I think if the tax cut off would apply to people up to $500,,000 there would be more happy campers

[Rosa Luxemburg]

I've been talking to a few people over the last few months. They are lawyers, doctors, small business owners who earn between 250,000 and $500,000 per married couple and they say they are going to get slammed if the tax cuts are removed. I think higher middle income owners are fretting. Tax cuts should be downwards from $500,000 or maybe $600,000 married?

[DontTreadOnMe]

1. $500K per year!

wtf... they might have to cut back from a four car garage to a three.

[babylonsister]

2. Slammed? Have they researched that? No...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x439800

It Ain't All That Much Money

snip//


If the president gets his way, in 2011 the top two income tax rates — now 33 percent and 35 percent — would revert to the levels before the Bush administration, 36 percent and 39.6 percent, respectively. But the four lower rates would remain 10 percent, 15 percent, 25 percent and 28 percent. For some taxpayers earning up to $250,000, the top marginal rate would remain 33 percent.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. the tax rate for people earning 250,000 per year of 33% is too high

[peacebird]

12. puhleezzz - we earn less and are in the 33% rate. If *I* am not complaining, why are YOU?

:eyes:

[Hansel]

33. It's historically low.

In order to make $250,000 they take great advantage of the freebies afforded to them by American society. Infrastructure, transportation, airlines, telecommunications, energy, educated employees and their own public education, police protection, property protection, protections for their businesses and their security, and the military that keeps a free and safe country in which they can make that kind of money.

People making that kind of money need to stop whining about paying taxes and start looking at what everyone has to pay in so that they are in the situation where they were able to make that kind of money. They should feel grateful for having that kind of opportunity.

Also keep in mind that people making under $106,000 are paying FICA taxes of 7.65% that those making over that amount do not pay on that income. I think the cry babies who are fortunate enough to make $250,000 can handle it.

[peacebird]

3. oh for crying in a bucket. If you earn $500k you can afford to pay more in taxes.

Period.
Give me a break. Gordon Geckos day is over.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

4. with 2 people and a family?

I earn only 40,000 but I can see the upper middle classes especially small business owners need a break. We need to tax the reall y rich and claw back their offshore hoardings.

[babylonsister]

7. Yes, $500,000 will work for 2 people and a family.

Egads, are you serious? Look at the millions of people who make $30,000 for 2 people and a family; they get by, barely. But you feel $500,000 might not be sufficient?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. like me so the tax should be negligible for we low earners

I earn 40,000 per year. The rates should be tiered.

[babylonsister]

13. You are part of the under $250K that will get tax breaks. nt

[karynnj]

27. They ARE tiered

Here is a link to the 2001 tax rates. Note that you pay different marginal rates for each tier. (2001 chosen because it is before the Bush tax cuts. In addition, tax is paid on taxable income after the exemptions and deductions.

http://www.unclefed.com/IRS-Forms/taxtables/2001_i1040trs.pdf

[peacebird]

10. Yes. Business tax and income tax are not the same thing. If a small businessman

is paying himself $500k, then he probably is not sucha "small" businessman.

[rfranklin]

18. Only 2 percent of small business owners make $250,000 or more...

That is a discredited Republican talking point.

[Codeine]

26. Oh fuck that. Fuck that sideways.

Nobody with a half-million annual income is going to be harmed by paying a few grand extra in taxes. They can suck it.

[Hansel]

38. Please don't fall for this.

You are paying 7.65% on every cent of your income that they are not paying on what they make over $106,000. If they had to continue paying that 7.65% that you have to pay a person making $250,000 would have to pay $11,016 and they could not use write offs. If they have to pay 33% the most they would pay extra is $4,320, but we know they wouldn't because they get tax write offs. Quite the bargain considering what they don't have to pay on FICA already.

98% of small business owners net less than $250,000 so they would not be impacted by any tax increase. Those that go over are typically attorneys, people like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, entertainers. I don't think their families will suffer.

They can afford it.

[gkhouston]

45. Yes. We make way less than that and could afford it. n/t

[JuniperLea]

5. It's not going to "slam" anyone! That's GOP BS!

A couple of percentage points isn't going to slam them... and guess what... they will still be rich... so they need to talk to an actual accountant and suck it up.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. it's not GOP bullshit

there should be a tiered system upwards. The tax is way too high. Tey take $800 from me each month.

[dionysus]

11. nope, GOP bullshit it is.

[csziggy]

30. You're making over $40,000 per MONTH and complaining about $800 in taxes?

:wtf:

[prolesunited]

41. No, she supposedly earns $40,000 a year

and is paying $800 a month in taxes.

[csziggy]

43. But she's worried about the tax rate for those who earn $500,000?

Why? Anybody in that tax bracket hires experts to tell them how to get out of paying taxes. Of course, if the $500,000 per year people paid their fair share of taxes, maybe someone earning $40,000 would not be paying $800 per month.

[JuniperLea]

42. Oh, but it is GOP bullshit...

$800 a month on $40k a year is a pretty damn good deal. You drive the roads, you have access to police and fire departments, you get a lot of things you probably aren't taking into consideration. Yes, the money could be managed better, and I believe we're seeing that slowly change for the better as well.

I just got paid today... Here are my deductions on two-week's pay:

$584.54 Federal Income Tax
$191.61 Social Security Tax
$ 44.75 Medicare Tax
$199.72 CA State Income Tax
$ 33.82 CA SUI/SDI Tax

$1008.14 Total

So for a whole month, I pay $2016.28. And I pay $168.04 a month for health insurance on top of that. I think I get what tax deductions do to a person's budget. The fact remains that you and I will NOT be paying more in taxes WHEN the TAX CUTS to the WEALTHIEST 2% of us expires!

The rich will still be very rich when they start paying their fair share of taxes again.

[polmaven]

50. You do realize that the president

a few days ago said his idea is to keep the lower rates to all income UP TO $250k, and raise ONLY the portion of the earnings over that amount, right? If a 2 income household, therefore, nets - I'll say that part again - NETS more than a quarter of a million dollars, they will see an increase only beginning at $250,001. everything under that will stay the same.

Give me a break. $250k after expenses is a lot of money. If they can't live very, very well on that, then they need to go to an economics course and learn how.

[John Q. Citizen]

14. I think giving the rich tax breaks will eventually lead to a

massive violent revolution where the masses eat the rich.


I bet that wouldn't make your friends happy campers.

They should keep that in mind.

[Canuckistanian]

15. Do I hear $300,000?

Going once... going twice.... SOLD to the woman wearing the Chris Dodd sweatshirt.

[flpoljunkie]

34. How about a cool $1 mil?

[ProSense]

16. They are not going to get slammed

link

How is someone earning $500,000 per year going to get slammed by $7,000 more per year?

A person earning more than $41,000 per month is going to be slammed by $580 more per month?

This is a person who will likely be taking home $21,000 per month after all personal deductions and taxes.

[Hekate]

17. Those are wealthy people. Just because they are not Bill Gates level...

... it doesn't mean they're not very, very rich. They are.

Median household income --household, not individual-- in 2008 was $52,029. That is one-tenth of what a person making half a million bucks a year has at their disposal.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

Here's a clue: In such people's minds, there is no cut-off point that includes them that would make them happy.

Tax'em.

Hekate

[golfguru]

19. Naw...I am OK with $250,000

Tax hikes for all sports figures, Hollywood & Show business actors, Stock traders, Bankers,
CEO's in large and medium firms, TV anchors, Radio talk show hosts, and other blood suckers.

However, there should be upto $5,000,000 profit tax reduction for business owners who actually
employ other people, pay their health insurance. Increasing their tax will keep the unemployed
at 10% for ever.

And I will try to keep my stock trading profits to under $250,000.

[LiberalFighter]

20. Those friends of yours will receive the exact same tax rates as those

below 250k. Depending on their income they will have taxable income taxed at 5 or 6 different rates. Four of which will be the same as those receiving income below 250k.

They will most likely have more deductions than those below $200k reducing their taxable income by about $64k. That is just the personal income. The business income will have business expenses deducted.

They don't pay Social Security tax on income above $106,800.

[EC]

21. Some where in the area of $6500 is going to break them?

They do understand that the tax is only on the amount after all the write-offs don't they?

[Hansel]

32. I know, this is such a joke.

The OP states people making between $250,000 and $500,000 like they all will be slammed.

If they make $250,000 it won't impact them, but even if they make $300,000 and aren't smart enough to write off $50,000 or take any of their deduction they will only pay $1,800 more. Wow, what a slam. If they net $255,000 that's a whopping $180 difference. Cry me a river.

The most anyone would pay off earnings of $500,000 would be $9,000 and that would never happen because they would have write offs that would bring them down to an average of the $6,500 you mention.

[besdayz]

22. a

500k and under is fair
med school debt is nearly 200k
same with other professional schools

gotta take that into account when looking at earnings

[ProSense]

23. Well,

"500k and under is fair
med school debt is nearly 200k"

How does that compare to a person earning $60,000 with $20,000 to $30,000 in student loans?

[flamingdem]

24. Screw them, the tax cuts were meant to be temporary, who cares about them!! nt

[boppers]

25. Seriously?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States

The wealthiest 1.5%?

[renate]

28. I think it's a really good idea, myself

$250K is a LOT but it's not ridiculously higher than the income a lot of families hope to achieve eventually, with the emphasis on HOPE... they can picture themselves earning that much, and paying higher taxes, someday even if that someday isn't right now. This is why most people are against paying estate taxes even though estate taxes only actually apply to a tiny percentage of families... because it's Americans' nature to expect to be rich someday. (Maybe not so much any more, of course. But still, that American Dream is pretty compelling.)

$500K is comfortably above the amount that most professional upper-middle-class families can imagine earning. I don't know how much that would take away from the national budget but psychologically I think it's quite a good idea and would take a lot of wind out of the Republicans' PR sails.

[flpoljunkie]

35. If you're making $500K you're not just in the top 1%, but in the top one-tenth of a percent income!

[lovemydog]

29. If I had my way

They'd be taxed slightly more. Capital gains taxes would be doubled. And we'd eliminate the deficit by cutting the military budget in half.

But I'll settle for the small increase on over 250 for now. :)

[Vinca]

31. You'd think the proposal was to go back to Eisenhower rates, for heaven's sake.

It's not that much higher. There has to be a point where we start paying the bills and stop adding to the credit card.

[flpoljunkie]

36. JFK reduced top rate to 70%! Is there no end to the greed?

[Aramchek]

37. no thanks, people making that much should pay more taxes. simple as that.

[PVnRT]

39. Nope

The wingnuts would still use the same arguments, and the same people who make less than the ceiling now would still be lapping up and repeating their arguments.

[Mass]

40. A majority of people supports letting the tax cuts for people above $250,000 expire.

Sure, some people never want to pay taxes (though they are happy to get the services that go with them).

What I could imagine is an additional bracket at $500,000 and taxes being even higher above that level, but given that our senators and congresspeople have problem going back to the 2000 rates, I'd be surprised if they added more taxes.

[gkhouston]

44. Slammed, my ass. If they're making $500K, they can afford it. You're being scammed. n/t

[smalll]

46. I'm sorry, $250,000 a year is RICH -- EVEN if you live in Manhattan or some other richie enclave.

Suck it up, 250K+ people. Maybe you'll have to cut back on heirloom sustainable locally-sourced organic arugula for your salads. You can do it; it's not going to kill you.

[Codeine]

51. There's always that crowd on DU

who wants to tell you "but living in San Diego is EXPENSIVE and a family can barely make it on $250,000!" :wtf: Most of us make less than a sixth of that!

[Kalun D]

47. 500K

is filthy richer territory, that's 10 times the median income

THEY SHOULD STOP THEIR DAMN WHINING AND PAY THEIR FARE SHARE FROM WHAT THEY MADE OFF THE SYSTEM

that's why the economy is fu*ked because of the bush boy's tax giveaway to the rich and what it did to the deficit

One of Obama's BIG broken promises, he said he would rescind it as soon as he gained office.

[Onlooker]

48. If you talked to people earning between $500k and $1,000,000 you would have had a similar result

Your point is lame.

[Exilednight]

49. In a room of 100 people you will only find about 3 people who this would effect ............

and to be quiet honest, out of all the developed countries the US has the lowest personal income tax.

And let's be really honest, if you're a family of 2 making even $260,000 per year, you're not going to going pay in that tax bracket after deductions.

[boomerbust]

52. Yes thats brutal

All I am worried about is if that loaf of bread that is in the fridge will last until I get paid again.:shrug:

[boomerbust]

53. Yes thats brutal

All I am worried about is if that loaf of bread that is in the fridge will last until I get paid again.:shrug: