Should the rich have to give back to society?

A simple question, really: should rich people have higher taxes?

Personally, I believe they should, but what's YOUR opinion? Also, please, please, PLEASE don't take this as an oppurtunity to flame people because they have different views than you. I'm trying to encourage intelligent conversation here.

I expect there will be flames.

But all things being equal, the rich do receive plenty from what is paid for by taxes, and have a greater capacity to pay taxes.

Yeah, that's the logic I use when thinking they should have to pay more taxes. It's not like taxes would bankrupt them or anything.

Hmm. Is this a Flat-Rate vs Progressive tax issue?

I believe they should. They control a large amount of power, and taxes help put those under them on an equal level.

I think so, simply because the middle class gets taxed more than the upper couple percent.

All men (and women) are created equal, all men have equal power. You do not punish one who was lucky or smart in favor of one who made a mistake or is stupid.

In short, I advocate a flat tax with zero deductions (but a lower rate than presently is today). It's equal proportion pay. Nobody is "superior" to one another in the eyes of the law then. (As happens with the class warfare utilized progressive scheme, the poor are legally "superior" to the rich since they rarely if they do at all pay taxes.)

But it doesn't make sense- why would the rich, who can afford the higher taxes, not have to pay them?

Yes, but then you get into the problem of when those below the poverty line cannot afford to pay their percentage. I make less than $100 every two weeks, and there's no way that I can pay the same percentage as someone who makes $1k every two weeks. I unfortunately need pretty much all of what I make.

edited 1st Jul '11 6:35:28 PM by DrunkGirlfriend

..I don't follow. Why should you be forced to contribute more simply because you have the ability to? That's nothing more than punishing the successful.

edited 1st Jul '11 6:39:10 PM by Jauce

^^ Nobody who proposes a flat tax says those who make pennies should pay. Mathematically there's a point on the scale where it costs more to collect than you can possibly receive.

Everyone above that point however needs to pay their fair proportional share at the flat rate. It encourages getting oneself out of the ghetto and into success by way of "the more you make, the more you keep after the flat tax. Want more money? Get a raise/better job/education/whatever."

edited 1st Jul '11 6:40:03 PM by MajorTom

Because in the US less than 10% of the population controls most of the money. If the money was more equally distributed, I'd be more okay with a flat tax.

Hah. I've been trying to get myself out of poverty since I was old enough to have a job. It's still not happened.

edited 1st Jul '11 6:42:02 PM by DrunkGirlfriend

Yes. They already make more and benefit more from what's already being publicly funded, so they should have to pay more towards it.

^^ You're not the only one. I have 2 degrees, 2 certifications and yet the only work I can find in this bloody depression is custodial for a school district. In a few years this may change and I may suddenly find myself with an opportunity to go from broke to making much more money.

Yeah, then you get people like me who couldn't get into the military (dislocated my knee back in highschool and couldn't afford crutches, let alone the surgery to get it more-or-less fixed), who also failed out of college because I was trying to work and do school at the same time.

When the economy recovers, I'm going to be in the exact same spot.

Taxes aren't punishments.

That would be fines.

Same situation.

edited 1st Jul '11 6:46:51 PM by Jauce

This.

Also in America, they pay LESS taxes. So no, its not equal, its actually FAVORING the rich, so you should be on board Tom.

edited 1st Jul '11 6:46:47 PM by Thorn14

Whether you call it a tax or a fine, it's still money forcibly taken. "Sin" taxes on cigarettes and such are not called fines, but they might as well be.

It can't be just a question of paying proportionate to how much you put into society. By that logic, why should the rich pay to support services that the poor use, since the poor can't afford to pay their percentage.

Any argument you make for why the rich should be exempt is, to put it kindly, horseshit.

They are "smarter" in the sense that they exploit their workers.

Philanthropy is a backdoor tax exemption.

Trickle down economics doesn't apply to an upper class which invests in overseas tax shelters and is content to let the rest of us sink.

Lastly, the alternative is socialism. We've created socialism for the rich and free enterprise for the rest.

edited 1st Jul '11 6:53:03 PM by johnnyfog

You aren't being punished. If you think of it that way, that's completely ignoring the reality that taxes pay for things that benefit you. And force? I'm not going to cry over that, you might as well say you're forced to live under the law, or forced to any number of things. But that is why you get a vote and numerous other rights to compensate for it.

And excise taxes are not based on your income, but on the item consumed, so they do not correlate with degree of wealth. If you want to discuss those, go back to the prior thread on the subject.

edited 1st Jul '11 6:57:14 PM by blueharp

Rather then taxing them how about the bastards actually make good on their trickle down economic bull shit and pay their bottom tier workers better.

Nonsense, that's perfectly good money that could be spent on Ferrais.

edited 1st Jul '11 6:59:26 PM by Alichains

I'm all for looting the Hell out of them. Seriously.

Few people get rich through being honest. Rich as in don't have to work much, can retire early comfortably, there'll be something for the kids when you croak rich? Sure, you might pull it off.

Rich as in mansion and yacht rich? Crooks, pretty much the whole lotta them. Sure, there's the odd artist or athlete or inventor or whatever that did it honestly. But most of the rest got where they are through inheritance, corruption, governmental largesse and anti-competitive practices, so fuck'em.

edited 1st Jul '11 7:00:30 PM by SavageHeathen

I don't think they should, at least not more than anyone else.

How the hell did that happen?