Taxes

Lately with all the talk from the Right about how the Left is engaging in “Class Warfare” because we are saying that millionaires should pay AT LEAST the same PERCENTAGE in taxes as the average worker pays, it has gotten me thinking a great deal about the way that *I* believe the tax table should be structured in this country...

I hear a lot of people, mostly Right-wingers, talk about wanting to “take their country back” to a happier and more pleasant time, like the 1950’s…well, I would like to remind them that during that “idyllic” time, when we were able to start the space program and build the interstate highway system and make a LOT of the other advances we have made in this great country...the tax rate for the wealthiest Americans was over 90%.  Now, even *I* can admit that paying 90% of one’s income to the government is outrageous and obscene.   

As much as I may despise the likes of the Koch Brothers (http://arismusings.blogspot.com/2012/02/im-baaaaaccck.html), Ira Rennert (http://arismusings.blogspot.com/2011/02/socialism.html), Peter G. Peterson (http://arismusings.blogspot.com/2010/11/who-in-fuck-is-peter-g-peterson.html), and their ilk (incidentally, I just learned recently about Joe Ricketts…this guy is a real piece of work -- http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/05/19/487214/meet-joe-ricketts-cubs/ )…I don’t believe they should have to pay NINETY PERCENT of their income to the government!  However, there is a HUGE chasm between that admittedly obscene 90% and the pathetically low 13% that the Republican candidate for the Presidency (whom I NOT-so-affectionately call “Mint (R)money”) paid last year. 

So I decided to sit down and write up what *I* believe would be the perfect tax table/structure for this country and I’ve now completed it.  It’s a table that *I* believe to be reasonable and fair…it’s the amount that I would be MORE than willing to pay were I to be in that income bracket. 

Now I am asking for input from others, to see what they think of my ideas on this subject.  I am the first to admit that I am FAR from an economist (in fact, I consider myself to be “mathematically challenged”) so I acknowledge that there could be problems with this tax proposal  that I am not seeing, so please…point them out if you see them. 

So, now…the Arielle NaMara Tax Plan... 

FIRST, it should be noted that in my perfect world, ALL income is just “income”.  I don't CARE by what METHOD you made your money, either by simple investment or actual WORK.  All income received, either via labor, investment returns or other “capital gains” would be combined and the result is the figure upon which one’s tax rate is based.  The amount you made would be the ONLY factor to determine the rate on the following table...

If you earned:                         Your tax rate is:

Under $20,000                                              0

$20,000 - $25,000                                        5%

$25,000 - $50,000                                        10%

$50,000 - $75,000                                        15%

$75,000 - $100,000                                      20%

$100,000 - $125,000                                   25%

$125,000 - $150,000                                   30%

$150,000 - $250,000                                   35%

$250,000 - $500,000                                   36%

$500,000 - $750,000                                   37%

$750,000 - $1,000,000                                38%

$1,000,000 - $2,000,000                             39%

$2,000,000 - $10,000,000                           40%

$10,000,000 - $100,000,000                      45%

$100,000,000 - $1,000,000,000                 50%

$1,000,000,000 - $10,000,000,000           55%

$10,000,000,000+                                        60%

I'm sure that something like this would never be allowed by the oligarchic, theocratic, bigoted, environment-hating, Koch-whore party that the modern GOP has become, but I honestly do believe that those who benefit the most from our great society should be the ones to bear the bulk of the cost for the proper maintenance OF that society.  I also have to admit that I honestly don't understand billionaires that balk at paying the VERY reasonable Clinton-era tax rates that were in place when the ENTIRE COUNTRY (not JUST the super-rich) was doing well.  In my not so humble opinion, the One-Percenters should be more like the famous Oliver Wendell Holmes, who once said..."I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization."