, the rich would STILL be rich, Doobya could have actually financed all those idiotic rules he's made, and people would still spend their money which would inevitably trickle up into the pockets of the ultra rich anyway. But that, evidently, defeats their REAL porpose. The point is to enforce a rigid caste system that nobody would dare admit exists, based solely on wealth, to profoundly hinder class mobility, and to ensure that the nation's aristocracy remain aristocracy for generations to come, despite their rather obvious inability to support the health of the economy, much less the world itself.
Also telling is the fact that the economy isn't getting any better. But wait, I'm not supposed to say that. That would make me a "Traitor!" to the rich, er, I mean, America.

[tx_dem41]

20. Funny....I make a GREAT deal less than $373,000....

and I got a substantial tax cut. I didn't need it...I didn't want it. But I got it.

[RaleighNCDUer]

23. Did you now?

And did you also figure what your local and state tax increases were? Licensing fees? User fees?

I got my $300, but with the increase of state income taxes and the increases on the state sales tax that were necessary because of the loss of federal funding I figure I lost at least a couple hundred more than that on the deal.

Of course, as a state employee, I am officially one of the 'working poor'.

[tx_dem41]

26. If the OP had addressed that, I would have addressed that.

I'm not defending the tax cuts. I'm just saying that I make much much less than 373K, and I got a Federal tax cut of approximately 10% of my overall tax.

[RaleighNCDUer]

27. That's why the OP was talking 'wealth transfer'.

Sure, most of us got cuts, but those cuts were offset by increases by the state that were necessitated by the loss of revenue to the states because of the tax cuts in the first place.

We're talking bottom line, here. Did you wind up with more or less money after the tax cut?

I certainly wound up with less. And that doesn't even figure in the money I lost out of my retirement when the market busted, and I firmly believe that the uncertainty engendered by the Bush economic policies were largely responsible for that, too. Not living in California, I missed the trifecta, with the energy rip-off.

[stopbush]

25. It all depends on what your definition of "substantial" is...

[DaveJ]

22. Even IF ( big IF) one were to become obscenely rich...

No, most these repugs will never really be rich. But I guess since they even imagine themselves so greedy, they deserve to be fooled.

It's really interesting in that they are motivated be greed, yet they are so insanely stupid that in reality are doing a financial disservice to themselves and their family, by voting for their 'betters' to receive tax cuts while they end up having to pay more out of pocket for expenses the government used to cover.

If they truly believed in the 'looking out for number 1' philosophy they would not care if the rich were taxed or not. But they are so stupid and their betters have them wrapped around their fingers, so to speak.

[RaleighNCDUer]

28. If you want to live like a republican.

vote Democratic.

[Saphire]

24. and me, making $372,999 per year.