Taxes in America

Do we have a Robber Barron scenario being perpetuated by the Democratic Senate?
Do we have a Robin Hood scenario being perpetuated by the Republican House?

Robber Barron

Raise taxes for the rich! That is the battle cry being perpetuated by the Senate.
Before you jump on that bandwagon, think about this table (I don’t really care if the rates are exactly
accurate, the point is the tax rate is progressive as income goes up):

2010 Tax Rates (Example) 

Between (Start)	And (Stop)	Percentage	Sample Amount	Cumulative Amount
$0.00	$8,375.00	10%	$837.00	$837.50
$8,376.00	$34,000.00	15%	$3,843.00	$4,681.10
$34,000.01	$82,400.00	25%	$12,100.00	$16,781.10
$82,400.01	$171,850.00	28%	$25,045.99	$41,827.10
$171,850.01	373,650.00	33%	$66,594.00	$108,421.10
$373,650.01	and above (example up to $1,000,000)	35%	$219,225.00	$327,646.10

Assuming a millionaire can reduce his tax rate by 50% with the help of his supper duty tax breaks
(which cost him $100,000.00 in political contributions), the result would be a tax collection of $163,823.00.

The alternative is 29.5 taxpayers earning $34,000 with a tax rate of 15% to make the same income,
each paying $5,100.00 or $150,450.00.

Robin Hood

Stop spending! Some have called it the Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Party, others the "right wing" party,
some the party of no.  Trying to deal with the deficit by reducing spending, by itself, isn't a bad idea!
What should we do?

Try very much harder to find a middle ground!

Raising taxes, to me seems logical since there is plenty of deficit that stopping spending simply will not
in and of itself fix, but to say only part of the income earners in this country should pay higher taxes
just does not seem American - here we are the country founded on the idea that "All men are created equal"
and we can't even decide that taxation equality might just be a flat tax with NO deductibles. We also have a foundational belief that citizens should be self-sufficient and not look to
the government for "handouts." Is Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance, and now the
new national health coverage, a "handout?"  So in addition to raising taxes where it seems fair to EVERYONE,
perhaps we should also reduce our spending.  Do we really have so much of a blessing in terms of income
that we can afford to spend all this money we don’t have?  I’m all for spending money for those things that
allow our citizens to get on their feet or that create jobs (which translates into people paying into the
government through taxes rather than consuming from the government in terms of food stamps, Medicaid and
unemployment compensation!

To Congress (yes both the Republican House and Democratic

 Senate), get your act together!  Compromise!

Pass a budget!  Stop blaming and start cooperating!