Let's Look At Class Warfare and The 51% Who Don't Pay Any Taxes

you mean section eight or foodstamps......

You can suspect all you want, but lets take a look a my sister and husband, who makes around 24,000 as a household. They got back an 8500 tax return, and paid ZERO fed tax. They got back every penny of their state tax. They collect food stamps on top of it and the state provides the health care for her 3 kids through medicare or medicade.. one of those 2. So yea, I really do not suspect that she being one of the poorest has a higher right then the rich... nor a higher rate then I pay. When you look at it they actually have a NEGATIVE tax rate, meaning after it is all said and done they get back more then they give up... how does that happen

At 24,000 if they spent everything on taxable items at a 7.5% tax they would pay 1800 in sales tax for the year. Now of course things like rent are tax free, food is tax free and several other things are tax freee so they most likely gave less then 1500 in sales tax, add in the 8.5k refund (we won't even bring in the state because they simply got everything back they put in) and bam they made 7k, and of that 7k only about 3500 was actuall money they paid in taxes, the other 3500 they got because of the Refundable Tax Credit clause which allows someone to collect a refund larger then the amount of tax they paid the government for the year. So she got back roughly 3500 in free money above and beyond any possible tax she paid for the year. Meaning she had a tax rate of -14.58%.

Now please don't feel sorry for her... she is where she at because she chooses too... she can't keep a job because she forgets she is actually suppose to show up for work in order to get paid and where she lives in the middle of no where you can actually live comfortably for 24000 a year. I should know I made about that much when I lived there and I could afford a small house and vehicle, but I had to actually pay taxes and didn't get free food.

So please stop thinking the poor pay taxes because thanks to the refundable tax credit the poor actually MAKE money come tax time.

I know I would rather live on $24,000 a year instead of $100,000 per year just to save taxes and live on food stamps. /sarc

Tappy, I know it makes no sense to anyone with a good life, but some of the poor choose to be that way, they would rather sit at home in a house they rent, smoking dope, and parting then try to be successful. I was poor for several years after the dot.com bust and I lost my job but I worked very hard and have now become successful again. I make around 60k a year, wife makes about 70k.

Its the one thing those on the left just don't understand is that there are people who would rather live on 24,000k a year then try to make 100,000. At 24k a year she can sit at home and get free stuff (food, clothes, rental assitance) she doesn't have to try, she doesn't have to be responsible, she just has to party and fill out all the forms for the free stuff. It pisses me off to no end, because she has 3 kids and she is teaching them to be just like her. I spend over 3,000 a year on books for her kids trying to get them to read and do well in school... so far its working with 2 of them. The oldest might be a lost cause at this point.

Honest: So you have an example of ONE person grifting the system ... and for the vast minority who do grift the system, you'd rather completely dismantle the system than to try to root out those who grift? In other words, you'd punish millions because of something that a few hundred or even a few thousand do?

you'd rather completely dismantle the system than to try to root out those who grift? In other words, you'd punish millions because of something that a few hundred or even a few thousand do?

I did not say that. You believe since I think there is a problem that I think it should be abolished... but I don't. It needs to be changed though. My response was specifically to the post #3

I suspect the tax bite on the poorest 20% is proporitionaly higher than the low rate paid by the wealthiest 5%.

As someone who has lived poor and lived among lots of poor I think I have a fairly good understanding of the subject. I have had to decide between either eating, paying the electric bill or the gas bill in the middle of winter ... in Missouri. I choose to pay the electric bill and worked on a farm over the weekend for a rump roast. FYI a rump roast cook with just salt and pepper is some of the best dam food you can have when you haven't eaten a real meal in 2 weeks.

So basically I don't make my comments as someone who thinks they know how things are for the poor I make my comments as someone who has been there .. done that. I have been homeless before, I have made less then 20k a year several years in a row, I did my time at wal-mart, fast food joints, farms and the like.

d for the vast minoritywho do grift the system

If you believe it is wrong for me to claim a lot of people game the system how can you claim that its a vast minority who do game the system? Where I lived in Missouri I would say 40% of those poor around me game the system. Now I agree that doesn't mean 40% of everyone is doing it, but where I lived it was 40%. I saw it every day and everywhere. When I finally got a job at wal-mart as a cashier I would see at least 5 people a day who would be selling their food stamps. The person with the food stamps (person A) would go shopping with the person buying them (person B). So B loads up the cart with everything they want. Person A then pays with the food stamp ATM card. Person B then gives Person A around 70 cents to the dollar for the total bill. Person A then comes back into the store and buys beer and cigarettes... and if it was a NASCAR weekend then they would splurge on BOX WINE!

So do I want to abolish it.. no. I do want to fix it though. Stop allowing those with food stamps from buying things like Oreo cookies, prime rib and fillet Mignonsteaks. Only allow a very specific list of items to be bought.. similar to what they do with the WIC program. That will stop most of the abuse of the food stamp program. Second.. oversight. Anyone on food stamps agreeably needs help, so lets provide them even more help by sending a nutritionist out to their house at least once every 6 months to help them find more healthily ways of eating and to check up on the household.

Next make people earn some of their unemployment benefits via 16-24 hours of community service and another 8-16 hours of job training. Provide childcare for those families who need it. Next sit these people down with those who can provide them the financial training they need to balance a checkbook and to make a budget.

Just throwing money at those who are poor will not solve anything. It only makes it worse...as the saying goes. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. We hand out plenty of fish but we need to start teaching people how to fish for themsevles.

No response? Nothing?...