Sorry, Pal, You're Rich

Those of you who voted for Bush should have known that after five years of your illeal war that someone was going to have to pay for it..........Did you think the Iraqi's were going to pay for it? Did you think the oil companies would pay for it? I don't get it.....

aa

swmn99...I never said I was stuggling to make ends meet. I'm not stuggling. I was expressing my view of the matter in how I think what is thought of being rich is a relative term.

markstev....you are rich by financial matters. I feel no pain for you struggling to make ends meet. Your monthly expenses are more than many people in a year or even more. If you would just stop spending money on material things you could be debt free in a year or two, work a few more and retire to a very comfortable life. Cry me a river saying you couldn't live on less. You could and you know it. You just don't want to, which is your right.

i would be willing to bet more than 50% of those making that salary have more than 75k in student loans. oh yeah we can't even write our student loans off anymore because we make too much. i make right at 250k per year but i still live things pretty tightly. i have things that others may wish they could afford but i also have risks. i own my own business and if i lose a contract today we make nothing tomorrow. thats called risk/reward which i have chosen. those making median income had the option to do just as i but chose not to. i say bring on the flat tax or fair tax. if i buy it tax me for it but if i earn it i want to keep it.
SF New Bern, NC

The logical conclusion to making a decent income is not to give a bigger portion of it to the government. I'm not asking that anyone feel sorry for me because I make over $250k a year. However, i don't think that I should pay a greater percentage in taxes simply because I got a decent education that merits it.

For those of you who are complaining because you don't make over $250k, I can only suggest that you get off your butt. I was not born wealthy. It was quite the opposite. In addition, I do not own a business, nor did I invest in the stock market. I earn what I earn because I applied myself and got through law school. No magic in that and certainly no silver spoon. It's called taking opportunities that are offered to everyone -- even loans to help you pay for it. Those that fail to take these opportunities would rather spend their time demanding that the government give them a handout, and that public schools and roads all be subsidized by those of us who took responsibility for our futures. You may not feel sorry for me, but I certainly don't feel sorry for you. You're in your current situation because you chose to be.

Like we'll ever get anything good for our tax dollars. Your tax dollars (for several years to come, considering interest on the bonds sold on open market) went to Haliburton, KBR, DynCorp and Bechtel.

Ok then what everyone is saying is lets all make the same salary and pay the same amount of taxes and lets all live in the same size house and drive the same cars. This is ridiculous.

I have a few questions, just when did this country become a socialist state? Where in the Constitution does it allow for the forced redistribution of wealth? Is that not what we are taking about here, taking from the so called rich to give to the poor?

My wife and I make over $250 a year and because of this most deductions, that the average person takes for granted, phase out for us. We also have the pleasure of paying the Minimum Alternative Tax. This is something that the so called rich already pay for the privilege of making to much money.

Why should we be penalized for working hard and bettering ourselves? No one handed us anything, we both paid for our own educations and worked long and hard hours to get to where we are. We don???t have two or three houses, just one in a small town in North Carolina. Our kids did not go to fancy schools, but because we make to much, they did not qualify for grants or scholarships, so we are paying off ten???s of thousands of dollars in student loans.

Neither of us comes from rich families, so we have had to work hard to get what we have. I will apologize to no one for what we earn, anyone can do what we have done if they are willing to get educated as we did and to work hard like we did. Why should I be forced to give up what I have worked so hard for to someone that is not willing to do what I have done?

BM12210

Rich-wealthy is a relative term. What is considered rich to me or the next person will most always certainly be different. I will say that I dont think I am rich, though when I tell you about my earnings and expenditures some may think I am???again, being rich or thought of being rich is a relative term. I would starve and die if I made 250k a year, why? Well I will tell you why-- I make a $400k base and receive a $2.5 million dollar bonus annually on average. So before tax $2.9 million. After tax I see roughly $1.5 million, I am taxed 40% on my base and nearly 50% from my bonus, I also cash options but that is every two years and I roll it into my retirement fund. I do have tax shelter but since making a 7 figure salary I have yet to ever not send in more come April 15th.
There is an old adage ???if you make more you spend more??? and this is especially true for the ???Nouveau riche???. I would be considered ???Nouveau riche??? because I am first generation to make this amount of money within my family. I wear my success on my sleeve because I am proud, not to show off I can assure you. With making the salary I make comes a certain expectation both in business and society. I cant drive a junk to work, its just not professional, all the executives at the company I work for drive $150,000-200,000 cars, that is just the way it is. When you are an executive, there is a lot of perception that goes along with it, and you have to play the game or prepare to get flushed out.
My montly expenses ??? 25k mortgage, 6k property tax, 5k children private school, 10k child support, 25k in other expenses, between 60-80k per month. I also had 280k in college education to pay for (on my own) 200k for Harvard undergrad, 80 for standford graduate school. I work 10 to 12 hours a day, travel 2-3 days on average every week (overseas). I sometimes feel like a corporate puppet. On the flip side I don???t have to think about how much things cost, however I do often worry how long I will be able to keep up this pace (I???m 45) I worry that the lifestyle I am living and providing for my family will not sustain into my retirement???(I put away 15% of my pay) I would not complain about paying more because I make more, though I am taxed 40-50%. I donate regularly to all different charities. I guess the moral to what I am saying in my story is rich is all relative. If someone told me they make $250k a year I would be impressed, impressed for them. But to think about that money for me personally makes me cringe.

Don't worry everybody, when China calls in all the loans the Bush administration has taken out to fund the war and "stimulas checks", everyone will be taxed so much that none of us will have anything. Either that, or China will just "own" America after it repossesses our assets to cover our debt! Then all of you rich folks whining about a tax increase won't have to worry about those big salaries anymore, all of your money will go to the "state" or Chinese government. Try living on $ .35 a day like most Chinese people do. I wonder how much they pay in taxes?

The comments here show this huge gap between "rich" and "poor". The folks that are above the 250k mark don???t seem to realize that ONE MONTH of their salary would knock out both of my car loans, my student loans and pay my mortgage for several months. But that income is not "rich"... I sold cars to pay what I could of tuition in college. I saw that the highest incomes make the dumbest financial decisions. So many times a customer would come in and never had to answer for these decisions. When we would explain that the half million in outstanding debt needs to be repaid i a timely manner, everyone of them though we were nuts. They bought their exotic cars and paid 20% interest.

I understand living in certain areas, this income is not as rich as the next guy. I thought that was capitalism. I think welfare and handouts are bad but the basics don???t change. Living expenses make it impossible to have a respectable home, car and life with less than a 10$ an hour job. Remember those same expenses when you make MORE IN A MONTH THAN MANY DO IN A YEAR.

Maybe if we were taught in High school how to manage money, our citizens wouldn???t be so deep in debt. Personally, I don???t live beyond my means, have a nice home and drive a new(er) convertible. I make less than the average income. Cry me a river as you drive your $60,000 Escalade and can???t afford the gas because of the McMansion bills on your variable rate mortgage.

I have family in Europe and they save until they can buy a home. Maybe that???s the right way to do it. I hear nothing in the news of a European mortgage crisis. I don???t even hear of their financial system crashing with high gas prices. We are all spoiled to a degree. The $250k per year degree should be seen for what it is; Rich, clueless, powerful and so out of touch, they feel comfortable making public comments like this:



Posted By: WhenWillTheyLearn @ 08/28/2008 11:56:47

Comment: curtfk- why do you and your friends have children if you can't afford to keep the lights on or have to decide between gas and a meal for your family? you are right, there is an incredible disconnect between people making six figures and 'the rest of you', but not for the reasons YOU think.

Amazing isn???t it?