8 ms·

> "If everyone was required to pay taxes like they pay their utilities, attitudes would probably change." I wonder how people would react to a $500/year Antite

by SandB0x 16y ago

> "If everyone was required to pay taxes like they pay their utilities, attitudes would probably change." I wonder how people would react to a $500/year Antiterrorism bill. [Ballpark for 08-10? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_cost_of_the_Iraq_War#Appropriations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_cost_of_the_Iraq_War#...)

dpatru 16y ago
Most of the income taxes in America are paid by a small minority. Most people probably wouldn't have a problem with a $500/year Antiterrorism bill, as long as someone else has to pay it.
- bendotc 16y ago
  True, though most of the wealth in America is held by a small minority too, which kind of creates the weird taxing/spending incentives. (http://www.good.is/post/americans-are-horribly-misinformed-about-who-has-money/ http://www.good.is/post/americans-are-horribly-misinformed-a...)
  - Cushman 16y ago
    That chart needs to be distributed way more widely. Spoiler alert: the difference between what Republicans and Democrats think the median wealth should be is less than a quarter of the difference between the lower of those numbers and what it actually is. We're arguing over a fiction.
    - abrown28 16y ago
      I wonder how they calculate wealth and if they've ever tried to track which direction most people move on the wealth scale.
jpwagner 16y ago
why is it divided equally?
- SandB0x 16y ago
  It's a thought experiment, cut me some slack... I know there aren't 300m taxpayers, and it shouldn't be divided equally, and countless other things. If anyone has a more accurate figure I'd be interested to see it.
  - jpwagner 16y ago
    Fair enough, but just remember that ~35%-40% of people will not pay a dime... http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=283 http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Doc...
    - bpm140 16y ago
      Conversely, the top 74 earners in 2009 made as much as the bottom 19 million. Updating to include citation: http://www.tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/UBEN-8AGMUZ?OpenDocument http://www.tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/UBEN-8AGMUZ?...
    - jpwagner 16y ago
      aside: how does the above comment receive so many downvotes? it's fact, backed up with data, with no spin, and on-topic.
      - anigbrowl 16y ago
        I didn't (in fact, have an upvote), but although many are not liable for income tax most people pay some kind of tax - sales tax, or payroll tax, or state tax. You are right to point out that a good chunk of the population will make a net gain, but many of them will only do so because they're very poor. Some poor people are lazy, but it doesn't follow that all poor people are freeloaders. Unfortunately, less honest people than you have made a lot of spin out of those statistics, for a variety of political ends.
dgallagher 16y ago
The Iraq war was not about anti-terrorism, although that's partially how it was sold by politicians. The Iraqi government has never launched a single terrorist attack against the United States (please correct me if I'm wrong as I've never heard of one instance).
- fondue 16y ago
  Iraq trained them and offered rewards to families whom had a son or father carry out jihad against the United States.
  - locopati 16y ago
    Cite please
    - fondue 16y ago
      I recalled it from having lived through the last couple of decades but since you insist, I googled for "Iraq Trained Terrorists" and found 2.2million links. Heres one. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/550kmbzd.asp http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/00... Heres another. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/25/1017004766310.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/25/1017004766310.html One more. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/1449442/Terrorist-behind-September-11-strike-was-trained-by-Saddam.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/14... I don't know how partisan these articles or newspapers/publishers are, but you asked for citing. Oh, here's another one, PBS this time. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/khodada.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interv... Feel free to upvote my prior post, thanks.
      - mfukar 16y ago
        We've all (most?) lived the last couple of decades, but it seems that not all of us took our blinkers off.
      - 16y ago
deleted 16y ago
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by SandB0x 16y ago

dpatru 16y ago

Most of the income taxes in America are paid by a small minority. Most people probably wouldn't have a problem with a $500/year Antiterrorism bill, as long as someone else has to pay it.

bendotc 16y ago
True, though most of the wealth in America is held by a small minority too, which kind of creates the weird taxing/spending incentives. (http://www.good.is/post/americans-are-horribly-misinformed-about-who-has-money/ http://www.good.is/post/americans-are-horribly-misinformed-a...)
- Cushman 16y ago
  That chart needs to be distributed way more widely. Spoiler alert: the difference between what Republicans and Democrats think the median wealth should be is less than a quarter of the difference between the lower of those numbers and what it actually is. We're arguing over a fiction.
  - abrown28 16y ago
    I wonder how they calculate wealth and if they've ever tried to track which direction most people move on the wealth scale.

jpwagner 16y ago

why is it divided equally?

SandB0x 16y ago
It's a thought experiment, cut me some slack... I know there aren't 300m taxpayers, and it shouldn't be divided equally, and countless other things. If anyone has a more accurate figure I'd be interested to see it.
- jpwagner 16y ago
  Fair enough, but just remember that ~35%-40% of people will not pay a dime... http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=283 http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Doc...
  - bpm140 16y ago
    Conversely, the top 74 earners in 2009 made as much as the bottom 19 million. Updating to include citation: http://www.tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/UBEN-8AGMUZ?OpenDocument http://www.tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/UBEN-8AGMUZ?...
  - jpwagner 16y ago
    aside: how does the above comment receive so many downvotes? it's fact, backed up with data, with no spin, and on-topic.
    - anigbrowl 16y ago
      I didn't (in fact, have an upvote), but although many are not liable for income tax most people pay some kind of tax - sales tax, or payroll tax, or state tax. You are right to point out that a good chunk of the population will make a net gain, but many of them will only do so because they're very poor. Some poor people are lazy, but it doesn't follow that all poor people are freeloaders. Unfortunately, less honest people than you have made a lot of spin out of those statistics, for a variety of political ends.

dgallagher 16y ago

The Iraq war was not about anti-terrorism, although that's partially how it was sold by politicians. The Iraqi government has never launched a single terrorist attack against the United States (please correct me if I'm wrong as I've never heard of one instance).

fondue 16y ago
Iraq trained them and offered rewards to families whom had a son or father carry out jihad against the United States.
- locopati 16y ago
  Cite please
  - fondue 16y ago
    I recalled it from having lived through the last couple of decades but since you insist, I googled for "Iraq Trained Terrorists" and found 2.2million links. Heres one. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/550kmbzd.asp http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/00... Heres another. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/25/1017004766310.html http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/03/25/1017004766310.html One more. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/1449442/Terrorist-behind-September-11-strike-was-trained-by-Saddam.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/14... I don't know how partisan these articles or newspapers/publishers are, but you asked for citing. Oh, here's another one, PBS this time. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/khodada.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interv... Feel free to upvote my prior post, thanks.
    - mfukar 16y ago
      We've all (most?) lived the last couple of decades, but it seems that not all of us took our blinkers off.
    - 16y ago

deleted 16y ago

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