I don't earn 250K/year

[lapislzi]

Not even close. However, most people would consider me well off. I have a home. I struggle a little; I have debt, but I'm pretty comfortable.

Would I pay higher taxes (happily!) if it meant I could take my kid to the doctor without paying through the nose for co-pays? Yup. Would I pay higher taxes if it meant the best teachers were being hired and schools had all the funds they needed? Of course. Would I pay higher taxes to protect our food supply and develop alternative sources of energy? Yes. Would I pay higher taxes if it would help my neighbors who are not so well off? Naturally.

I'm one of those weirdos who thinks that taxes are the price you pay to live in a civilized society. Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed. I hate the selfish society we have become. These (the tea bag types) are people who would chuck you overboard on a Titanic lifeboat.

[blondeatlast]

1. Hear, hear. I'm pretty comfortable myself but would happily give up another percentage point or two

for my country.

Lapiszi, :patriot: k/r

[Taverner]

2. Agreed. And when I hear "you think we should punish prosperity???" I reply

No - I think the rich should just pay their fair share. They use more resources, being that their investments depend on a lot of American Governmental actions - tariffs, highways and wars - and they need to pay for them.

[nashville_brook]

3. damn right about "civilized society" -- the "don't tax me bro" crowd has been brainwashed

to believe that they'll still have a first world society with third world revenues. if that's what they want, fine. they can move to Honduras or Sierra Leone and see how well that lifestyle fits them.

[lapislzi]

5. "Society" with no government = Somalia

But I'm sure their taxes are very low.

[nashville_brook]

9. i almost used Somalia in the example...great minds -- :)

[county worker]

4. I'm also doing ok and I would be willing to pay higher taxes to get the unemployed back to work.

The thing that would turn this economy around the fastest is a massive jobs program. People would spend and businesses would grow.

If you want to help small business give them customers!

Here is what I am seeing. This talk about we should move to the middle, not to the far right or left means we are going to forget about those in economic distress. In the middle are people like me. I don't need any help from government programs as yet. But those hurting do and those programs are what the "professional left" want. They can't take it slow they are running out of time.

When I hear people telling the left to STFU I hear the words of selfishness.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. Exactly. Civilized societies don't just happen. There is a price

to be paid. I always have said that I do not want to live in a country where I have to step over the homeless in the streets and watch unfortunates eat out of dumpsters, and I am willing to pay to insure this country doesn't go that direction. In fact, I want a country where no one is homeless or hungry. And there is a price to be paid.

[unblock]

7. frankly, the rich who whine about their tax rates when they're at historically low levels are jerks

we went from from the greatest generation to the greediest generation.

they want lower taxes for the rich and lower spending on the poor because they believe that that helps them and who cares about anyone else.

they want to take credit (and reap giant rewards) when the economy is booming. the rich deserve and need tax cuts because they're the ones who create jobs, right?

but then, when the economy sucks and the rich clearly aren't producing jobs, they deserve and need a tax cut again. to raise taxes now would be to punish them, and what did they do wrong? well, turn the economy into a cesspool, that's what they did!


i have only one thing to say to the rich who complain about this: shut up and pay your damn taxes!

[lapislzi]

8. Allow me to add:

I want everybody's kids to be able to go to the doctor. I want everybody to have access to education. I want our seniors to enjoy the retirement they've worked hard for. I'd like those things for me and mine, but the difference is, I want them for everyone else as well.

[nashville_brook]

10. that's not just angel-headed altruism. it's self-interest. i don't want to live in a society

that's a race to the bottom. i don't want to live in a neighborhood where no kids go to school. i don't want to work in a city where you can't trust that the roads will be open and usable. or, where infectious diseases run amok. or where the water isn't potable.

going further, it's the things beyond the basics that build a civilization. libraries, museums, public art, public spaces, public transportation.

[lapislzi]

11. nashville_brook:

:loveya:

[nashville_brook]

12. ah shucks -- :)

[JerseygirlCT]

13. Totally agree. nt

[TBF]

14. Agree with you - and I'd love to see the money spent on

lifting people up (housing, healthcare, education), rather than killing them.