The National debt

[Mark Davis 446]

11 hours ago, MDC said:

I didn’t say they pay less. I said in many instances they pay a lower rate than the working class.

For example, when  he ran for POTUS, Romney’s effective tax rate was around 15%. Seems unfair to me that his income is charged at a lower rate than most working class people because it comes from capital gains and investments. FICA taxes are also incredibly regressive.

 

On extreme cases like Romney, Buffett, that ilk I agree.  The issue is when politicians discuss tax increases, and because they are increases they are mostly D's, they talk about the incremental rates.  You and I both know why, the donors and the politicians themselves want to act like they are addressing the issue via the tax brackets while not truly addressing why those people are paying a 15% for instance.  If Mitt Romney's effective rate is truly 15%, it's not because the top tax rate is 37% and needs to be higher.  Changing the brackets does nothing, and people across the entire political spectrum need to realize it, whether you are for more taxes or less taxes.

Social Security taxes are capped because benefits are capped.  Most high end earners won't recover their money anyway, but it seems to me unfair to tax those folks even more for no more benefits.  This goes back to the whole earned income and tax bracket question.  The reason removing the SS cap is so popular amongst the D politicians are that this has no impact on the ultra high net worth individuals.  Those folks aren't making much subject to SS earnings, the people making large salaries subject to the SS tax are already paying the highest rates across the board on that income.

[Hardcore troubadour 16,290]

Aren’t capital gains only taxed on the gains? 

[MDC 8,310]

27 minutes ago, Mark Davis said:

On extreme cases like Romney, Buffett, that ilk I agree.  The issue is when politicians discuss tax increases, and because they are increases they are mostly D's, they talk about the incremental rates.  You and I both know why, the donors and the politicians themselves want to act like they are addressing the issue via the tax brackets while not truly addressing why those people are paying a 15% for instance.  If Mitt Romney's effective rate is truly 15%, it's not because the top tax rate is 37% and needs to be higher.  Changing the brackets does nothing, and people across the entire political spectrum need to realize it, whether you are for more taxes or less taxes.

Social Security taxes are capped because benefits are capped.  Most high end earners won't recover their money anyway, but it seems to me unfair to tax those folks even more for no more benefits.  This goes back to the whole earned income and tax bracket question.  The reason removing the SS cap is so popular amongst the D politicians are that this has no impact on the ultra high net worth individuals.  Those folks aren't making much subject to SS earnings, the people making large salaries subject to the SS tax are already paying the highest rates across the board on that income.

We’re in total agreement on your first paragraph. I’d be fine on a flat Tac across the board if it meant closing all the loopholes that allow Romney and Buffet types to pay a much lower rate than me. I’m right in that sweet spot where I make enough $ that I’m focked by taxes but not enough to hide my income.

[RaiderHaters Revenge 4,611]

10 minutes ago, MDC said:

We’re in total agreement on your first paragraph. I’d be fine on a flat Tac across the board if it meant closing all the loopholes that allow Romney and Buffet types to pay a much lower rate than me. I’m right in that sweet spot where I make enough $ that I’m focked by taxes but not enough to hide my income.

You can hide your income. It’s not that hard 

[easilyscan 1,135]

1 hour ago, Hardcore troubadour said:

Aren’t capital gains only taxed on the gains? 

That might be a sarcastic question, but since I don't know for sure, I'll answer.

Yes.

If you bought 100 shares of XYZ Corp. @ $100 on the first trading day of 2026 in a taxable account, & sold them for $150 on the first trading day of 2027, your net would be 15 K, but only the 5K would have capital gains tax applied.

Since you only held it 12 months, you'd have to pay short term capital gains on the 5K.. What that rate would be depends on your total taxable income and filing status.

If you waited until you'd held that investment at least 18 months, you'd pay a lower long-term capital gain rate.

 

[Hardcore troubadour 16,290]

1 minute ago, easilyscan said:

Yes.

If you bought 100 shares of XYZ Corp. @ $100 on the first trading day of 2026 in a taxable account, & sold them for $150 on the first trading day of 2027, your net would be 15 K, but only the 5K would have capital gains tax applied.

Since you only held it 12 months, you'd have to pay short term capital gains on the 5K.. What that rate would be depends on your total taxable income and filing status.

If you wanted to wait until you'd held that investment at least 18 months, you'd pay a lower long-term capital gain rate.

 

So the claim that it’s taxed twice is untrue then.  

[easilyscan 1,135]

31 minutes ago, Hardcore troubadour said:

So the claim that it’s taxed twice is untrue then.  

Now that you mention it, I'm not sure ?  

I guess the question would be......... Is what you have left after the government applies taxes to your check, considered non-taxed money ?

If I sell those shares for $150, the net would be 15 K. if I decide to put it in a money market account that earns dividends, those dividends are taxed as ordinary income at your standard federal income tax rate. 

I've had a taxable brokerage account at Fidelity since 1998. Whenever I had extra money from my checks, I'd wire it to Fidelity and invest it.

Another example would be State taxes. Back then I was contributing a substantial amount to both my 401(k) and the employee stock purchase program they offered.

Hypothetically, let's just say in addition to that, I had an extra $500 per month. I transfer 250 of that to Fidelity spend the other 250 locally. Depending on what you buy, state sales taxes can be pretty high in Minnesota. Liquor is over 10%, prepared food with all the local add-ons, is taxed at 8.40%, gasoline has a state and federal tax, pretty sure the standard sales tax is 6.75%, property taxes, extra fees as they like to call them, attached to my city water and sewer bill to pay for the LED lights they had to have installed throughout the city, that never went away, franchise fees the city charges to any business like charter spectrum, which they pass along to the customers, etc.

Let's just say both the state and federal government have a steady tax stream.