I think the intent is more about the irony of those who pay nothing criticizing those who pay the majority. I agree that we need major tax reform though.
I hope to be done here. I don't want to get caught up in tit-for-tat. Don't have time for it. I've answered these because I don't want to be accused of dodging any criticism-- even those slathered with venom. Hope to be done!
Why would a Canadian refer to "our tax code" when talking about America? Do you realize you are amongst the most gullible people on the planet? This didn't even take any research to see that someone was lying to you. Of course they are lies. Most of these things are not "only in America". You don't think rich people talk about income inequality in Europe? You don't think there is a huge concern about backlash against innocent citizens in other places after a terrorist attack (and why is this a bad thing)? You seem to be back to you "I read something and regurgitate it without any thinking" mode.
There have been several who have labeled them such, but chain emails that idiots believe don't need to be fact checked, the people who spread them need to be laughed at and derided until they can learn to fact check for themselves.
Because you have to have that measure in some type of context, which is the reason that poster provided a ratio of tax revenue to GDP. This is common in the business world, a company's raw sales numbers don't mean anything without context, they can't be compared to another company unless you can magically find one that is nearly identical, so you use ratios. Profit margins, ROI, ROE, and the myriad of other ratios are what allow you to do cross-company comparisons. If you want to measure two countries' tax receipts, you have to normalize them for the size of the economy, so you set it as a percentage of GDP, and as seen in the provided graphic, we're not even close to the top of that list, in contrast to the point the chain email tried to make, unsuccessfully.
The intent is to leave out the VAST majority of taxes, the ones that are paid by all people in America, even illegal immigrants. They want to leave out those taxes because it would invalidate their ability to say that some major percentage of tax revenue is generated by the wealthy. The federal income tax is one of the few that is nominally progressive, to make up for the fact that almost every other tax levied in this country is at least somewhat regressive. This chain email cherry picks data points in order to lie to people so that they believe there are some people in America who don't pay taxes at all. And you're spreading those lies, nice to be you.
Your OP specifically asked for this garbage to be fact checked, but you don't have time to actually discuss it. Color me unsurprised. Go ahead, dump garbage on the D&D and then run away when your OP turns out to be a fetid dung heap. Have you developed any clue as to why many here don't take you seriously?
Also, in case you weren't sure this is chain email: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=545951288751505&id=473608799319088 In fact, according to that guy there was an 11th point in the list which does not exist in giddyup's list:
It isn't like you are speaking whole truths either. Many on the low/no income end are paying taxes with money that was given to them in the first place. Many of these same people are complaining that they are not getting enough form the system and the reason for that is the people who are paying into and contributing to the system are not paying enough. I don't see how someone who contributes nothing to a system should have any complaints about the size of their handout. If you contribute nothing to the system, the fact that you "pay" taxes is laughable. I know people that haven't paid a dime in income tax that are getting thousands in tax returns from a government that is spending more than it takes in, by a lot. This can not continue. The government can not continue paying more and more American citizens not to work. Any party that runs on the promise of social benefits is buying votes with borrowed money. It is the means to the end for any Democratic government. When the public starts voting themselves gifts from the government coffers, democracy has failed. Just and FYI, the majority of taxes are paid by the wealthy. That is the truth and it is indisputable. Like giddyup said, we are in need of major tax reform.
"Our tax code," I thought this was written by a Canadian? Sounds like a FALSE FLAG OPERATION. Plus, Republicans controlled almost the entire government for most of the previous 8 years, yet somehow the entire US Tax Code was somehow rewritten by these 2 guys in just 6 years? Nobody claims the government discriminates, it's people who do. People who own and run businesses and banks. Bill Clinton actually balanced the budget and nobody called him an extremist, but the guy who actually wrote this list probably was all for impeaching him, that's pretty extreme. Neither of these actions are constitutionally guaranteed rights, but voting is.
Yes, I am. Payroll taxes come out of their paychecks every month, are you calling the dollars they earned "money that was given to them in the first place"? Payroll taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, and various user fees add up to contributing "nothing" in your mind? You're delusional. Really? They don't have a single dime withheld from their checks? Something tells me you are talking out of your a$$. Yet another tired, inaccurate statement, I shouldn't be surprised. Even people on welfare, as a rule, are required to work. That was the crux of the 1996 welfare reform passed by Clinton. You believe a lot of things that aren't true, you should stop trusting the liars to form your opinions for you. You mean like the GOP buying votes with corporate welfare, tax cuts for wealthy people, and military spending? You certainly look hypocritical when you actually apply your attacks to the party you support. Yes, when we allowed the rich to vote themselves massive tax cuts, our republic started sliding downhill. Since Reagan decided to do so, our debt has mounted, dramatically faster after Bush cut them even further. Your outrage is misplaced, instead of railing against the poor, you should be attacking the people who get preferential 15% tax rates while working Americans pay a larger percentage of their income on taxes. If you look at absolute numbers, yes. However, if you look at the percentage of their income which goes to taxes, your attempt at a point falls flat. Agreed, but you seem to think it needs to change in the opposite direction than reality would indicate is the correct one.
I've been paying payroll taxes since I was 14 years old so don't tell me I don't know what they look like. If you receive back more than you pay in then you didn't pay anything. You got a handout. It ain't rocket science. My teenage daughter got a government handout this year. Was she happy? Yes. Did she come to me and ask me how it makes since that the government can be in debt but giving money to her? Yes. No, I do not believe that the current tax system in the US can be fixed by changing rates for one group or another. We actually need a reformed system that is simple and without loopholes. I would prefer a consumption based system. I refuse to listen to anyone who is comfortable taking somebody else's money, especially to benefit themselves. Seems like a conflict of interest to me at best, and legalized theft at worst.
Lol, look at the liberal circlejerk racing in here to attack the OP when they can't refute the substance of his message.
because Revenue/GDP is a ratio, and a stat like that just shows that GDP is high in America, not that they are the most taxed---in fact, they are one of the least taxed in the OCED.
What Canadians actually talk about--- 10) How only one Wall Street executive went to prison for 2008, despite the fact that America's incarceration rate is the highest one recorded in the world. Hundreds of executives went to jail after the S&L crisis, by contrast. 9) How the war on drugs has been an utter policy failure. 8) How we have about 15.2 abortions per 1000 women, despite or maybe because we have strong pro-choice policies, and discussion. This is in contrast to pre Roe v. Wade America at 16.3. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that about 80% of Canadian women use some form of contraception, compared to 64% of American women. 7) How we pay much less for healthcare, and get better results. 6) How we have a murder rate that's less than half of America's, despite having less police officers, and less guns per capita. 5) How Americans eat huggggggge portions. 4) How American kids invade Montreal and get piss-drunk because they can't handle their alcohol suavely. it's cute. 3) How to beat the LA Kings. 2) How we have better economic mobility than the American Dream---in fact how many countries have better economic mobility than America. 1) who the hell would drink Budweiser.
