I Am Sick Of Tax Breaks For Corporations And The Top 1 Percent

@Kwek00 My apologies Kwek. I did in fact assume we were talking about US taxing policy. I'm sorry -

And I understand the differences between US liberal and European liberal. Just more stuff to make it harder to communicate.

I'm backing out gracefully, please excuse my intrusion, have a lovely day.

@Budwick

You don't really have to back up. You have said nothing wrong... but it kinda feels you came out swinging even tough I didn't attack you. If one of your believes feels threatened by what the guy in the movie says (or I say) you can have a diffrent opinion. Just nice if the conversation isn't packed with emotions tough.

I just don't know how the tax system works over there. Bregman (in Davos) was also talking about a general flight of really rich companies that avoid taxes at all costs. So I can't really imagine this phenomena doesn't take place in the US.

The only thing what I have on the US... is that I travelled Georgia for like 5 weeks. I just travelled around in that one state. And on the coastline, there were a lot of nice mansions and there were people with money. Atlanta was also beautifull. But I was more intrested in the other parts, so I kinda travelled around, met my first "redneck" and "hillbilly" (on the border of North-Carolina). Had my conversations. There was this teacher that asked me how things were going in my part of the world, and after that I asked her about how she believed it was going over there. According to her, and her companions... one of the biggest troubles in Atlanta (because the US is a big place) was schooling. Kids couldn't afford schooling, public schools weren't funded enough and were described as marginal. Kids that had qualities could later go to have higher education or university, but the entrance fees were so steep that hey were in depth. I also remember on diffrent locations that lawyers were specifically targetting students with student loans to help them if they had troubles paying them off. Then she asked me what I did for studies... and then she asked me what the entrance fee is over here to get into uniersity. I calculated it (in 2013) to be around 720 US dollar. She and her 4 companions went: "whaaa :o " and then she started talking abouw how good it would be for the people if it was easier to get into higher education. Then she asked me how we could afford it all... and I answered we had a thing called "taxes". The moment the word slipped out of my mouth only the word "socialism" followed, and the conversation was over. So we talked about other stuff. Pretty much the same happened in Athens and in Savannah. There is this incredible fear of the word "taxes" even in areas that are incredibly poor over there. I've seen people work 2 , 3 jobs... most of them in restaurants really little in production. I encountered 3 people that actually worked an assembly line. Guys (mainly guys) work in construction, but in certain areas there was nothing to construct. It was all kind of a culture shock, and again... this isn't something I want to build my arguments on, but the culture shock was pretty severe when it comes to vieuws how to manage the economy in relationship to the people of the nation.

But again, the system we have here creates it's own problems... not saying what we have is great. But most people kinda go to the doctor when they need too, can afford their meds and their kids go to school. During the financial crisis, our poverty problems didn't increase drastically, and most of it was due to our social-safety nets (not socialism, social-democracy). But again, there are problems, and this libertarian view has had it's impact amongst policy makers. But a lot of people out here still are okay with a high tax rate as long as we get something for it in return.

Well, you got a lot of topics there. Care to whittle things down a bit? What's your primary question / point?

@Subsumedpat

I think I pay my taxes. Lol
No worries there. I think when it comes to Taxes, most people that have a normal job really do pay their taxes in this country. It's pretty hard to avoid honestly. You can set up financial schemes that park your money in financial paradises, but that costs money to do so... and most people having a normal wage (between 3000-1100 netto in the month) ... really don't have the time nor the resources to do that kind of stuff.

If those that avoid taxes like the plague, start by paying the normal % everyone else pays... we can talk about how this influences the balance sheets. After that, we can talk about if things need to be toned up or toned down? Right?

I know I pay about 10% of my wages in federal taxes and pay other taxes to the state and local mostly in the form of sales taxes but also a small income tax.

I know rich high income people pay income taxes, payroll taxes in come cases, corporate taxes in some cases as well as excise and a few other special taxes.

I think you would be hard pressed to find rich people who pay a lower percentage on their income than I do. I am sure there might be loopholes that should be tightened but I am not buying that the rich don't pay taxes. They pay more in dollar amounts and pay more in percentage than I do so it is hard for me to say they are not paying their fair share what ever that is. I think if people were honest they would say people should pay more because they can not because they really owe more.

The U.S. tax system as a whole is progressive. The top 0.1% of families pay the equivalent of 39.2% and the bottom 20% have negative tax rates (that is, they get more money back from the government in the form of refundable tax credits than they pay in taxes).

We let our government get too big which meant it got too expensive and now we are struggling arguing about who we should take the money away from to pay for our bad decisions of the past as we still make those same decisions going forward.

It is probably not that much different in Europe either but I can't speak to that.

Well, the political part is another debate right? The good and bad descisions are stuff that we actually have a system for. Like in the voting booth or applying pressure as a sort midfield organisation.

But I'm glad we agreed on just applying the system to everyone first
... then look at how the finances are.
Then adapt and discuss changes (explain it to your people ask for support)