Sorry, it was just a rant. I’m really not that smart. But no, I wasn’t referencing income taxes specifically. It was more geared towards the economics of a general tax whether that be an income, property, or sales tax.

A raise in income tax affects us in a number of different ways.

First, we bring home less money in our paycheck.

Second, the producer of the good or service increases the price of the good to continue to make money. That increase in price is passed onto the consumer. It’s like an indirect tax.

That is what I was referencing when saying the rich (ie. business owner of some sort) were able to find loopholes. Yes, according to their books it will look like they are paying more taxes to the government, and they are, but they still pass as much of that increase onto the consumer as possible by raising prices.

As a general employee (middle class), we don’t have that luxury of passing our tax increase onto someone else.

So even if we vote (and by vote I mean electing politicians that represent us and have the power to pass tax laws) to raising taxes to only the businesses, we as consumers end up getting taxed indirectly due to higher prices of the good or service. The tax is always passed down to the middle or lower class by the rich. Why? Because they can and we can’t.

I’m not sure if any of that makes sense, I’m a little tired.

To flush this out the first list should mention something like:

- The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. (each one has a household income of $25k per year)
- The fifth would pay $1. (household income of $30k)
- The sixth would pay $3. (has a household income of $45k)
- The seventh would pay $7. (household income of $60k)
- The eighth would pay $12. (household income of $95k)
- The ninth would pay $18. (household income of $120k)
- The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59. (household income of $3,500k)

Of course I pulled those numbers pretty much out of the air, just scaled up based on some value of “richness”.

Another problem with this story is that is supposes that the rich man is fine paying nearly 60% of the total cost at the beginning, but suddenly springs into anger when his percentage discount isn’t as high as those who are less “rich” than he is.

@Mark -

Rather vague there don’t you think? The original post seems to focus on income taxes (without coming and saying it, but the child tax credit reference seem to imply income tax), so we could assume that you’re referencing income taxes as well. In the US income taxes were officially sanctioned by the 16th Amendment to the Constitution (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html), which was ratified in 1913:

Note: Article I, section 9, of the Constitution was modified by amendment 16.

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

I enjoy a good gripe as much as the next person, but I find it much more constructive if it contains specific/helpful/accurate details.

The government then decided that in order to get the tax voted on by the middle and lower class, they must tax them directly because the rich found the loop holes. So a tax originally designed to only affect the rich now affects the middle and poor class. This is how all taxes have worked since forever.

If you tax the business owner too much, he raises his prices to cover the tax. He just transfers the tax onto the consumer. He is forced to do that in order to stay in business.

Every tax increase eventually makes its way down to the middle and poor. Obama says, “I won’t increase taxes on the middle and poor, only the businesses”. Well that sounds good for trying to get people to vote for you, but the truth is if the businesses get taxed, we get taxed by having higher prices. You’re a smart one Obama.

Always vote against any tax increase for anyone whether they are rich or poor. That includes the save the Zoo tax coming around this year. We need to send a message to our government that they need to learn to use our tax money more efficiently rather than just increase our taxes when they over spend.

Thanks for letting me rant.