Quote:
Originally Posted by grolsch
An additional distinction I'd like to make is the difference between those rich who engage in "value-added" activities,
like the gentlemen in the article who employs others, provides a material service, and speculators.
I think a lot of the dislike of the rich occurs when speculation gets out hand, the market overheats and melts
down (like now), and everyone suffers.
No, I'm not suggesting we eliminate the markets as they exist now. It's just that implicitly I, for one, do not
respect Wall Street millionaires. I do respect those who build brick and mortar businesses.
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I have no problem if a person works hard or invents some new product and makes a lot of money. And, I think their taxes should be low. But if the son of the HVAC guy comes in and does nothing but get an MBA and manage employees from the golf course, I would think he should take a pay cut.
The problem comes when you try to tax companies. If you try and raise their taxes, they all will just raise their prices or lay off employees. That is why I support a higher tax rate on the people making above $250,000 and aren't inventors or founders. Usually in that case, they haven't setup a big company selling a needed product and are just picking salary numbers out of the air.
Now, if they started or founded the company, I have no problems (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates,...) with them having low taxes, but if they are descendants or hired replacements, I say tax them at 80% (Wal-Mart, GE, Kodak, Financial companies)
As for the poor getting hand-outs, there are some that would be ok (emergency health care), charitable donations, public works,... But others I'm not a fan of.
And I find it odd that this administration is going to leave us with a socialized banking industry. I can just imagine what the right-wing media would be saying if Gore or Kerry were the President right now.