Huckabee: Treat taxpayers the same way we 'train dogs'

[WhoIsNumberNone]

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee argued on Thursday that the “common sense” way to improve the economy was to treat taxpayers with the same techniques used to “train dogs.”

Speaking at the Republican presidential debate on the Fox Business channel, Huckabee argued that Americans were having trouble getting ahead because “the tax system punishes them.”

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/mike-huckabee-poor-americans-will-be-better-off-if-we-treat-them-like-we-train-dogs/

[saltpoint]

1. The good news on Huckabee is

that he's not in serious contention at this point for his part's nomination.

The bad news is that the people who are preferred instead are even worse than he is, and that is no small feat.

Two words that pop to mind on the subject of Mike Huckabee are 'manipulative' and 'psychotic.'

Also as a rule of thumb, it might be a good idea for the Huckabee family to avoid dog references.

[trusty elf]

11. ....

[img][/img]

[saltpoint]

12. O My God. eom

[BlueJazz]

13. Christ!. Reminds me of some creepy alternate reality where things are somewhat like ...

...ours but very different in ways that bring horrible, terrifying thoughts that you might get trapped in that hell and never return to this one.. like an "outer limits" episode.

[meow2u3]

17. Jeez! Why are they dressed in a uniform?

[hobbit709]

2. does he mean like his sonny boy did?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. You just HAD to rub his nose in it.

[passiveporcupine]

3. He has a point about being bumped into a new tax bracket

While taxes need to be progressive, I think we could work on how we do that for lower incomes. For example lower income brackets just trying to get up to middle class, sometimes are hurt by tax bracket jumps (even if it's just temporary). But telling people that taxes are a "punishment" is flat out wrong. Taxes are what make this country work, and without them we would not want to live here. They understand that in places like Sweden.

We need to reinforce that idea because it's too easy for people struggling financially to get the idea of punishment set in their brain...and it's permanently etched into the brains of republicans. I often wonder how republicans can back our big military complex, while crying about taxes.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. There are very few tax bracket bumps any more

and they have been adjusted again this year for "bracket creep." There are only two brackets for lower-income taxpayers, 10% and 15%. http://taxfoundation.org/article/2016-tax-brackets That isn't the problem; it's a GOP meme they've pushed very successfully. Low-income people don't have serious problems with federal taxes, which are progressive. Where they get whacked is on state and local taxes, which often are not, and on the payroll tax (FICA), which needs to have no cap.

[passiveporcupine]

5. It's been some time for me, but I do remember way back when I was young

when my taxes went up and my take home went down instead of up after a small raise.

It's not bracket creep I'm talking about.

look at the chart on your link for the lowest tax brackets and 10% vs 15%

If you make 9275, you pay 927 (10%) in taxes and your take home is 8348.
If you get a 3% cost of living raise to 9553, you pay 15% now and your take home is 8120.

Cost of living has increased, but you have less take home.

If you get another 3% raise next year, your take home finally bounces up by $16, and then it keeps going up with every raise you get. But still for that one year, you had a setback. I think there could be some kind of buffer built in so that doesn't happen when switching tax brackets. You should never see your take home go down for getting a raise.

This is what they are talking about, and this does hurt low income people a lot more than higher income people, when they jump a tax bracket.

[livingonearth]

14. You make a good point. We should address this type of tax situation for lower income folks.

It makes me mad that people like Huckabee never recommend fixes, or fine tuning, that will correct certain discrepancies in the tax system. Instead, they just declare "taxes are punishment". Plus, I never get the sense that they are talking about lower income people when they talk about tax punishment. They always talk about it too much in terms of investment and job creation for me to think they have the little guy in their thoughts.

I truly believe that if we want to fix certain aspects of the tax code, democrats and liberals will get more done than any republican. Republicans would lose too many talking points if things were totally fixed.

[valerief]

6. Why is this ass taint allowed to breathe?

[ancianita]

7. This betrayer of Christian values should not be valued as a leader. He mocks the core dignity of

Last edited Sun Jan 17, 2016, 08:33 AM - Edit history (1)

people whose situations he knows nothing of, whose lives are more beyond their control than not.

He betrays his divinity training and Christianity to speak against those who suffer problems he knows nothing of.

His 'common sense' discipline is undisciplined; no fellow Americans deserve this public demeaning; he brutalizes the body politic with his 'thousand cuts.'

His presence and mouth offend so regularly and often, his mind is so morally shallow that he hurts this country's very Christian identity.

[Plucketeer]

9. Wonder which caught on first?

Roll over - sit - stay - heel..... reckon his kids or his dogs were quicker to pick up those commands. Too bad that Jesus isn't here for Huck to train.

[trusty elf]

10. same way we 'fry squirrels'.....

[img][/img]

[artemis starwolf]

15. squirrels?

Guess they forgot their snacks......

[marble falls]

16. Can we rub Huckabee's nose in a steaming pile of his crap statements? I am retired....

earlier than I wanted. I made good money for years and my problem was never taxes or Muslims. It was pandering politicians like Mike Huckabee and his fellow Teapublicans and NeoCons.