Republican/Conservative Corner

The 2007 Tax Rates Schedule^[2] for married filing jointly is:

Over	But not over		of the amount over
$0	$15,650	10%	$0
$15,650	$63,700	$1,565+15%	$15,650
$63,700	$128,500	$8,772.50+25%	$63,700
$128,500	$195,850	$24,972.50+28%	$128,500
$195,850	$349,700	$43,830.50+33%	$195,850
$349,700	------------	$94,601+35%	$349,700

hmmm.... according to this my wife and i get charged the same percentage as a married couple making twice what we make. talk about getting killed by taxes! 

cyclefiend2000

hmmm.... according to this my wife and i get charged the same percentage as a married couple making twice what we make. talk about getting killed by taxes! 

In my politics class back in college I remember talking about that... they said the original idea behind it was those that make more will have more children... BUT... also did you know people like my Dad & Uncle can't "write off" their children???

My theory is if you make around $150,000... you'll be all right. Not extremely taxed, can still write off your morgage & children, AMT isn't that high yet... yeah $150 is my life goal...

I just don't think its fair that I have to be scared to make under 90K and nervious to make over 175K.... that's just bizzare...

 well we have no kids and arent going to have any kids... so that doesnt really factor into our equation.

Pomeranian <3

cyclefiend2000

 you know sometimes the only alternative is getting a second job. i am contemplating that
 decision right now. it isnt that i want to, but....

 my dad worked side jobs and was in the army reserve to earn extra money. lots of other people i know work more than one job (college degree and all). it sucks, but if you want to get ahead sometimes you just gotta do it.
 

Yep very sad but true. I did waitressing most of my life and was thinking about doing it again on the weekends. Problem is, I know that industry and they want you full time whenever they want. I want my second job to be... my SECOND job (not my LIFE) so waitressing is deff out of the picture...

I think they need to raise what they pay us period. I want to take someone in politics, stick them on an $8/hr income, no friends, no family, no extra support, and see if they'd survive in MA [our states supplies extreme high amounts of welfare for a reason, haha]

Salaries & Hourly wages need to compensate for the location. There is ZERO public transportation around me and a 650sqft 1bd apt cost $1000 a month... ummmm that's retarded!!! that means lets say... someone works at McDonalds in Marlboro for $8/hr how could they afford a car payment, rent, utilities, gas, and food??? HOW...

I'm deff not in that situation but there are people who are... HOW do they do it?!

Why can't the government realize the economy is crashing because no one has money to SPEND! Give us more money!

Heard an update on the news about their technologies on Mars... okay hello what about EARTH! Can you give me more money so I can spend money on food & clothes? lol

Well, the fact that people have no money to spend is not the government's fault.  A LOT of people have gotten themselves in a LOT of debt.  When I met DH he was in lots of credit card debt and was able to get himself pretty much out, but he was lucky.  Tons of people bought ginormous houses that they could barely pay for, ginormous SUVs they could barely pay for, etc.  Where has it led us?  A housing market crash and an ever increasing demand for fuel which drives up the fuel prices.  On top of that you had lenders that were giving people insane loans that they could not pay back.  They were talking to some financial guy on the radio that was saying that in some cases a person that made 20K a year could buy a$1 million house because the lenders did not verify their income.  People can only carry massive amounts of debt for so long before it catches up--and unfortunately it's catching up on a grand scale.

If you are concerned about jobs then you may want to rethink your desire for a minimum wage increase.  When a business only has so much money to pay employees and are them forced to pay those employees more and more every year, then they are likely going to avoid hiring more employees, and may even do away with some of the ones they have.  The hiring market (especially in the service industries) is supposed to be getting bad enough with people spending less money (this years Christmas shopping season was really bad for retailers), I don't think a required wage increase is going help matters.

If you are not making enough money you either have to get a better job, move closer to work, or get a second job.  Hey, I know it's rough--the only reason we are able to afford a home is because DH makes roughly twice what I do (and I have more education than him--go figure).

Pomeranian <3

My theory is if you make around $150,000... you'll be all right. Not extremely taxed, can still write off your morgage & children, AMT isn't that high yet... yeah $150 is my life goal...

I just don't think its fair that I have to be scared to make under 90K and nervious to make over 175K.... that's just bizzare...

I guess you are used to the high-falutin' life.  I don't think I'll ever come close to making that amount of money, even 100k for myself and a future spouse will take quite a while.  And this is with a Master's degree.  I am going into month 5 of a job hunt and I'll be lucky to start at 35k.   

Benedict

From an outsider's POV, and this may just be my experience here and not applicable to the US at all....giving people/companies who already have a lot of money...more money by decreasing their taxes...isn't necessarily going to translate into those companies passing the money down to employees through bigger monthly paychecks.

You also have to remember that a lot of companies are corporations.  They aren't owned by one individual.  Stockholders are going to demand a certain return on investment or they will pull their money which in turn will tank the corporation.  Increasing taxes on corporations only results in 2 things, cutting expenses which means employees and wages or raising prices which result in inflation.

cyclefiend2000

 well we have no kids and arent going to have any kids... so that doesnt really factor into our equation.

but the government wants you too! yeah its messed up idk...

AMT for exampe was made in 1914... ha! when $100 was a lot of money!! they seriously need to change some of the laws... I think AMT should start at $350,000 (because if you make over that much okay yes you deserve to pay a little extra starting then...)

You are totally right SillySally...

sillysally

On top of that you had lenders that were giving people insane loans that they could not pay back.  They were talking to some financial guy on the radio that was saying that in some cases a person that made 20K a year could buy a$1 million house because the lenders did not verify their income.  People can only carry massive amounts of debt for so long before it catches up--and unfortunately it's catching up on a grand scale.

THAT IS CRAZY! I wouldn't doubt it though, the credit card companies want you to go into debt, and they want to have loans you can't pay off... so wrong

cyclefiend2000

 

The 2007 Tax Rates Schedule^[2] for married filing jointly is:

Over	But not over		of the amount over
$0	$15,650	10%	$0
$15,650	$63,700	$1,565+15%	$15,650
$63,700	$128,500	$8,772.50+25%	$63,700
$128,500	$195,850	$24,972.50+28%	$128,500
$195,850	$349,700	$43,830.50+33%	$195,850
$349,700	------------	$94,601+35%	$349,700

hmmm.... according to this my wife and i get charged the same percentage as a married couple making twice what we make. talk about getting killed by taxes! 

Can you explain how you're seeing that? I'm kind of slow with figures sometimes, but I don't see how that can be true

timsdat

Benedict

From an outsider's POV, and this may just be my experience here and not applicable to the US at all....giving people/companies who already have a lot of money...more money by decreasing their taxes...isn't necessarily going to translate into those companies passing the money down to employees through bigger monthly paychecks.

You also have to remember that a lot of companies are corporations.  They aren't owned by one individual.  Stockholders are going to demand a certain return on investment or they will pull their money which in turn will tank the corporation.  Increasing taxes on corporations only results in 2 things, cutting expenses which means employees and wages or raising prices which result in inflation.

 

Exactly... 

swamper

I guess you are used to the high-falutin' life.

I'm not sure exactly what that means... haha the life I'm used to living is the one before this and now. I went from childhood household income of $400K to my new family household income of $76K... and I'm seriously broke. We ONLY pay our bills... that's it. We go out to eat once a week and that's our treat. I ask myself every day where the heck does the money go?!

Once I move up in the company and the BF gets his new promotion I think we will be a little more comfortable... but that's just the point. In order to feel comfortable we need to make ridiculous amounts of money. That's the part I'm confused about...

My second job is going to be eBay selling all of our STUFF ugh... I hate looking at it knowing we have no money in the bank...

Pomeranian <3

AMT for exampe was made in 1914

The AMT was first proposed in 1969 and went into effect in 1970.

 Alternative Minimum Tax

Cassidys Mom

Bush's tax cuts overwhelmingly benefitted the wealthiest Americans, how exactly did that help you? Yes, tax cuts can stimulate the economy, but in order for that to happen, the money has to be spent. Who is more likely to spend that money, you or someone like Bill Gates? The 'trickle down' theory would be a great idea if it actually worked

The trickle down theory works.  It was proven the the 80's with the Reagan tax cuts and again after 2001 with the Bush tax cuts.  Our growth in the 80 and 90 was fueled by those tax cuts that Reagan pushed thru.

Yes the rich get the biggest part of the cut.  They are also the ones paying the most!  Now I ask you do you believe in our constitution that states that everyone should be treated equally under the law or socialism where the wealth should be spread around and people that make too much money should have it taken away from them.

Check some time to see how much in taxes is paid by what percentage of people as to what they earn.  The top 5% of wages pays over 50% of the total taxes.  The top 50% pay over 95% of taxes.

Myra

Pomeranian <3

AMT for exampe was made in 1914

The AMT was first proposed in 1969 and went into effect in 1970.

 Alternative Minimum Tax

ahhh okay I stand corrected... it must have been REVISED then... b/c my great grandfather paid it too... [but it could have been called a different tax back then? same concept though... i remember when my family always talk about it they just only said AMT]

But even still.... then 70s?! Life is a little different now... they should update everything every TERM...

cakana

Can you explain how you're seeing that? I'm kind of slow with figures sometimes, but I don't see how that can be true

because we make over $63,700 (combined) but less than $128,500. everyone in that range gets taxed at the same rate. we are on the lower end of that range. the way i read that chart, they grab $8,772.50 immediately. then everything over $63,700 gets taxed at 25%.

it isnt necessarily the same amount, but it is at the same rate. i would say that the people on the lower end of  any of those brackets are the ones getting screwed.