"Entitlements" for the wealthy - they get plenty!

[Tennessee Gal]

When one group gets ALL or most of the benefits that is an entitlement.

How about tax deductions for interest paid on second or vacation homes?

How about subsidies for the oil industry and mega farms?

How about the capital gains tax of only 15% on profits made from selling stocks, real estate, etc.?

The social security tax is 6.2% paid on every dollar of wages a worker earns with the employer paying the same 6.2% for a total of 12.4% - BUT the rich pay this tax on far less of their pay than the middle class or poor. The rich have this tax capped at $106k. So for Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and all those making over $106k are allowed to avoid this tax. People in the media might make $10 million in salary and pay the tax on just 1% of their wages. The CEO making $50 million per year pays the Social Security tax on just one day’s wages. The working class hourly employee pays on all of their wages. Sound fair to you?

For most Americans the deductions they are allowed are few because they don’t qualify for them. On the other hand the rich can deduct almost everything they buy. Warren Buffett told the New York Times that he paid just a 17% tax rate while many who worked for him who made far less paid twice that rate or 34%. Why is this fair? It is an entitlement for the rich. In fact an IRS report shows the top 1% made on average $8.4 million and paid just a 22% tax rate. Many middle class taxpayers pay a higher rate.

The wealthy who own an airplane can land it on a public runway at a public taxpayer funded airport meaning that we taxpayers are paying for their landing and other services.

Rich Americans avoid paying taxes by keeping their wages and profits in Swiss banks. Of course, if you are a middle-class worker it is difficult to take advantage of this entitlement and so this benefits only the rich.


Edited for typing errors

[Tippy]

1. K&R...

[whathehell]

2. Well said. n/t

[KansDem]

3. This infuriates me!

"Welfare for the wealthy!"

I still remember the Reaganites demonizing welfare recipients as "welfare queens" who drove down to the welfare office to pick up their checks in Cadillacs!

[yellerpup]

4. Totally with you on this.

Restricting mortgage deductions to the principal residence seems like a fair loophole to close. If you are wealthy enough to afford a second home, then you don't need a mortgage deduction. Same thing about building mansions on the beach. Taxpayers can help you rebuild it once, but if you rebuild in the same spot and get wiped out a second time, that should be on you. :kick: & Rec.

[NorthCarolina]

5. They also pay plenty for prefferential treatment in DC. DEM or GOP, it's all about the MONEY. n/t

[Tennessee Gal]

7. Yes, they can afford to donate enough to politicians ...

to get legislation passed that they want. The average American sure can't.

[N7Shepard]

6. I say bring on a flat tax. But let's see how the richy riches and

conservatives like it when:

Industry subsidies are gone
Capital gains is taxed at the same rate as income and subject to social security and medicare taxes
And the social security cap is removed.

[Tennessee Gal]

8. These benefits for the wealthy need to be called what they are!

ENTITLEMENTS!

[iamjoy]

9. Your Tax Dollars at Work.

A person decides to run for Congress. Person gets contributions from extremely wealthy individuals/conglomerates. Person gets elected. Person votes a Pro-Business agenda, that helps dollars flow into the hands of the wealthy and powerful. This is through supporting favorable business practices and subsidies (corporate welfare) so that the rich and powerful amass more wealth. The wealthy then contribute more money for the person's reelection campaign.

And that kiddies, is the flow of money in Our Capitalist Democracy

[Tennessee Gal]

10. They get theirs and they still want to take away from others. nt

[fasttense]

11. And it's not just in taxes that the corporate aristocracy reap entitlements.

Do you know a middle class person or poor person who has declared bankruptcy as often as Trump? And yet he never gets wiped out with his bankruptcies. Why? Because he negotiates better or lower rates with the banks he borrowed from. It's called restructuring and it's done all the time. But it's done for the uber rich and never for the poor. If Greece and Ireland had merely restructured their loans like Trump did many times over, the average citizens of those countries would not be suffering now.

[Eddie Haskell]

12. Just scratching the surface

Here's a few more ...

Cheap insurance for their otherwise un-insurable beach homes.
Second home mortgage deduction for their vacation rental house.
Navigation aids for their yachts.

We're paying for this shit so the rich don't have to.

[madokie]

13. I can't recommend this enough

We almost need a war on the rich in this country right now. I said almost as I'm not advocating violence on anyone but they sure do deserve a good asskicking. We being the better persons won't do it but jimminie crickets we out'a. There is no justice in someone making the money that the rich are making when we have so many going homeless and hungry. You'd think that the rich would be embarrassed by this fact by no not them. Sorry bastids all of them, pretty much anyway.

[66 dmhlt]

14. Entitlements for the poor are "Handouts" - for the rich ... "breaks"

[saras]

15. I'm not willing to accept the Tea Party definition of "entitlements" unless we QUIT USING THE WORD!

Using the word "entitlements" for tax exemptions just seems confused and silly.

I just don't see a reason to even COMPARE

I pay money into an account, and take it out later...

and

I do some large-scale activity with harmful public effects, but am exempted from paying the people I harm for the harm I do.

[indepat]

16. When Warren Buffet says he pays a 12.3% lower Federal tax on his total income than his secretary,

the magnitude of the federal tax obscenity is made apparent for all to see and this obscene depravity is by carefully constructed design. Yet, Americans are about to be chiseled out of a significant portion of their already-paid-for "entitlements" so this obscenely depraved travesty of over 30 years in the making can continue in full force, thanks to BHO's tax cuts, probably into perpetuity. :patriot:

[Tennessee Gal]

17. You do a lot of assuming.

[Cherchez la Femme]

18. Now THOSE are True Entitlements!