2. there have been several respected articles on not holding snopes as the holy grail since it is a husband and wife team sitting at home looking things up
3. we need to pay taxes in order to help those less fortunate in this country; to keep some infrastructures running that we all use such as education; water; trash pick up; emergency rooms;
4. but raising taxes has never been a solution for unemployment, healthcare, higher wages, lower cost of necessary goods, a college education
5. how about we spend time talking about paying a livable wage and what that really is; how about we talk about the fact that the largest corporations pay few taxes and the smaller companies which statistically employ more people pay the burden of those taxes
6. how about we talk about who gets to determine that $250,000 is too much income. Let's say we have a man making $250,000 a year. And he supports a wife, 4 children, one of whom has down syndrome; and also helps take care of his parents and his wife's parents. Is $250,000 too much? He is taking care of 10 people with that money, hopefully meaning the grandparents don't need a lot of government assistance; that he can save some money and his kids could go to college without too much loan money; and that when he and his wife die their down syndrome child is cared for. Why is $250,000 too much money? Are we going to go house by house and make that determination?
7. why can't we have a discussion of what is a livable, honorable wage, determine a level of who can then pay taxes, and then charge everyone say 20% with no loop wholes.
8. If my father hadn't worked his ass off his whole life his 5 kids would not have gone to college and become respectable, tax paying citizens and not a burden on others- we are able to help others; my grandmother would not have been well cared for in her old age; I would not have been able to buy a home and then pay property taxes on it to help the school district of Sarasota County; I wouldn't have a job that allows me to actually give money to some charities and still hopefully save some money for my old age. My father has supported 22 people with his money. You tax 35, 38 40% and those 22 people would not be tax paying citizens today.
So you tax him because he makes too much money, you give to a government that has shown through the years it can't manage its money, and 22 people have been affected. Not just that one greedy man who made money.
9. Let's talk about stocks and bonds and how people invest in companies to make money for their retirement. Let's talk about how that whole system works and doesn't work and why that 1% at the top gets so much of our money. But then if Bill Gates were taxed more, would he have created a company that he did; employed thousands; made billions; and now gives it away? He might not have.
10. Florida is the third hardest hit state in the country so I see first hand every day what is happening. I work in a school district where 45% of students are on free and reduced lunch. And a house on Casey Key just sold for 10 million dollars. So I see the disparity every day. But just saying tax those rich bastards solves absolutely nothing.
11. How about we talk about how we give companies incentives to send jobs over seas? How about we give them incentives to bring them back?
12. How about we become a society less concerned with consumerism and wanting more and more things? Course then if we weren't a society that keeps buying things we wouldn't have an economy- sort of like now.
