A War on the Rich?

The ignorance in the statement "Sorry, we just gave the rich $750 billion dollars. Now they can pay it back." is unbelievable. Plenty of my connections at www.affluence.org are being hit hardest, and not being helped at all by what Obama is doing.

common_sense, so do you propose the rich not pay any taxes whatsoever because of their"ingenuity" in having amassed that wealth? Your comment seems to imply something along those lines.

The truth is that the top 10% of income earners already pay nearly 70% of all income taxes and the bottom 40% PAY no income taxes. Obama's "95% will get a tax cut" is simply giving a welfare check to many "taxpayers" that pay no taxes, thereby getting closer to his goal of getting 51% of people dependent on government and a forever built-in democratic constituency.

Furthermore, the write conveniently does not discuss payroll taxes increases which will is effect a 15% increase in taxes on the self-employed because Obama wants to increase to cap from $96K a year to ???. Overall this is a very dishonest and disingenuous liberal puffpiece.

Your analysis is so flawed, I almost don't know where to start. First, you completely miss the fact that 50% of the Obama tax increases on "rich" people really come from pass-through illiquid small business paper profits that have to be kept in the companies to build working capital, to finance inventory, to allow investment and expansion, and to build health in a terrible economy. You completely miss how S-corporations, LLCs, partnerships and proprietorships are taxed as pass-through entities on their owners personal taxes. The point isn't how large an income a business owner makes, the real discussion is about return on investment - and Obama will make small business returns around 4%. I can almost get a CD for that rate - so why expose myself to all that risk and stress?

Second, you fail to point out that under the Obama "plan" my business would pay not 39.6%, but rather 58.15% of its profits as tax - 39.6% federal, 7% uncapped FICA, 2% due to deduction caps, 5.75% as VA state tax, and 3.4% as local tax.

Third, your analysis of prosperity under Clinton is naive. The economy was undergoing turbocharged growth due to the emergence of the Internet, globalization and other information technologies that had nothing to do with tax policies - Clinton was just the guy holding the tiller. Besides, LLCs (the most prevalent type of small business entity) weren't even allowed by the IRS until 1998. The 1990's data is largely irrelevant.

Fourth, even the current Bush tax rates on small businesses are THE HIGHEST ON THE PLANET. Now Obama proposes we tax small businesses at 50% higher rates than communist China, at double the rates of openly socialist Portugal. The sad thing is that experienced and successful communists and socialists (who provide free health care, and who are committed to government forced redistribution of wealth) tried Obama's business taxation policies and found they don't work - they kill jobs, kill productivity, kill international competitiveness. What's really alarming is that even if we call Obama "socialist", he is an incompetent one.

Lastly, if you'd simply let me keep $1 of profits in my company to reinvest, I can prove that this leads to $20 in spending including $10 in payroll via good jobs that are created. So go ahead, take $1 in taxes, that's all you'll get. Or leave me alone, let me grow my company and create good paying jobs in a clean industry with great benefits, and you'll get an impact literally 20x as large. This is a lesson that communists and socialists overseas have learned long ago - why can't you?

President Obama may be saving America from the desastrous and inevitable consequences of what has been happening in this country in the past few decades: the growing wealth gap between the rich and the poor. History teaches us that no society can survive long if a few people keep getting richer and richer while others are getting poorer and poorer.

This unhealthy state of affairs was the root cause of most revolutions -- from the French to the Bolshevtch to the Cuban revolution. To think that this would never happen in the US is both naive and dangerous.

May God bless Obama.

I also find it hard to believe that any American making $300,000 after taxes would complain about paying an additional $4.10 per day in taxes. Instead I would think that we would all be willing to make that relative sacrifice to see people no longer living in tent cities, standing in line in soup kitchens, etc. Afterall, it was only some years ago that all men were asked to defend our country by showing up to be drafted and serve in our Armed Forces. Is it too much of a sacrifice now to ask each one of us who can afford it to pay a little more in taxes for those who cannot. Will the "me only" society we are becoming never end?

I find it hard to believe that a competant and dedicated dentist would actually work less just to avoid a marginal tax increase. I am a medical professional, and while I enjoy a good income, I would work the same number of hours and be just as productive with a higher tax on my earnings and a lower salary.. I entered medical school with lofty ideals and a unwavering work ethic, which has not diminished with age or with the enormous changes the health care delivery system has seen. If a colleague decided to cut their work hours "just" to keep their tac rate lower, he or she would lose my respect.

I'd like to see President Obama's education plan make medical school more affordable and attractive -- make it reaaly low cost and offer incentives to order to increase the number of doctors, dentists, nurses, and other health care givers per capita and reduce the cost of health care.

I think it's ridiculous that one dentist is making $320,000.00 a year. How many people can one dentist serve in a population of 305 million. I think it's a disgrace for someone to complain about paying a few more taxes when people are suffering from lack of health care.

I think there should be incentives to recruit more people into the medical and dental field. If the demand per doctor/dentist went down, cost would go down.

Obsurd, ludicrous, bizzare, insane, stupid are only a few adjectives to descibe the question "A war on the rich?" The rich have waged a war on the common man, the working class to the point that the middle class is almost extinguished -- after working their entire lifes to make the rich -- richer. Who's bailing out who? Last time I heard the CEO's (making the millions/billions) still had their loot. Obama is trying to rebuild a system that has been led into ruin by the robber barons [the rich] who have profitted at the benefit of taking the county to ruin, by greed. A war on the Rich? Was it okay for Haliburten to profit from a bogus war? The only weapons of mass destruction were the ones used here at home on U.S. citizens. A war on the Rich? Are you led to ask because during the Bush years (yes older and old Bush - Sr. & Jr.) they not only allowed, but aided the wealthiest to amass even greater weath at the expense of bringing the economny to its knees by aiding, subsudizing, strategizing and parternering with any means and consortiium that, could and would, facilitate thier greed, line their pockets and accounts, both local and overseas accounts. of those who conspired with them. A war on the rich? I think not. Obama has been cast into a world situation that is on the brink of ruin. How silly can this question be?

People who have TAXABLE income over $250k should zip it! Give me a break. You guys are crying over a 3% increase that was set to sunset anyway? Sheesh, what a bunch of whiny sissies.

Pay close attention... The problem isn't what the tax rates may or may not be. The problem is in the perceived inequity of it all. All socio-economic groups believe that the "other guy" is not paying his fair share or that they are being targeted to pay more than is warranted. Just the necessity of going through any type of mathematical explanation makes the system too complicated. If anyone truly cares about ending this debate for once and for all then we need a system that is so simple that there is no need to ever hire a tax preparer. That would be the litmus test. At that point, everyone would know exactly where everyone else stands and there would be little need for any type of finger pointing. I would suggest a broad classfication of all types of income (ie no differences for capital gains, passive vs non-passive, etc.), one standard type of retirement account for EVERYONE (no more SEP's, IRA's, 401-K's, 403-B's, Roth IRA's/401K's, legacy pensions and so many. many others) and a very simple progressive (rates go up progressively as income goes up) graduated tax scale. Probably will never happen in my lifetime, but it would make a lot of sense. Don't get me started on CEO income and using stocks as currency for acquisitions & bonuses.

Well done.

This idiot Daniel Gross headlines his article saying claims about tax increases on the wealthy are bogus, then goes on to describe the tax increases Obama wants. Leave it to a socialist like Daniel Gross to try and make higher taxes more palatable by breaking it down to smaller parts. "You're only being taxed another $1 a second, you should be happy!"

During Franklin Roosevelt's presidency, he was also accused of anticapitalism and attacking the financial interests of the rich with heavy taxation and regulation. Well, the sky did not fall, capitalism survived, and there are still people in the USA who strike it rich, then live in mansions & travel in fancy chaufferrred cars. And it will CONTINUE to be that way. (And that's good; I LIKE living in a country of entreprenurial opportunity where people can achieve that.) Nevertheless, there will ALWAYS be some who sound false alarms about the imminent death of capitalism.