What Are Rich People Thinking?

In reply to nickgr - I've not investigated incorporating my business in another county and perhaps there is a CPA reading that can verify, but I believe that as a Sub S Corp, where the income all flows into a personal tax return, a foreign incorporation may not be work to escape tax the way it can for a C Corp. nickgr is correct that the total tax paid on the corporate income is much higher than the IRS income tax - 50% may be close to accurate. Bottom line is that I'm liberal enough to think that such tax avoidance is un-American as long as I enjoy the benefits of a prosperous and free nation. Whether wrong in the minds of some, I do believe that as a good citizen I am inclined to share the thinking of olderwiser and babs98019

Where's your comment ...?

Sarah Palin was vehemently attacked by the media who went on a feeding frenzy to get her because the media is ultra democratic and wanted a democratic president and feared a woman might sway things for Mc Cain. If they would have dug into Obama's background and had been as viscious to him as Palin Clinton would have bee the nominee and if after the nomination McCain would have been president\. Palin has done a great job in Alaska and wascleared of any wrongdoing by an independent panel but by then the damage was done. And by the way throwing more tax dollars at already failing schools does not improve education I know that first hand.

I like another question on this subject. "What are thinking people thinking?" That covers rich and poor. There is a possibility that the recent vote reflects a dawning in the minds of both poor and rich that things needed fixing in our country and that they weren't going to get fixed while riding the same horse we had been riding in recent years. A fine steed named "Change" trotted up. We hopped on Change and he is racing like lightning away from the precipice that our tired old nag almost fell in, rider and all, before we caught on. That's what votes are all about.

Maybe it has to do with having values compatible with good schools, health care, and the far-sighted belief that a thriving economy works for everyone, including the wealthy. Or maybe it was Sarah Palin.

The 55% capital gains tax can be disasterous for some particularly if they inherit a business from a parent or relative. Aman I knw inherited his father's business while Clinton was president and had to borrow 7 million dolllars
too pay the tax. Although the business was successful his father made only a six figure income from his ownership. When business turned sour he couldn't meet his loan obligations and lst not on the budiness but pretty much everything he had and all the employees lost their jobs. Since his father had already paid taxes on the business and owed nothing on it why should a son have to pay capital gains tax. This is a damniing illustration of what is wrong with capital gains taxes. It is just a govt. money grab when someone dies - it is double taxation too since tax was already paid on the money in the first place. Eliminate the death tax altogether it is the right thing to do..

If the "good citizen " is a real person,can he tell us if he is able &/or willing to incorporate in Bahamas to legally avoid overtaxation ?

Can he inform us on total taxation for his 1m income...?

It must be close to 50%...

I don't

Of course, you are richer than God, so why should you care. Send me a million dollars, okay?

I have been fortunate to be successful in business and my tax returns show income over $1MM/year, so I do pay a lot of taxes. I agree with Jack 8590, that the US has been redistributing wealth for decades and doubt that after some thought and discussion that very many would disagree that this is the right way and perhaps the only way for a democracy. I have been paying 33% of my taxible income as tax and contrary to the comments of Jack 8590, tax shelters are illegal and there are now very few ways to significantly reduce my taxible income. For higher income people the following are not tax deductable: Home interest, real estate tax, charitable contributions and rental real estate losses. I cannot even use Sch A to itemize deductions and must take only the standard deduction. In any case, I voted for Obama, knowing my taxes will be higher, but I also voted my conscious and Obama is more likely to lead us to be stronger better nation. The choice between being bought with a promise of lower taxes or choosing the better leader is really an easy choice for any good citizen to make.

As someone who falls into this 'rich' for Obama category, I can tell you I feel taxed every single day I contemplate failing public schools, a broken health care system, a sick planet, a teetering economy, and a loss of American idealism and honor. When it comes to these tax increases what we're really talking about is rolling back (or letting expire) the grossly irresponsible Bush tax cuts that came at a time when our nation is at war. I hear my Republican friends talk about how irresponsible it is to raise taxes during an economic crisis. Nonsense. Democrats are only fixing the fiscal irresponsibility of the party that has thrashed the country for almost thirty of the last forty years.

Perhaps many of the top 5% of would not enjoy living in a country where the other 95% live in poverty. I suppose we could hire body guards to escort our kids and balckwater to patrol our gated communities.

Did you consider that many of the top 5% might not enjoy living in a country where the other 95% live in poverty?
I suppose we could hire body guards to escort our kids around and blackwater patrol our gated communities..

The inheritance taxes and the income taxes were structured to redistribute wealth and to reduce Robber Baron power.

It is easy, of course, to vilify the "rich" because there are relatively few of them. It is basically an emotional pandering argument; even if you confiscated all the "rich" folks' wealth, it wouldn't make a dent in the debt. Interesting question: is "your" dollar worth more or less than "my" dollar?

The so-called tax breaks are simply alternative mechanisms to fund programs indirectly that the Government doesn't fund directly. Is the world better off with that money going to charities or to the Fed? Dunno.

The danger is that (as we saw with the boating industry) the rich are mobile. Taxing expensive boats destroyed the boating industry overnight because buyers simply bought elsewhere. Tax the truly wealthy too much and they'll simply move to France or Cayman Islands, etc.

None of this addresses the issue of 30+% of the population who simply don't pay their taxes at all. I meet lots of folks who openly brag about not paying taxes because they're in cash businesses. All of which is why some folks suggest a flat tax combined with a federal sales tax. 300 million folks paying 10% is a lot more money than hanging Gates and Buffet in effigy.

Of course, not spending more than you take in might help a tad as well. What happened to the balanced budget laws?

The behavior of the rich is not unusual if one views it historically. Since the rich are overwhelmingly in the minority, they are subject to the whims of lesser mortals. Anyone who believes that the lower classes will not respond violently to overwhelming unfairness need only examine the French and Russian revolutions. I'm sure many of French nobles who walked up the scaffold to the guillotine and Russian nobles who faced firing squads wished they have been economically fairer to those beneath them. Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt understood the danger of gross economic injustice and that's a reason why they 'betrayed' their class. I would argue that wealthy individuals who voted Democratic are merely considering their long term survival and what they did represents an intelligent choice!

From rich people's comments it is clear that taxation is actually a subjective matter...

A matter of perception

If u don't mind,it doesn't matter...

If there is any viewer out there who is really rich,500k,1mil,steady,we like to hear his comment...