How much of my paycheck do I deserve to keep?
82In short, all of it.
If you watch and listen to politics like I do you have no doubt heard the latest "gotcha" question being asked of our politicians, both those running for office and those already in office. The question is simple on its face: "How much of MY paycheck do I DESERVE to KEEP?"
The short answer is easy, all of it. I AM the one who earned it am I not? Now Liberals won't care for that answer but even they, if they use common sense and critical thinking, will find that this answer is the absolute truth. After all, if I paint a painting and sell it for $25.00 do I not deserve the money from the sale? Of course I do, just as I DESERVE to keep all of the money I earn in a job.
But will you hear one politician utter these words? Not a chance.
The question is not about government it's about how much you have a right to keep that which you earn. Those answering it of course are pouring over the larger meaning; taxes.
The real question should be, "At what percentage taken should the American people get upset with the amount government gets?" Another great question that should be asked is, "Why should any American pay 1% point more in income taxes than any other?"
Think about this. The rich get hosed (then attacked for using the very loopholes placed in the tax code to gain money from the rich so politicians can get re-elected) for making more money because it is thought they will use more resources, more of the "commons". In fact the rich generally have newer cars with better suspensions systems that are far less damaging to the roads. The rich can afford and buy the highest efficiency air conditioning and heating units that save millions in energy costs to help support the grid. The rich provide opportunity for employment for those they hire; most of those hired are not part of the rich club. The rich also shop, and they shop like crazy. When was the last G7 personal jet purchased by a poor guy? When was the last Cadillac, Lincoln or new home purchased by a poor guy (at least since they actually went back to requiring good credit and adequate income to get a loan from a bank). So why exactly are the rich thought to need to pay one dollar more as a percentage of their income than the poor guy down the street (way down the street admittedly, but down the street none the less)?
You will notice that this question is being asked only by the middle class, not the rich and not the poor. The rich hate the tax conversation because American Liberals have programmed people to react to them as the bad guys if they say a word about the percentage in income taxes they pay compared to the rest of the nation (47% of all income taxes are paid by the top 5% of income earners and 97% of all income taxes are paid by the top 50% of income earners). And the poor know they don't pay a dime, but they also know from whence their Government checks come.
So how much of my paycheck do I deserve to keep? The best possible answer is this: "Not one percentage point more or less than any other American." That is the right answer, not some actual percentage number. That would be a suicide mission to try to answer. Poor people should be paying income taxes just like the rich and the middle class. Why? They have old beat up cars that cause damage to the roads because their suspensions are not maintained and they don't seem to care what the air pressure in their tires are from what I've seen. They live in old, run down homes and apartments with low efficiency A/C and heating units and I doubt the houses are anywhere near as well insulated as the newer, nicer homes. When they shop, they buy only low value items like groceries and cheap used cars that create no new wealth for the country. These create almost no taxes save minor sales taxes.
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky was asked this very question yesterday. Her answer was, "You don't deserve to keep all of it." Well if the man asking the question didn't deserve to keep all of his money in his paycheck...why do the poor deserve to keep all of what they earn and then, on top of that, take some of ours?
If we are really going to talk about people paying their "fair share" we have to start talking about just what that is going to mean. "From each according to his ability. To each according to his need?" or "an equal share of ones income applied to each and every American regardless of income level".
That, in the end, is the only way to fairly share the cost of running a country. All Americans must pay taxes and no one American should pay one percentage point more or less than any other.
But what would I know; I'm just an Average American.
Average American Politcs, the book by this writer.
 | Amazon Price: $12.31 List Price: $17.76 |
vote upvote downshareprintflag
- Useful (2)
- Funny (1)
- Awesome (2)
- Beautiful
- Interesting (2)
CommentsLoading...
In a world without morals? What is more moral than everyone pitching in? And my income level is not open to discussion as anything I have I have rightly earned through hard work. And the average American by your standard is one of being locked in his station for life. Most if not all of the average Americans I know have dreams they pursue in order to lift themselves and by doing so, those around them. They do not live in a HOPE and CHANGE world, they live in a 'Make it happen" world.
If you spend all of your paycheck, you expect somebody else to support you for some portion of your life. How many years do you plat to work? How will you pay for your needs during the years you don't work? How will you address the possibility that you may be unable to work as planned due to injury, health problems, or unemployment?
To answer these questions, consider the following analysis.
American life expectancy is over than 78 years. According to the USA Today, the average retiree left the workforce at 59. If the average worker started at 20, that suggests there are 39 productive years. I.e., people work about half their life. This suggests that at least half of every paycheck needs to be reserved to pay for time when one is/was not working.
This analysis gets more complex when we consider services we expect the government to provide, e.g., roads, water systems, airports, police protection, fire protection, military protection, etc. Obviously these must come out of the half of each paycheck the worker keeps.
We also must consider how we fund those who do not work outside the home for extended periods of their life, e.g., stay at home moms, the disabled, etc..
This suggests after savings, taxes, and insurance, the average worker should "keep" less than 50% of their income regardless of the political point of view. Anything more requires the worker to be supported by someone else for some portion of their life. Determining how majority of your income is divided between savings, taxes, and insurance is more difficult and depends on your political point of view and the role of government.
No, the analysis doesn't get more complex. It's simple. You will retire one day, prepare for it with the money you earn. Those who don't will serve as a valuable lesson to other that they need to do so. Sounds harsh to liberals, I know, but you rub your dog's face in crap when he messes on the floor. After a while they stop liking the taste of it.
Unfortunately those who don't save for retirement will do what it takes to survive.
This will increase the "trash" on the streets as those who did not save for retirement collect in our downtown areas where they can find food in garbage cans, get handouts at the back doors of restaurants, and use public restroom facilities. At night they will sleep in public parks, railway stations, and on sewer grates. Similarly, they will join the "old hippies" at remote camp sites in our national parks. The less ethical of these foolish folks will resort to crime to supplement their income and meager savings. The veterans among this group may march on Washington demanding more compensation for their services and camp out in the DC parks.
Obviously we can deploy the police and military to control these folks. These security forces will obviously expect to be paid so there will be some increase in policing and prison costs but even with such increased spending it is unlikely we will have the same quality of life.
This may all sound speculative until you consider that most of what I described happened during the 1930s in this country.
Fabulous, as usual. Thanks for the read!
Get rid of money all together.
Create a system that benifits everyone instead of the wealthy few.
By getting rid of money you get rid of the problem in this world.
Do away with prices ,taxes,monthly bills,rent.
We won't have to bicker over who makes more.
We won't have to worry about Debts that we can't pay,that we owe to others.
It takes people willing to do the jobs that needs to be done to make our lives better to provide our needs we all depend on.
Without the interferance of money and cost stopping us.
We don't need business owners ,rulers.
We need people organizing working together for our survival on this planet.
We need to stop bickering over who controls what.! and Share this planet amongst ourselves.
Cause it is all our responsiblity to help make this planet a better place for all of us to live in.
This planet belongs to everybody!
Its not to War and bicker over.
Its to be shared.
Jaymye, why didn't you just print the lyrics to "Imagine" - since what you described is the same imaginary, fairytale communism John Lennon so simplistically iterated? Such a society would only be possible if all people were honest, hard working, compassionate and moral. Since many humans have proven through the ages to have the antithesis of those admirable qualities, societies must be built with such degradation in mind.
The idea that there should not be leaders and followers would be great - except there are leaders and followers. There will always be the sheep who are most comfortable being shepherded and the shepards with natural inclinations to shepherd. That is simple human nature. And more to the point, within our human nature is the wolf - those who seek to prey on the sheep and are the nightmare of the shepherds. As long as human nature gives us sheep, shepherds and wolves, your "perfect universe" will never be possible.
Also, may I recommend you read a bit of history. There have been eras in the history of man where all worked their own piece of land, lived by the sweat of their brow at the whim of nature to live or die. Life was hard and egalitarian...but it was also very hard and life expectancy was very low. It was only when men congregated and created communities and able share the labor load of sheltering, clothing and feeding themselves that advances were made. It was then that those who had a special skill were freed by the community from his/her shared daily labors to focus on their skill and share it with the community. Those freed from community labors still had to eat, clothe and provide shelter for themselves and their family. That is why it became necessary for the community to find a way to pay those with special skills so they could continue to benefit society. Bartering economies sprang into being, but as a society expanded, carrying goods for every transaction became tedious. Thus was a monetary system of some kind or other was born. This cycle of events is evidenced through out history.
In other words, the only reason you have a computer in front of which you can sit and type such blather is due to the very system of society you find so distasteful.
Please Jaymye, keep in mind that wolves are amongst us and people who dream of pastures and butterflies and peaceful existence and try to pretend there is no wolf are the wolf's next meal.
Ooops! Just realized I addressed my post above to the wrong person. Sorry Jaymye! It was meant for coolrayfruge.
Carebear411,
I was about to throw myself in front of that sword when you had is aimed at Jayme, lol. Then I saw you moved it in the right direction.
I was surprised however when you said we have leaders and followers. What are the chances of getting a few of these leaders in Washington because it seems to be a bunch of followers moving in circle.
Thanks for the comments all...
I was frightened for one second there! Thanks, AA, You're my hero! LOL@carebear :-)
Average American
Some food for thought.
BEFORE THE ELECTIONS, Candidate Obama preached '' yes we can ''. The plan was to transfer the wealth of the nation ,not to the poor but to the unions and those who supported his campaign. GE, George Soros, AFL-CIO, Google, Apple, NBC, Wall street, other Media Groups, Al Gore and others who got appointment jobs and Stimulus funding.
A $26 million Stimulus grant to a California School District was to hire teachers. The money went into the teacher's union pension fund and no teachers were hire as intended. Waste and Corruption, who is looking out for the taxpayer?
This week the Super Committee met and held an OPEN door meeting. Some DEMOCRAT CONGRESSMAN want the Super Committee to go after $ 4 trillion in savings instead of the $ 1.5 that they were instructed to find. The recent elections of 3 republicans may have open their eyes to what the people want Congress to accomplish. Leader Boehner has put Congress on notice that the House will not approve taxing the American people.
Senator Coburn’s ‘’back in the black’’ the SOLUTION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tVJ2gqqKWs
Important coming events to watch.
Onm Thurs.,Sept 22, 2011 in Florida, the Republican Presidential debate sponsored by Fox News and Google. Fox is accepting video questions for the candidates
2011 fiscal year ends on Sept 30, 2011 , CBO estimates another $1.3 deficit
The Stimulus bill expires on Sept.30, 2011, President Obama’s administration is attempting to get 15 more green projects approved. The Solyndra Solar company executives will be questioned next week by a Congressional committee. http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investig
The Obama ‘’ American Jobs bill ‘’ is being discussed in Congress. No talk has been heard from the President and the Senate regarding submitting a 2012 budget.
Jon,
I would be very pleased and very surprised if Democrats truly moved to cut deeper. But remember, these cuts are not annual cuts, they are over 10 years. So 4 Trillion over 10 years is still not near enough of a cut. That's 500billion a year on a 1.5 trillion yearly deficit.
What I would truly like to see is a day one stop to deficit spending. All departments taking equal percentage of cuts on January 1st 2012. After 6 months I would then like a 10% operational budget cut with every dime diverted to debt reduction.
It's what any family would have to do. We do away with the extravagances in life and we learn to live on less and still manage to work down our debts. That is what America needs now, common sense. I will check out both the links further, thanks. I was aware of Solyndra months ago. I have a "friend" who works one of their suppliers who told me they were going to fold. And I've heard bits of Coburn's plan. I wasn't aware he put out a video. Thanks again.
Mr. Happy Level 7 Commenter 8 months ago
"In fact the rich generally have newer cars with better suspensions systems that are far less damaging to the roads. The rich can afford and buy the highest efficiency air conditioning and heating units that save millions in energy costs to help support the grid." - Where does the money of those who you call rich come from? Can they achieve all their wealth living by themselves in a forest? You have to follow the money-trail. The money of the wealthy, comes from the pockets of the lower and middle-class, or lobbyists at times (lol).
"So why exactly are the rich thought to need to pay one dollar more as a percentage of their income than the poor guy down the street." - Because it is the right thing to do. Because our societies should be guided by compassion, reason and logic.
If your neighbor is starving while you're roasting lambs in your back-yard, I am sure you would either start sharing or discontent will arise.
There are a limited number of what you would call resources. One person cannot buy-up all the lakes and expect the rest of the world to die of thirst ... let's be realistic. We have to share what this planet has to offer. We are all the same.
"The rich also shop, and they shop like crazy." - This is nothing to be proud of. Depleting this planet's resources on material non-sense is detrimental to the well-being of Mother Earth and our existence as well.
"why do the poor deserve to keep all of what they earn and then, on top of that, take some of ours?" - By this statement, you imply that you are on the "wealthy" side of the road because you wrote that the poor are taking from you (the rich). Yet, your avatar name is AverageAmerican.
Let's continue with the AverageAmerican topic. An average American makes roughly 40k a year (http://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/AWI.html). At that number, one does not get taxed any considerable number. So, there is nothing much being taken from the average American to be given to the poor.
Please do not say you are an average American if your income is above 40k.
"All Americans must pay taxes and no one American should pay one percentage point more or less than any other." - In a world without morals, I would agree.