Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

And yet you won’t voluntarily pay more taxes to help - you’re just virtue signaling.

I don't generally agree with @OrangeAfroMan but I'm going to defend him on this.  

Conservatives love this argument.  My dad used to make it.  He'd say that "If Ted Kennedy wants higher taxes, he can pay more anytime."  

The logic here is EXACTLY the same as an argument you'll hear sometimes from liberals that conservatives shouldn't accept governmental benefits from programs that they oppose.  

The logic to the two arguments is EXACTLY the same and both arguments are wrong and here is why:

Fundamentally nobody actually WANTS higher taxes nor lower services.  At least in theory:

• Liberals want more services and are willing to accept the higher taxes.  
• Conservatives want lower taxes and are willing to accept lower spending.  

A liberal just freely contributing more to the government or a conservative choosing to decline services is getting the bad without the good.  


For a simpler, less politicized example:
Suppose that we on this board are a HoA.  Now suppose that @OrangeAfroMan proposes that the HoA should provide lawncare for everyone in the development.  He has it all figured out and it will cost a mere $50/month.  He explains that this is MUCH cheaper than any of us could buy the service as individuals so we should do it.  Now suppose that I oppose the proposal either because I'm cheap or because I like doing the lawn myself.  

If the proposal fails it would be ludicrous to say that OAM should pay the extra $50/month anyway because he ISN"T getting the service he wanted, he shouldn't have to pay for it.  

If the proposal succeeds it would be ludicrous to say that @medinabuckeye1 should decline the lawncare because I AM paying for it so I should get the service.  

Why??

The why is because they PAY a lot more so any cut is always going to be bigger for them.  

Since this is based on households, I'll use the Married Filing Jointly deduction and tables.  For simplicity I'll use Standard Deduction which is currently $30k for MFJ.  

So the household with $35k only has $5k in taxable because the Standard Deduction takes out 86% of their income.  Their tax is then 10% or $500.  

The household with $217,000 has $187,000 after the Standard Deduction.  That is taxed at:

• 10% up to $23,850 or $2,385
• 12% on $23,850-96,950 or $8,772 cumulatively $11,157
• 22% on the rest of their income or $19,811 cumulatively $30,968

It is hard to cut taxes on families at $35k because they aren't paying much in Federal Income Tax.  A household making $217k has 6.2x the earnings of a household making $35k and they pay 61.9x as much in Federal Income Tax.  

A household making $217k has 6.2x the earnings of a household making $35k and they pay 61.9x as much in Federal Income Tax. 

they're not paying their fair share!!!!

Did you just tag yourself?

Yes @MikeDeTiger , @medinabuckeye1 tagged himself.

One idea that rattled around briefly was an additional marginal tax rate on very high incomes, say 40% on income above a million.  I thought that was a good idea politically, even though it wouldn't raise all that much additional revenue.

Then Republicans could claim they were indeed taxing the "rich".

Current for MFJ:
Married Filing Jointly: 
10%: $0 to $23,850
12%: $23,851 to $96,950
22%: $96,951 to $206,700
24%: $206,701 to $394,600
32%: $394,601 to $501,050
35%: $501,051 to $751,600
37%: $751,601 or more 

Current for MFJ:
Married Filing Jointly:
10%: $0 to $23,850
12%: $23,851 to $96,950
22%: $96,951 to $206,700
24%: $206,701 to $394,600
32%: $394,601 to $501,050
35%: $501,051 to $751,600
37%: $751,601 or more

what percentage of households are paying 37%?