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Old 02-17-2004, 10:59 AM   #31 (permalink)
filtherton
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Location: In the land of ice and snow.
Quote:
Originally posted by Dostoevsky

That erroneous thinking is what I'm trying to address here. The rich don't owe an extra debt to society just because they can afford to pay it. Someone in their family earned it and it's theirs, not yours, not mine, theirs. That fundamental difference in philosophy is what separates us.
How is my thinking erroneous? The wealthy have benefitted the most from the protections afforded them by the american goverment in our capitalist economy. The top 5% hold more than 60% of all household wealth. I don't care if they earned it or not. If you are in the top 5% and you're crying about taxes than you really need to readjust your priorities.
Despite what you may think, taxation is not tantamount to thievery.


Quote:
Originally posted by llama8
It is the saying "the punishment should fit the crime". So what do we do if a rich guy assaults someone? Stick him in prison with a sentence proportional to his earnings? I think everyone should recieve the same punishment relating to the seriousness of the crime and not the wallet.

As seeing he's a successful business man why don't they make him do some sort of "community service" I'm pretty sure a days work from him is more valuable to him then the hard stuff. The local community also get something back instead of the fine going through all the legal stages and in the end will cost the taxpayers more then what is recovered.

Slippery slopage. BFollowing your example, poor people would never spend any more than a day in prison. That doesn't seem to be happening over there in finland. I fail to see how your analogy even applies. Don't forget, we're just talking about fines here, not jailtime or community service.
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