@Liberty AboveAllElse but you could argue that the public doesn't mind being mugged if they think it produces more good than the alternatives. Eg, if I get pulled over unfairly but the practice helps fund and catch violent criminals, some might say, "okay" Or if I pay too much in taxes (or risk jail time at gunpoint), but the government then funds programs that neither I nor the free market see incentive to solve, then (if the benefit is enough) we might say, "okay" People accept trade-offs, even when they're not totally satisfied with all available alternatives
@Liberty AboveAllElse interesting approach to this. I would naturally guess very high (eg, >85%): - it costs little to check-off - there are some expected benefits - the costs are not obvious nor directly borne by the respondent However, I looked at the $3 tax check-off which is "sole source of funds for the public funding program" run by the US Federal Elections Commission: - The participation rate has dropped from 27.50% in 1976 (around inception) to 3.56% in 2020 - it started low and went even lower! So the evidence actually suggests, "not many would ask the government to help." (But there's a possible confounding factor: public trust in the US government has decreased substantially since 1958, per a 2019 study published by Pew). And to be fair, I'm not sure if "campaign funding" is the right example of public problem, but it still offers reasonable insights. I found this interesting and relevant. What is your stance on your question? www.fec.gov/introduction-campaign-finance/understanding-ways-support-federal-candidates/presidential-elections/public-funding-presidential-elections/
@Liberty AboveAllElse 👏👏👏 ...well put! One might even argue that the solution is for the free market to make the "expected value" of political office decrease, so we aren't diverting so much of our productive output to the government (which clearly the people generally don't want "solving" their problems)...
Whenever someone mentions the 90% top tax bracket, they never mention that the bottom bracket was raised as well. Poor people might only have their bracket raised to 10 or 20%, but that is still a lot to a poor person.
Poor people's wages were higher than they are today. In 1950, the minimum wage was the equivalent of $10.39/hour and housing was about half the price when adjusted for inflation. Also, there were tuition free state colleges back then, so you could get ahead without going broke. Also, there were far more jobs that paid well and didn't require a degree. You used to be able to buy a house, a car, and raise a stay at home wife and kids on a fork lift driver's salary. You can't even pay rent with that salary today.
The average standard of living in the Soviet Union was lower than the poverty line in the United States. If you really care about the poor, you put them in the economic system that puts them in the best position, not one that makes everyone equally miserable.
Average standard of living in Sweden is WAY higher then that of the US, there for we should copy their economic system. The US ranks 19th on standard of living, we should, therefore, look at the economic systems who are doing better then us and copy them. Clearly Russia is a piss poor thing to copy, the USSR has been died for 28 years now, but your logic is correct, we should look at the countries who are doing better then us on a standard of living and copy them. That is places like Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Australia.
@@Loathomar Good rebuttal. Though, I wish you didn't just list Scandinavian countries (except Australia, obviously). It makes it sound like you're pushing an agenda (which, of course, everybody is, but it's still not good to sound like that). I suggest making the point in the abstract. I recently heard James Demore make a mechanistic correlation argument regarding communist countries that seems relevant. ruclips.net/video/zCkBKrI7JDA/видео.html
@@Qstandsforred Well, I was kind of poking fun because I assumed you would not agree with the economic policies of those countries. There are some less "socialist" countries that do very less on standard of living. Switzerland is one example, though much of their economic policies would still be extremely "leftist" in the US. The only county that might if less "socialist" then the US and might do better in standard of living is Singapore
@@Loathomar Standard of living is measured only in individual liberty and cost of discretionary stuff. Sweden, Denmark and so forth suck ass in all of those things.
Raising taxes gives incentive to NOT work, and to not be productive and to not create jobs or grow your business. Raising taxes is bad for everyone. Besides that, the government has a spending problem that tax revenues where tax revenues will never be enough...even if the tax was 100%.
"If the average citizen knew how their tax money is spent they would not stop barfing for three days"... me. Instead of raising taxes cut government spending
That's what I was saying since forever NASA is useless privatize it , remove the army from other countries etc... With that money saved u can fund stuff like healthcare etc...
@@royjaber571 agreed billions lost on Mars great a big planet void of life and nothing but rocks and sand. Who gives a shit about NASA. So many suffering starving but yet. We need a robotics on Mars good grief get it together people GOD IS ALWAYS WATCHING PRAY REPENT LOVE HELP OTHER'S
My mom cousin owned a restaurant in France for 30 years which he had to sell after all these years thanks to the infamous high taxes, now imagine how many people lost their jobs because of that.
@@fadli_1577 I think we are lucky because we have : world record for public spending + tax and heavy regulations but managed to cheat on the market "thanks" to the ECB for borrowing at -0,34% interest rate during the most important economic recession since WW2 lol nonsense...But as soon the ECB stop manipulating the market we will go bankrupt !
If we just tax the rich- Rich: leave We need to tax the businesses mo- Business owners: leave We need to tax the midd- Middle class: leave We have no-one left tax, whatever will we do?
"Do we leave it to the corrupt corporations to decide, or leave it to the corrupt politicians." I see shit on all sides. It seems the only way forward is backwards, sideways, or through the wormhole.
@Brutus Tan *_"the difference is, that corporations became powerful cause they gave us what we wanted"_* No. Corporations became powerful because they figured out how to inject useless wants into our skulls. Hospitals found ways to keep us sicker for longer. Social media figured out how to enrage us for views. Food and supplement companies found ways to lie legally without doing so explicitly.
Harsh, but not without its merits. Two things: poverty is relative, so there always will be the poor(er). Then there is the question whether you're obliged to give something back to the society from which the consumers who "made" you rich are coming from.
Not quite. JFK was more conservative than any Statist chief executive that followed. This is not all that unusual considering the libertarian philosophical ethic that asserts government always grows.
@@scockery Libertarians support immigration and open borders but they get labelled far right wing all the time. JFK was an anti communist Catholic president who was pro business (by today's standards). He wouldn't win a single state in today's democratic primary.
I'm a small business owner and after a couple years of making some decent money and paying some significant taxes and paying thousands to people to help me reduce them, started studying the tax laws and completely restructured my business. Now I work less and gross almost half as much but net about the same. Instead of fixing up houses and selling them to new families, I now keep them for myself, and sit on them for investment or rent them out. This further reduces the supply of housing and increasing the price of buying a new house.
Hahaha, good one. That made me laugh. You are telling the Jew Rothschild's to leave our health care alone. Not going to happen. They run America. In case you didn't know it is called America, Inc. America is nothing but a money making business for the elites i.e. Rothschild's, Rockefeller's, etc. The ones who start our wars every time and make big money off of the wars while our troops are being killed off all so the elite bastards can take more and more money. AK, you have a lot to learn. What I am saying is why I got out of the military.
The va and Medicare are both rates as good systems by the people that use them. There is a reason why every other industrialized nation has some version of national healthcare and it’s not because it’s worse than private insurance
Key words, “if you make the taxes high enough people don’t have an incentive to work, they won’t” As a nurse if I don’t pick up extra shifts. Your ER wait time will be even longer. Get rid of incentive and you will be waiting for 12 hours with a heart attack
To be fair, one ought to keep in mind that they do, in fact, fund taxes (e.g. sales taxes and buying from entities that pay taxes). Though, I do agree that is seems, on the face of it, hypocritical to suggest that it's fair to take only someone else's money. Nevertheless, many of these people are rich themselves. For example, almost all of Silicon Valley supports high taxes. I see no way to reconcile hypocrisy with departure of one's own wealth.
@@MilwaukeeF40C *_"Almost all of Silicon Valley is also in to rent seeking statism."_* ??? Can clarify and/or explain? That doesn't sound like Silicon Valley, at least when defined as tech innovators.
Jung Kim--"payed no federal income tax"? DID YOU INCLUDE THE 20+ MAJOR CORPORATIONS THAT PAY NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX??? HELL,,,I'D BE WELL OFF IF I DIDN'T PAY TAXES!!! FYI--INDIVIDUAL TAXES ACCOUNTED FOR 46% OF FEDERAL TAX REVENUE IN 2014,,,AND 47% IN 2015!!! CORPORATE TAXES ACCOUNTED FOR 11% OF FEDERAL TAX REVENUE IN 2014 AND 2015!!! FROM**CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES!!! AND THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS JUST GAVE THEM $1.5+TRILLION MORE(THAT WE PAY FOR)!!! YOU DON'T THINK REPUBLICANS ARE GOING TO GIVE AWAY $1.5+TRILLION IN TAX REVENUE,,, WITHOUT TAKING IT FROM SOMEONE OR SOMETHING ELSE,,,DO YOU??? FYI**THEY STOLE $9+TRILLION FROM S.S. (OVER 35+ YEARS) TO PAY FOR CORPORATE WELFARE!!! THEY HAVE TO PAY THE BILLS SOMEHOW!!! SAD,,,REALLY SAD
@@seanrahman7129 Because I am not a complete scumbag and a criminal? People have the right to their income. With the same percentage as everyone else, the rich still pay more.
Actually, " fair share " is more like 48% for the rich (millionaires and billionaires ) and 20ish% for everyone else except for the poor and severely disabled, who's tax rate would be 0% - 10%
by wealthy, they mean millionaires. Fun fact. 75 % of millionaires started from nothing. So basically they want to punish normal people who worked hard to make it to the top.
@@johnnormal1422 People voluntarily choose to work for them. School unions exploit teachers because there is no option to opt out of the union without sacrifice teaching, while charging teachers for the Union "representing" them.
@@johnnormal1422 If you don't like the job quit and fin yourself a better one and if you can't develop a skill or trade and find a better job that's how it works. Nobody is forcing you to work. If you have a better solution please enlighten us.
Agreed. To add to your fun fact: There are over 11 million millionaire households, according to Spectrem Group’s Market Insights Report 2017.(1) And that number is growing. Second fun fact: Chris Hogan recently wrote a book and interviewed over 10,000 US millionaires. 8 out of 10 milionaires came from families at or below the middle-class income level and 4.25% came from absolute poverty. 79% of millionaires received no inheritance at all (completely self made), and of the remaining 21%-19% received an inheritance of less than $100,000. Still not enough to make them rich without there own hard work. 62 percent earned a household income of less than $100,000 annually and still became millionaires. The top five occupations among millionaires in the U.S. are engineer, accountant, teacher or professor, management, and lawyers. These millionaires primarily choose classic investments, like mutual funds (index funds) and real estate to make there Millions. So these strange myths about Millionaires are not very accurate. It is truly possible for us all to get there with hard work and discipline applied over a period of time. AOC has no understanding of finances or how history worked in the past.
John Normal saying it’s not truly voluntary for someone to have a job because they need to make money is like saying it’s not truly voluntary for someone to eat a pop tart because they need to eat. Yes they do need to eat, but instead of eating a pop tart, they have the choice to invest time into learning how to cook so they can eat better meals.
Why doesn't anyone ever challenge their claim of being "moral"? Is it moral to use violence to take more property from some than others? What about being successful, working hard, and being more productive make you less deserving of the fruits of your own labor? What is moral about making one man labor without compensation for the benefit of another?
@@Aseutester That's what the land tax addresses, lands value today is almost entirely created as an externality via agglomeration effects,s it's correcting a market failure. Ricardo's law of rent tells us land rent always exists, question is who gets the rent. As an owner of several properties in London, every investment private or public effectively subsidises me, increasing my rental yields and capital gains. Yet we instead primarily tax profits, sales and incomes instead of these unearned gains. Most libertarian approach is to net off most of the collected rent from the tax and pay it to everyone to replace welfare, so everyone effectively shares the surplus rent, but is not taxed on their labour or capital creation.
The problem is a mixture of both. Who gives a fuck if they cut spending but still take 90% of my income. Low taxes AND low spending, that's what we need.
Exactly. Only personal tax, no corporate tax. One low flat rate for all (15%). One filing type (single). No deductions. No credits. No income types (besides gifts which aren't taxed). Teens could do their parents taxes in their head in 2 seconds. Done.
Well in all honesty- in any country the tax code can be summed up in around 10 pages (standard A4). If you look at any tax code you will find that the other 1000 pages are just loppholes and definitions of words.
The income tax amendment to the constitution was "sold" on the promise it would never be more than 2 percent and never apply to more than the top 1 percent of income earners. So much for that.
Why is the concept that you keep what you earn so hard for people to understand? You won't get richer by the government robbing the rich, just the government.
Actually, Stossel is pretty stellar with political interviews. When he interviews people on his side, he asks good questions. He asks "what about this?", like he is the opponent. He asks the questions that need to be answered to persuade people of why they should agree with the interviewee, despite his obvious bias.
If a government was going to try and steal 90% of my income that is millions of dollars in incentives to leave the country. America isn't the only game in town. Although it might be better if we can't leave, because then we will finally stand up and say "no"
Finally. One day. Maybe then. You dont think enough is enough already?!? Its easier to wait until its too late and say 'I told ya so" ,than to man the fuck up now. Been listening to that crap for years now. You aint gonna do shit .
@@liveevil5914 We just haven't had the right idea / plan / catalyst. I'll never listen to negative losers such as yourself. The time will come, but we have to fight smart and do things the right way.
@@oscarmunoz2269 Actually I do and my point still stands. If I'm making millions it should not be up to the government where those millions go. Government should only be there to prevent me (or others) from harming other people directly. Not dividing up my money to their friends, family, and constituents. If I'm making $20million through a successful business, that is a $9 million dollar incentive for me to invest overseas, purchase second citizenship, or just remove all my assets from the US completely. I can buy a second passport for 1/20th of that $9 million. Talk about a bargain.
@@destroya3303 Businesses have been moving out since the 80s. Companies are going to move out if it's cheaper to go elsewhere no matter what. If a company is still here it's going to stay because there are incentives to stay in the US that other countries can't compete with. Just because we ask more from a CEO doesn't mean the whole company is going to move.
Key word is try. Rich people can afford to pay accountants to insure they get out of paying taxes. If you or I try to evade paying taxes, we will get audited and thrown in federal prison.
@@destroya3303 You won't flight just because of taxes. Youd have to get a visa and all this other shit. if youre rich youre rich... Whether you got 10m or 20m doesnt matter
You should go live in Oklahoma, a conservative paradise where firefighters ration their fuel to fight fires because the government has been gutted so much it barely functions. Barely minarchist at that point.
Two comments: 1) if we want to make people "pay their fair share", then we should make all people, especially those who pay zero (due to government handouts) pay a minimum tax (to go with their minimum wage). 2) When Rush Limbaugh, a wealthy conservative, left New York City, where his radio show was based because it was a top location, some politicians say they thought it was good that he left and "good riddance", then they spend years demanding proof of every minute he was in new York on business so they could collect taxes from him. Currently the Governor of New York says he wants more rich people to come to the state and that high taxes chase off where they get the money they hand out to the poor.
Very few pay zero. Most of the poor receive significant handouts in cash and services but pay near zero taxes. They have a large negative tax rate - not zero.
- - THE FIVE QUESTIONS -- -- by Larken Rose 1) Is there any means by which any number of individuals can delegate to someone else the moral right to do something which none of the individuals have the moral right to do themselves? 2) Do those who wield political power (presidents, legislators, etc.) have the moral right to do things which other people do not have the moral right to do? If so, from whom and how did they acquire such a right? 3) Is there any process (e.g., constitutions, elections, legislation) by which human beings can transform an immoral act into a moral act (without changing the act itself)? 4) When law-makers and law-enforcers use coercion and force in the name of law and government, do they bear the same responsibility for their actions that anyone else would who did the same thing on his own? 5) When there is a conflict between an individual's own moral conscience, and the commands of a political authority, is the individual morally obligated to do what he personally views as wrong in order to "obey the law"?
My teenage son said it best when I cut his allowance money when he got a job while in high school, “Mom, I realized after having to pay for my own stuff, that it’s easier to spend other people’s money. It’s like there’s no consequence on how I spend it”.
Folks also forget the high tax rates then didn’t lead to a better economy. No epa or foreign economic competition after ww2 is what boomed americas economy. Things changed in the 70s and Reagan in the 80s fixed our economic stagnation problem.
I have a friend who declared that nobody should be allowed to earn more than a million dollars a year. I said, "OK, I'm a CEO currently earning $12 million. So I'll hire 11 co-CEOs, and we'll all work for a month." He looked at me in horror, and tried to say I wouldn't be allowed to do that. "So you'll send people with guns to stand next to me, to chain me to the desk so I can't leave? How about if I retire after a month and get rehired in a year, then retire again? Are you going to force me to work? Are you going to bring back slavery, just for CEOs?" Another time he said it wasn't fair that some people could work when others couldn't. I said, "Suppose I want a ditch dug, and I hire someone with a backhoe to do it." That's not fair, that one guy gets the work when others are out of work, just because the one person has a tool that others don't, so I should get shovels and hire a bunch of guys. "Will they be able to dig as fast and as safely for the same cost?" Well, no, but that shouldn't matter. "It does if you're the one paying for it. So you'd prefer the ditch not be dug at all if one person can do it faster, safer, and for less money? Better everyone be out of work than at least one person gets hired?" That's more fair to him. He's an artist living on Social Security, mad because his art doesn't magically sell itself (marketing and selling are beneath him).
A 37% tax rate is also un-American. A truly American tax rate would be 0%. But I'm flexible. If there has to be a monopoly on military and the courts, I could tolerate a national sales tax of 1% for the military and 1% for the court system. But it must be written into the constitution that the rate can never go higher. People can voluntarily pay more if they want.
"the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" When I was a kid I heard my mom say that as she was sobbing about the job she hated and how much they demand of her for her low pay. That moment fucked my life up. In my infinite 7 year old wisdom I decided that if the poor just get poorer, then there was really no point in trying. No point in working hard. I was already poor, and I was just going to get poorer. May as well just accept it and go with the flow. By the time I was old enough to realize how wrong that statement was, my life track was already derailed. I'm still trying to make something of myself and struggling the entire time because even though I know better, my gut instinct always wants to revert me back to "don't even try, it won't work, the poor get poorer"
"...how much they demand of her for her low pay." So you grew up in the USSR. East Germany, Cuba, North Korea? Nicely here in the US, under capitalism, one's relationship with any employer is voluntary.
@@melainewhite6409 you've misunderstood me. I wasn't saying my mom was being mistreated. I was just saying that was what she complained about. Her opinion was that the pay was too low for the work she was doing. Yet she chose to stay at that job for 27 years, never even making an effort to find a "better" job, so it couldn't have been that bad. I'm sure she felt like she was trapped at that job, being a single mom of two, barely making ends meet. It would be very scary to switch jobs under those circumstances. But as they say, no risk, no reward. She trapped herself and she wasn't willing to go any further to better her circumstances, likely assuming that working at another job would have the same result, so why bother? And like many other people, she placed the blame outside of herself, demonizing her boss, the company as a whole, and rich people in general. They were the enemy to her because they had money and they weren't giving her what she thought she should be earning. These were the ideals I grew up with. It wasn't until I was nearly out of high school that I gave it any actual thought and started to realize something didn't feel right about it. And it wasn't until my mid twenties that I heard anybody else voice an ideal that countered what I grew up believing, and fell more in line with the conclusions I was coming to on my own as I thought about how things work. I am a free market libertarian conservative. Probably to a greater extent than most. And I wish I could go back and teach my younger self what I know now. Hell, I wish I could go back even further and teach my mother's younger self. My mother has since stopped believing those things by the way. After 27 years doing the job she hated so much, she put in for a promotion, which she easily got, and she enjoyed her job from that moment on until she retired. She stopped crying every day before work and stopped demonizing the wealthy and successful. She finally realized that the poor aren't stuck being poor forever and the wealthy aren't holding anybody back.
@@KurNorock to be fair you are correct and I’m glad you found success, the truth is though that there is only so much wealth to go around and so for any one person to get richer someone has to get poorer. Facts are that in America about 98% of the wealth is owned by 0.01% of the people. That’s a pretty small crumb to fight over.
@@satanpuncher06 That is not true at all. The economy is not a zero sum game. New wealth is being created all the time. Just because somebody got rich doesn't mean somebody else had to get poor. I'll give you an easy to understand example. Imagine you have a hobby making things out of scrap metal. One day you have an idea and make a thing that is very useful in every day life. Somebody else sees that thing and offers to buy it from you for $50. You only spent $5 on the scrap metal and it took you about an hour to make the thing, so you accept the offer and decide to use the money to make 10 more of those things, which you then sell for $500. You got $450 richer. Did each of the people that bought the things from you get $50 poorer? No. They exchanged their money for something of equal economic value. They didn't just lose $50. They traded $50 for something worth $50 leaving them right in the same place they started or in even a better position because now that thing you made helps them in their daily life to save time, freeing up time for them to create their own wealth. But you DID get richer even though nobody got poorer. You CREATED $450 in new wealth that did not exist before. This happens all the time. That is why there is more money now than there was 10 years ago and there will be more money in 10 years than there is now. Here is a video explaining it probably better than I did. ruclips.net/video/n6v81VH6k4A/видео.html And no, the top .01% does not own 98% of all the wealth. Not even close. The top .1% hold about 15% of the wealth. Not that it even matters. Somebody else being rich doesn't stop you from also becoming rich. Keep in mind that as a person from the western world, no matter your economic situation, you are in the top 1% of the world's economy. If you focus less on what other people have and focus more on what you have, you'll find yourself in a much better position.
The government has got a spending problem not a revenue problem. You cannot simply spend money that you don't have as it is common sense that you need to cut back. Sadly most politicians do not care as majority of them had never had done a day's work in their lives or ran a business.
Personally for me I would cut taxes and cut spending plus I would deregulate the economy so that it would be easier for people to set up businesses. The top rate of tax here in the UK is 45% for incomes above £150000.
If the government wants more taxes it means it's wasting money. It needs to be replaced with people who know how to manage taxes well and not waste those funds on bullshit programs.
This is why Ireland is getting a ton of companies. They have the lowest corporate tax rates now big corporations like google, Facebook and Pfizer are all there. If you want to send more job creators overseas keep taxing the rich, they can offerd to move. Can you?
I own a business and employee many people all with great wages and bonus, healthcare, retirement, while the country criminally surcharges my property tax to nearly double its market value, and this year I will pay 400K in taxes in federal in addition to another 100K in property and state franchise, and personal property tax just because I hold product inventory. In fact, when you have a business the IRS forces us to pay estimated tax before I even make the money myself. It's all pure extortion and yet the excuse is that this is the price to pay for being part of the economy and system which according to Obama I didn't build my business on my own, dead wrong.
Try MY. If you live abroad more than 330 days a year, you don’t have to pay fed taxes (only state). The government in MY is so feeble it’s like the Wild West out here! live in a tree house with solar panels, buy a sailboat ($10k) and park it for free off some beach. Start a bonfire in your driveway. No one cares and the people are pretty nice (it’s not like Mexico, the culture here is very honest and respectful). My house rent is 100$ a month! I have palm trees in my yard and I’m 20 minutes from a white sand beach! 25cent beer, too.
Jajajajajaja now the State of his is literally his fantasy State (it's his Joke) And if rent was 100 dollars a month id worry because in his State it would likely catch on fire or topple when i am sleeping (because his State has no regulations)>
In general, people are wealthy because they create wealth, wealth which benefits all of society including the poorest. Allowing people who have demonstrated the ability to create more wealth for society (i.e. the rich) to keep more capital benefits everyone far more that money given to those who have demonstrated the opposite, an ability to waste money.
Fuck off. You don't get to decide what's beneficial. That's up for discussion. While it's true that they (sometimes) generate wealth, I say we're all worse off for it.
@@MilwaukeeF40C *_"What are you not okay with being put up for a vote?"_* You phrase that as if I said that I'm against voting on something. As far as I can tell, this is entirely unrelated. Perhaps you responded to the wrong thread?
If you owe the IRS they charge you 150$ to make payment arrangements on top of the interest which is a base of 3% plus current Fed funds rate on,top of the penalties which comes to 30% or more. If the democrats want people to pay their" fair share" then the poor should start to pony up.
@@KevinTheNoobie Occasional-Cortex and her family also lived in one of the Wealthiest Counties in the Nation. A lot of Americans have fled where they lived for long periods, to gain lower tax rates, property tax rates, utilities, more land, less Regulations, less Agenda 21 Congestion. 'for most of her formative years, she was actually raised in one of the United States’ wealthiest counties. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the county’s average annual income of the top one percent is a staggering $4,326,049. Yorktown Heights, specifically, offers a sharp contrast from Bronx living. According to USA.com, the town’s population is 81 percent white, and median household income is $96,413 - nearly double the average for both New York state and the nation, according to data from 2010-2014' www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/06/29/fact-check-girl-from-the-bronx-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-grew-up-in-one-of-richest-u-s-counties/
If the government quit spending money frivolously they would have a budget instead of a deficit. And if they were honest and had true integrity and honor they might actually hold up to their word shocker!
“The poor don’t get poorer, that’s another myth” Me watching my student loans rise as college costs more than ever, while Its hard to find a place to live because of the cost of housing in America, while I can’t afford healthcare because of corporate politicians
Income tax does not go to essential services, roads any of that. Income tax barley goes towards the interest on this bankrupt franchise. There is no law that forces you to pay income tax. We all consent to having those funds deducted from our paycheques. Not suggesting anyone stop giving those crooks money until you know how to deal this the state on the matter, proper.
50's "Loopholes" = Reinvest and research, which paid off in spades. Made this country excel. Any tax discussion that does not parse the very specific difference between wage tax and profit tax and sales tax and property tax and taxes called fees license taxes etc. etc. . Disingenuous discussion Stossel. American TAX talk is one of the greatest scams in history. NONE of these "taxes" are equal or on the same playing field at all.
Income tax is only on of the federal taxes paid, and the most progressive tax. The taxpolicycenter has an effective tax rate chart for between 1979 and 2015, the lowest 20% of households paid an average of 1.5% in 2015, which is not much, but they did so with a negative income tax. But they did pay 9.6% from payroll taxes, while the top 1% only paid 2.2% to payroll taxes. End regressive taxes!
@@Loathomar They get some of that money back in the form of refunds if they got more of their money taken then they actually owed due to tax credit and deductions. As an accounting major taking a tax class, I guarantee you that the tax code is designed to benefit the lowest % of households more than the top %. Many of the top 1% aren't employed, so they don't pay the payroll tax, they pay self-employment tax. Quit being misleading.
@@cs0345 As an accounting major taking a tax class you should really know that payroll tax and pay self-employment tax are the same taxes. They are called different things because the payroll tax is paid for by both the employer and employees, but they are still the same tax and the tax policy center knows this and counts them as one. The real reason why the rich pay a very small percent of their income to payroll taxes is because it is capped at $128,400, so if you double twice that, your effect tax rate is halved. Also, capital gains are not subject to payroll taxes which also only really effects the rich.
Poor doesn't get poorer, but the income gap increases at least for last 40 years. The problem is, when a person gets unspendable amount of money, then this person starts to crave power, not money. And this pursuit of power always brings disasters. Not everybody is Elon Musk.
@Ken MacDonald The problem is; A millionaire can't buy a law or lawmaker to make another million. But a billionaire can. These laws or lawmakers are supposed to protect your health, freedom, rights, life. And if a multi-billionaire or more want to change or break them for another billion, also with the purchased will and power of the government, would not that be a big problem? İsn't that the main reason of the most wars??
Tax myth: The government in this country is excellent and uses your tax dollars efficiently.
Too bad RUclips won't let me reply with a GIF of a Swanson laugh.
We’ve had roads built before the irs and income tax existence. Dumb comment
The daddy state: fascism, communism, socialism, dictatorship, and monarchies.
I've never heard that myth perpetuated. Maybe joked about.
tax truth: business don't want to pay taxes so they use propaganda to fool you into thinking taxes are useless.
"Want to hear a joke?
The government uses your tax money efficiently."
Lmao 😂
A "joke" would be a swift kick in the groin.
But this was just uncomfortable
@Liberty AboveAllElse but you could argue that the public doesn't mind being mugged if they think it produces more good than the alternatives.
Eg, if I get pulled over unfairly but the practice helps fund and catch violent criminals, some might say, "okay"
Or if I pay too much in taxes (or risk jail time at gunpoint), but the government then funds programs that neither I nor the free market see incentive to solve, then (if the benefit is enough) we might say, "okay"
People accept trade-offs, even when they're not totally satisfied with all available alternatives
@Liberty AboveAllElse interesting approach to this.
I would naturally guess very high (eg, >85%):
- it costs little to check-off
- there are some expected benefits
- the costs are not obvious nor directly borne by the respondent
However, I looked at the $3 tax check-off which is "sole source of funds for the public funding program" run by the US Federal Elections Commission:
- The participation rate has dropped from 27.50% in 1976 (around inception) to 3.56% in 2020
- it started low and went even lower!
So the evidence actually suggests, "not many would ask the government to help."
(But there's a possible confounding factor: public trust in the US government has decreased substantially since 1958, per a 2019 study published by Pew).
And to be fair, I'm not sure if "campaign funding" is the right example of public problem, but it still offers reasonable insights.
I found this interesting and relevant. What is your stance on your question?
www.fec.gov/introduction-campaign-finance/understanding-ways-support-federal-candidates/presidential-elections/public-funding-presidential-elections/
@Liberty AboveAllElse 👏👏👏
...well put!
One might even argue that the solution is for the free market to make the "expected value" of political office decrease, so we aren't diverting so much of our productive output to the government (which clearly the people generally don't want "solving" their problems)...
Whenever someone mentions the 90% top tax bracket, they never mention that the bottom bracket was raised as well. Poor people might only have their bracket raised to 10 or 20%, but that is still a lot to a poor person.
Its because they could care less for the poor. Its a country for the rich!
Poor people's wages were higher than they are today. In 1950, the minimum wage was the equivalent of $10.39/hour and housing was about half the price when adjusted for inflation. Also, there were tuition free state colleges back then, so you could get ahead without going broke. Also, there were far more jobs that paid well and didn't require a degree. You used to be able to buy a house, a car, and raise a stay at home wife and kids on a fork lift driver's salary. You can't even pay rent with that salary today.
@@oggyreidmore VERY good point
@Truth Serum well fuck, if that's the case then I'm going to have a lot of write offs come tax time haha
@Truth Serum start writing off a lot of shit so I go under 29k
We need the”boring guy”.
Boring guy is the one who you need in specific circumstances and this is one of them
We need lots of these “boring guys” to rewrite America’s tax system.
Elon Musk isn't from the US unfortunately
Wooh! That's me I'm the accountant!
@SuperGubes I'm in audit, but I do taxes as a side biz, god damn. Never thought I'd meet one of my ppl here. You prepared for tax season?
The average standard of living in the Soviet Union was lower than the poverty line in the United States. If you really care about the poor, you put them in the economic system that puts them in the best position, not one that makes everyone equally miserable.
Average standard of living in Sweden is WAY higher then that of the US, there for we should copy their economic system. The US ranks 19th on standard of living, we should, therefore, look at the economic systems who are doing better then us and copy them. Clearly Russia is a piss poor thing to copy, the USSR has been died for 28 years now, but your logic is correct, we should look at the countries who are doing better then us on a standard of living and copy them. That is places like Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Australia.
@@Loathomar Good rebuttal. Though, I wish you didn't just list Scandinavian countries (except Australia, obviously). It makes it sound like you're pushing an agenda (which, of course, everybody is, but it's still not good to sound like that). I suggest making the point in the abstract.
I recently heard James Demore make a mechanistic correlation argument regarding communist countries that seems relevant. ruclips.net/video/zCkBKrI7JDA/видео.html
@@Qstandsforred Well, I was kind of poking fun because I assumed you would not agree with the economic policies of those countries. There are some less "socialist" countries that do very less on standard of living. Switzerland is one example, though much of their economic policies would still be extremely "leftist" in the US. The only county that might if less "socialist" then the US and might do better in standard of living is Singapore
@@Loathomar "That is places like Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Australia."
Yeah go fuck yourself in Sweden.
@@Loathomar Standard of living is measured only in individual liberty and cost of discretionary stuff. Sweden, Denmark and so forth suck ass in all of those things.
Raising taxes gives incentive to NOT work, and to not be productive and to not create jobs or grow your business. Raising taxes is bad for everyone. Besides that, the government has a spending problem that tax revenues where tax revenues will never be enough...even if the tax was 100%.
When you continue to shock an animal randomly and not based on any actions the animal becomes dejected and inactive.
@@josedubois2295 Kinda shitty people are treated as animals
Head meet nail.
"If the average citizen knew how their tax money is spent they would not stop barfing for three days"... me.
Instead of raising taxes cut government spending
That's what I was saying since forever NASA is useless privatize it , remove the army from other countries etc... With that money saved u can fund stuff like healthcare etc...
At the very least cutting government funding will make them have to be smarter with it. Having too much money has made the government less efficient
They've been pissing it away....forever BUT now they want more n sooner
@@royjaber571 agreed billions lost on Mars great a big planet void of life and nothing but rocks and sand. Who gives a shit about NASA. So many suffering starving but yet. We need a robotics on Mars good grief get it together people GOD IS ALWAYS WATCHING PRAY REPENT LOVE HELP OTHER'S
@@ragnarskollnation3073 indeed brother !!!
My mom cousin owned a restaurant in France for 30 years which he had to sell after all these years thanks to the infamous high taxes, now imagine how many people lost their jobs because of that.
France will become iraq in 20 years
@@fadli_1577 I think we are lucky because we have : world record for public spending + tax and heavy regulations but managed to cheat on the market "thanks" to the ECB for borrowing at -0,34% interest rate during the most important economic recession since WW2 lol nonsense...But as soon the ECB stop manipulating the market we will go bankrupt !
WE have a bartender tellin us ANYTHING??
@@fadli_1577 Not if the united states presence is removed from this Earth and a phenomenon like what happened after WW1 happens again in Europe.
@@teslaasmr9375 1a,
If we just tax the rich-
Rich: leave
We need to tax the businesses mo-
Business owners: leave
We need to tax the midd-
Middle class: leave
We have no-one left tax, whatever will we do?
@Burner Fire let's hope they don't do an illegal immigration.
@Burner Fire The Mexicans! No but higher taxes are shit for everyone.
Perfect example... New York.
Business leaving the United States? ... where would they go? ... Iran, Angola, Povertonia ... too funny ...
@@russcrawford3310 there are other places in the world that aren't complete shitholes, like the UK, france, germany, etc.
"do we leave it in the private sector where the market decides, or in the hands of corrupt politicians" seems pretty simple to me
"Do we leave it to the corrupt corporations to decide, or leave it to the corrupt politicians." I see shit on all sides. It seems the only way forward is backwards, sideways, or through the wormhole.
@Brutus Tan *_"the difference is, that corporations became powerful cause they gave us what we wanted"_* No. Corporations became powerful because they figured out how to inject useless wants into our skulls. Hospitals found ways to keep us sicker for longer. Social media figured out how to enrage us for views. Food and supplement companies found ways to lie legally without doing so explicitly.
Lysander Dusseljee and id rather have an obesity epidemic than food shortages
"The best way to help the poor is by not being one of them."
-Ayn Rand
(during a speech attributing the quote to Reverend Ike)
“It is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it”
- Abraham Lincoln
Harsh, but not without its merits. Two things: poverty is relative, so there always will be the poor(er). Then there is the question whether you're obliged to give something back to the society from which the consumers who "made" you rich are coming from.
@@howardroark3208
Lincoln plagiarized that axiom from something he read on the Internet.
@@jeffersonianideal This must be the most appropriate "duh" ever uttered.
But what about the voluntary poor!
JFK would be labelled alt right by today standards
Not quite. JFK was more conservative than any Statist chief executive that followed. This is not all that unusual considering the libertarian philosophical ethic that asserts government always grows.
Not, JFK would not as he didn't have rabid antisemitic and anti-immigration feelings.
Lmao. Irony
@@scockery Libertarians support immigration and open borders but they get labelled far right wing all the time.
JFK was an anti communist Catholic president who was pro business (by today's standards). He wouldn't win a single state in today's democratic primary.
DublinDapper 👎🏻dumb comment
I'm a small business owner and after a couple years of making some decent money and paying some significant taxes and paying thousands to people to help me reduce them, started studying the tax laws and completely restructured my business. Now I work less and gross almost half as much but net about the same. Instead of fixing up houses and selling them to new families, I now keep them for myself, and sit on them for investment or rent them out. This further reduces the supply of housing and increasing the price of buying a new house.
Bingo!
Anyone that’s had to deal with the VA or Medicare understands the government shouldn’t control our health care.
AK 1776 yeah just health insurance
I fixed your statement: "Anyone that’s had to deal with [GOVERNMENT] understands the government shouldn’t control [ANYTHING]." :)
Hahaha, good one. That made me laugh. You are telling the Jew Rothschild's to leave our health care alone. Not going to happen. They run America. In case you didn't know it is called America, Inc. America is nothing but a money making business for the elites i.e. Rothschild's, Rockefeller's, etc. The ones who start our wars every time and make big money off of the wars while our troops are being killed off all so the elite bastards can take more and more money. AK, you have a lot to learn. What I am saying is why I got out of the military.
The va and Medicare are both rates as good systems by the people that use them. There is a reason why every other industrialized nation has some version of national healthcare and it’s not because it’s worse than private insurance
Hell, the reason college tuition is so expensive is that the government have their grubby hands in the student loan system.
Key words, “if you make the taxes high enough people don’t have an incentive to work, they won’t”
As a nurse if I don’t pick up extra shifts. Your ER wait time will be even longer. Get rid of incentive and you will be waiting for 12 hours with a heart attack
“We need to tax the rich more. They aren’t paying their fair share of taxes.” says the 44% of taxpayers who paid no federal income tax.
To be fair, one ought to keep in mind that they do, in fact, fund taxes (e.g. sales taxes and buying from entities that pay taxes). Though, I do agree that is seems, on the face of it, hypocritical to suggest that it's fair to take only someone else's money. Nevertheless, many of these people are rich themselves. For example, almost all of Silicon Valley supports high taxes. I see no way to reconcile hypocrisy with departure of one's own wealth.
@@Qstandsforred Almost all of Silicon Valley is also in to rent seeking statism.
@@MilwaukeeF40C *_"Almost all of Silicon Valley is also in to rent seeking statism."_* ??? Can clarify and/or explain? That doesn't sound like Silicon Valley, at least when defined as tech innovators.
@@Qstandsforred "defined as tech innovators"
HAHAHAHAA!!!
I don't think you are familiar with the phrase 'rent seeking'.
Jung Kim--"payed no federal income tax"? DID YOU INCLUDE THE 20+ MAJOR CORPORATIONS THAT PAY NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX??? HELL,,,I'D BE WELL OFF IF I DIDN'T PAY TAXES!!! FYI--INDIVIDUAL TAXES ACCOUNTED FOR 46% OF FEDERAL TAX REVENUE IN 2014,,,AND 47% IN 2015!!! CORPORATE TAXES ACCOUNTED FOR 11% OF FEDERAL TAX REVENUE IN 2014 AND 2015!!! FROM**CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES!!! AND THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS JUST GAVE THEM $1.5+TRILLION MORE(THAT WE PAY FOR)!!! YOU DON'T THINK REPUBLICANS ARE GOING TO GIVE AWAY $1.5+TRILLION IN TAX REVENUE,,, WITHOUT TAKING IT FROM SOMEONE OR SOMETHING ELSE,,,DO YOU??? FYI**THEY STOLE $9+TRILLION FROM S.S. (OVER 35+ YEARS) TO PAY FOR CORPORATE WELFARE!!! THEY HAVE TO PAY THE BILLS SOMEHOW!!! SAD,,,REALLY SAD
Paying about 70% of your earned money is a fair share?! I can't believe people are saying that on national TV and getting away with it.
SuperFinGuy, it’s 70 percent marginal tax rate; only rich people have to pay 70 percent. You’re not rich so why do you care? 😂👌
@@seanrahman7129 Because I am not a complete scumbag and a criminal? People have the right to their income. With the same percentage as everyone else, the rich still pay more.
Actually, " fair share " is more like 48% for the rich (millionaires and billionaires ) and 20ish% for everyone else except for the poor and severely disabled, who's tax rate would be 0% - 10%
@@seanrahman7129 Principle is not whatever personally benefits yourself.
@@futerofiari5353 How did you come up with that? I don't even care.
by wealthy, they mean millionaires. Fun fact. 75 % of millionaires started from nothing. So basically they want to punish normal people who worked hard to make it to the top.
@@johnnormal1422 People voluntarily choose to work for them. School unions exploit teachers because there is no option to opt out of the union without sacrifice teaching, while charging teachers for the Union "representing" them.
@@johnnormal1422 If you don't like the job quit and fin yourself a better one and if you can't develop a skill or trade and find a better job that's how it works. Nobody is forcing you to work. If you have a better solution please enlighten us.
Agreed. To add to your fun fact: There are over 11 million millionaire households, according to Spectrem Group’s Market Insights Report 2017.(1) And that number is growing. Second fun fact: Chris Hogan recently wrote a book and interviewed over 10,000 US millionaires. 8 out of 10 milionaires came from families at or below the middle-class income level and 4.25% came from absolute poverty. 79% of millionaires received no inheritance at all (completely self made), and of the remaining 21%-19% received an inheritance of less than $100,000. Still not enough to make them rich without there own hard work. 62 percent earned a household income of less than $100,000 annually and still became millionaires. The top five occupations among millionaires in the U.S. are engineer, accountant, teacher or professor, management, and lawyers. These millionaires primarily choose classic investments, like mutual funds (index funds) and real estate to make there Millions. So these strange myths about Millionaires are not very accurate. It is truly possible for us all to get there with hard work and discipline applied over a period of time. AOC has no understanding of finances or how history worked in the past.
John Normal saying it’s not truly voluntary for someone to have a job because they need to make money is like saying it’s not truly voluntary for someone to eat a pop tart because they need to eat. Yes they do need to eat, but instead of eating a pop tart, they have the choice to invest time into learning how to cook so they can eat better meals.
@@johnnormal1422 When you invest in a company, your inherit its risks. Investing doesn't guarantee you make money.
This kind of clear-eyed, facts-based reporting may be one of the few things to save our country from the utopian dreaming left.
Why doesn't anyone ever challenge their claim of being "moral"?
Is it moral to use violence to take more property from some than others?
What about being successful, working hard, and being more productive make you less deserving of the fruits of your own labor?
What is moral about making one man labor without compensation for the benefit of another?
Yeah the solution is not in taxes it's in spending less
"We are from the government and we are here to help"....sends shutters down my spine
Flat tax with no loopholes.
This would make everything so much easier for people and not stress out every year during tax season.
A single flat tax on land has worked very well in the past.
@@schumanhuman So rent seeking for something you don't own?!
@@Aseutester
That's what the land tax addresses, lands value today is almost entirely created as an externality via agglomeration effects,s it's correcting a market failure. Ricardo's law of rent tells us land rent always exists, question is who gets the rent. As an owner of several properties in London, every investment private or public effectively subsidises me, increasing my rental yields and capital gains. Yet we instead primarily tax profits, sales and incomes instead of these unearned gains.
Most libertarian approach is to net off most of the collected rent from the tax and pay it to everyone to replace welfare, so everyone effectively shares the surplus rent, but is not taxed on their labour or capital creation.
This should be the top comment.
Problem is not taxes, its government spending.
FUCK YOU CUT SPENDING!
Winner winner chicken dinner.
The problem is a mixture of both. Who gives a fuck if they cut spending but still take 90% of my income. Low taxes AND low spending, that's what we need.
It will always be excessive spending when corrupt politicians promise free sh!t to low and median income people.
@@bertram_oredrock I only see free shit to rich class. what's excessive spending that you are talking about? educate please.
Omar: "We've had its ass high ass 90%!"
Her presence in Congress is depressing.
"You must be a really boring guy..." LOL that hard hitting, fact finding that we all love John Stossel for.
This should be required viewing in all high schools and college campuses!
America needs a big movement to cut the Tax Code down to just one page. Let those accountants start doing something productive finally.
bergonius
I’m an accountant and even I’m for this.
We would just find work elsewhere.
Exactly. Only personal tax, no corporate tax. One low flat rate for all (15%). One filing type (single). No deductions. No credits. No income types (besides gifts which aren't taxed). Teens could do their parents taxes in their head in 2 seconds.
Done.
@@KineticSymphony Flat tax is a good idea. Fair tax is even better. If you cut out all the paperwork, what would government workers do all day? :)
Well in all honesty- in any country the tax code can be summed up in around 10 pages (standard A4).
If you look at any tax code you will find that the other 1000 pages are just loppholes and definitions of words.
@@KineticSymphony A flat tax code like this would be amazing and be fair to everyone poor and rich.
"you must be a really boring guy!" I love John Stossel! 😂😂😂😍😍😍
The income tax amendment to the constitution was "sold" on the promise it would never be more than 2 percent and never apply to more than the top 1 percent of income earners. So much for that.
Why is the concept that you keep what you earn so hard for people to understand? You won't get richer by the government robbing the rich, just the government.
Because people are envious.
John Stossel to his opponents: "Now that's interesting."
John Stossel to his friends: "You must be a REALLY BORING GUY!"
I don't know, Stossel gets pretty harsh to others too. 😂
Actually, Stossel is pretty stellar with political interviews. When he interviews people on his side, he asks good questions. He asks "what about this?", like he is the opponent. He asks the questions that need to be answered to persuade people of why they should agree with the interviewee, despite his obvious bias.
Two words you will never hear a Democrat say............Spending cuts.
And what you like to cut? You, or someone else?
Democrats along with republicans cut military spending about I think it was 6 years ago.
They also would never utter how the founders would deal with them if they were alive.
@Not Suspicious Human ..."if they were alive." Sorry about that. I got a call while I was typing that, and forgot to finish it.
If a government was going to try and steal 90% of my income that is millions of dollars in incentives to leave the country. America isn't the only game in town. Although it might be better if we can't leave, because then we will finally stand up and say "no"
Finally.
One day.
Maybe then.
You dont think enough is enough already?!?
Its easier to wait until its too late and say 'I told ya so" ,than to man the fuck up now.
Been listening to that crap for years now.
You aint gonna do shit .
@@liveevil5914 We just haven't had the right idea / plan / catalyst. I'll never listen to negative losers such as yourself. The time will come, but we have to fight smart and do things the right way.
That's funny, you dont even know how the marginal tax rate works. That's how the koch brothers want to keep you, uneducated and full of bs.
@@oscarmunoz2269 Actually I do and my point still stands. If I'm making millions it should not be up to the government where those millions go. Government should only be there to prevent me (or others) from harming other people directly. Not dividing up my money to their friends, family, and constituents.
If I'm making $20million through a successful business, that is a $9 million dollar incentive for me to invest overseas, purchase second citizenship, or just remove all my assets from the US completely. I can buy a second passport for 1/20th of that $9 million. Talk about a bargain.
@@destroya3303 Businesses have been moving out since the 80s. Companies are going to move out if it's cheaper to go elsewhere no matter what. If a company is still here it's going to stay because there are incentives to stay in the US that other countries can't compete with. Just because we ask more from a CEO doesn't mean the whole company is going to move.
3:55 It was a big story when he left New York
Bassmaster86
It’s still all over the news.
Very glad to see this kind of information being shared with the world.
And _I_ say John Stossel for President
Why? we have Trump.
@@colleyrj After
@@colleyrj More like "Why we have Trump?"
Of the course the answer is that Hilary Clinton was a worse choice.
Garrett Lees...Please ,no more celebrity presidents.We need someone with political experience.
John Ball why?
No one has a “fair share”. No one owes anything
YES! Finally someone is exposing her idiocy!
People have been exposing her idiocy since the day she was nominated
Finally?? People knew how dumb she was. This just further proves it
audiorage82407 Wait, she has a success?
@@mix3k818 She successfully primaried an absentee incumbent in a far-left district if that's what you mean
audiorage82407 So she doesn't even have any Congress or Local Congress seat or even political party representation?
"rich people will try to evade high taxes"
thats bullshit. EVERYONE would try to evade high taxes
Key word is try. Rich people can afford to pay accountants to insure they get out of paying taxes.
If you or I try to evade paying taxes, we will get audited and thrown in federal prison.
I will find every way to pay less tax,we don't need or want your government programs! Thanks.
That's why they gotta get rid of those loopholes
@@stewiegriffinfan18 Then people like me will either fight or flight. But that separation I think is inevitable
@@destroya3303 You won't flight just because of taxes. Youd have to get a visa and all this other shit. if youre rich youre rich... Whether you got 10m or 20m doesnt matter
You should go live in Oklahoma, a conservative paradise where firefighters ration their fuel to fight fires because the government has been gutted so much it barely functions. Barely minarchist at that point.
@@oscarmunoz2269 We should be considered refugees from this shithole country
Why is all the overtime I work taxed? I paid taxes on my 40 which is my fair share.
Why does AOC consider it greed for people to want to keep their hard earned money, but not considered greed for her to take your hard earned money.
Two comments: 1) if we want to make people "pay their fair share", then we should make all people, especially those who pay zero (due to government handouts) pay a minimum tax (to go with their minimum wage).
2) When Rush Limbaugh, a wealthy conservative, left New York City, where his radio show was based because it was a top location, some politicians say they thought it was good that he left and "good riddance", then they spend years demanding proof of every minute he was in new York on business so they could collect taxes from him. Currently the Governor of New York says he wants more rich people to come to the state and that high taxes chase off where they get the money they hand out to the poor.
Very few pay zero. Most of the poor receive significant handouts in cash and services but pay near zero taxes. They have a large negative tax rate - not zero.
- - THE FIVE QUESTIONS -- --
by Larken Rose
1) Is there any means by which any number of individuals can delegate to someone else the moral right to do something which none of the individuals have the moral right to do themselves?
2) Do those who wield political power (presidents, legislators, etc.) have the moral right to do things which other people do not have the moral right to do? If so, from whom and how did they acquire such a right?
3) Is there any process (e.g., constitutions, elections, legislation) by which human beings can transform an immoral act into a moral act (without changing the act itself)?
4) When law-makers and law-enforcers use coercion and force in the name of law and government, do they bear the same responsibility for their actions that anyone else would who did the same thing on his own?
5) When there is a conflict between an individual's own moral conscience, and the commands of a political authority, is the individual morally obligated to do what he personally views as wrong in order to "obey the law"?
This^
Michał Z. 5). Going the speed limit is wrong, car go vrooooom
My teenage son said it best when I cut his allowance money when he got a job while in high school, “Mom, I realized after having to pay for my own stuff, that it’s easier to spend other people’s money. It’s like there’s no consequence on how I spend it”.
Gotta love people who back their claims with charts that show the true historical data!
John Stossel i love you sooo much
you are really a fine Journalist and human being
God bless you and family
Folks also forget the high tax rates then didn’t lead to a better economy. No epa or foreign economic competition after ww2 is what boomed americas economy. Things changed in the 70s and Reagan in the 80s fixed our economic stagnation problem.
lmao this isn't a name yes, all government agencies and taxation are helpful and totally do what they are supposed to....ignorant fuck.
I have a friend who declared that nobody should be allowed to earn more than a million dollars a year. I said, "OK, I'm a CEO currently earning $12 million. So I'll hire 11 co-CEOs, and we'll all work for a month." He looked at me in horror, and tried to say I wouldn't be allowed to do that. "So you'll send people with guns to stand next to me, to chain me to the desk so I can't leave? How about if I retire after a month and get rehired in a year, then retire again? Are you going to force me to work? Are you going to bring back slavery, just for CEOs?" Another time he said it wasn't fair that some people could work when others couldn't. I said, "Suppose I want a ditch dug, and I hire someone with a backhoe to do it." That's not fair, that one guy gets the work when others are out of work, just because the one person has a tool that others don't, so I should get shovels and hire a bunch of guys. "Will they be able to dig as fast and as safely for the same cost?" Well, no, but that shouldn't matter. "It does if you're the one paying for it. So you'd prefer the ditch not be dug at all if one person can do it faster, safer, and for less money? Better everyone be out of work than at least one person gets hired?" That's more fair to him. He's an artist living on Social Security, mad because his art doesn't magically sell itself (marketing and selling are beneath him).
Stossel rocks.
As always, John is the GOAT reporters and researchers. Absolutely great material with backed up resources.
I'm so glad that Stossel joined Reason, I think he really gets to shine here
Just found Stossels channel......instant subscriber now!
"You must be a really boring guy!"
Haha, poor Phil.
A massive amount of people pay nothing at all. When will they pay THEIR fair share?
Stossel is a true American hero!
The goal of confiscatory marginal tax rates isn't to generate revenue. The goal is to stop people from being "too rich".
No, The goal is wealth transfer, to enrich the political class.
A 37% tax rate is also un-American. A truly American tax rate would be 0%. But I'm flexible. If there has to be a monopoly on military and the courts, I could tolerate a national sales tax of 1% for the military and 1% for the court system. But it must be written into the constitution that the rate can never go higher. People can voluntarily pay more if they want.
The government should be funded from the interest from a $100 endowment.
I love content like this. Please do not stop. We need more of this today, more than ever!
"the rich get richer and the poor get poorer"
When I was a kid I heard my mom say that as she was sobbing about the job she hated and how much they demand of her for her low pay. That moment fucked my life up. In my infinite 7 year old wisdom I decided that if the poor just get poorer, then there was really no point in trying. No point in working hard. I was already poor, and I was just going to get poorer. May as well just accept it and go with the flow.
By the time I was old enough to realize how wrong that statement was, my life track was already derailed. I'm still trying to make something of myself and struggling the entire time because even though I know better, my gut instinct always wants to revert me back to "don't even try, it won't work, the poor get poorer"
"...how much they demand of her for her low pay."
So you grew up in the USSR. East Germany, Cuba, North Korea? Nicely here in the US, under capitalism, one's relationship with any employer is voluntary.
@@melainewhite6409 you've misunderstood me. I wasn't saying my mom was being mistreated. I was just saying that was what she complained about. Her opinion was that the pay was too low for the work she was doing. Yet she chose to stay at that job for 27 years, never even making an effort to find a "better" job, so it couldn't have been that bad.
I'm sure she felt like she was trapped at that job, being a single mom of two, barely making ends meet. It would be very scary to switch jobs under those circumstances. But as they say, no risk, no reward. She trapped herself and she wasn't willing to go any further to better her circumstances, likely assuming that working at another job would have the same result, so why bother? And like many other people, she placed the blame outside of herself, demonizing her boss, the company as a whole, and rich people in general. They were the enemy to her because they had money and they weren't giving her what she thought she should be earning.
These were the ideals I grew up with. It wasn't until I was nearly out of high school that I gave it any actual thought and started to realize something didn't feel right about it. And it wasn't until my mid twenties that I heard anybody else voice an ideal that countered what I grew up believing, and fell more in line with the conclusions I was coming to on my own as I thought about how things work.
I am a free market libertarian conservative. Probably to a greater extent than most. And I wish I could go back and teach my younger self what I know now. Hell, I wish I could go back even further and teach my mother's younger self.
My mother has since stopped believing those things by the way. After 27 years doing the job she hated so much, she put in for a promotion, which she easily got, and she enjoyed her job from that moment on until she retired. She stopped crying every day before work and stopped demonizing the wealthy and successful. She finally realized that the poor aren't stuck being poor forever and the wealthy aren't holding anybody back.
@@KurNorock to be fair you are correct and I’m glad you found success, the truth is though that there is only so much wealth to go around and so for any one person to get richer someone has to get poorer. Facts are that in America about 98% of the wealth is owned by 0.01% of the people. That’s a pretty small crumb to fight over.
@@satanpuncher06 That is not true at all. The economy is not a zero sum game. New wealth is being created all the time. Just because somebody got rich doesn't mean somebody else had to get poor. I'll give you an easy to understand example.
Imagine you have a hobby making things out of scrap metal. One day you have an idea and make a thing that is very useful in every day life. Somebody else sees that thing and offers to buy it from you for $50. You only spent $5 on the scrap metal and it took you about an hour to make the thing, so you accept the offer and decide to use the money to make 10 more of those things, which you then sell for $500.
You got $450 richer. Did each of the people that bought the things from you get $50 poorer? No. They exchanged their money for something of equal economic value. They didn't just lose $50. They traded $50 for something worth $50 leaving them right in the same place they started or in even a better position because now that thing you made helps them in their daily life to save time, freeing up time for them to create their own wealth. But you DID get richer even though nobody got poorer. You CREATED $450 in new wealth that did not exist before.
This happens all the time. That is why there is more money now than there was 10 years ago and there will be more money in 10 years than there is now.
Here is a video explaining it probably better than I did. ruclips.net/video/n6v81VH6k4A/видео.html
And no, the top .01% does not own 98% of all the wealth. Not even close. The top .1% hold about 15% of the wealth. Not that it even matters. Somebody else being rich doesn't stop you from also becoming rich. Keep in mind that as a person from the western world, no matter your economic situation, you are in the top 1% of the world's economy.
If you focus less on what other people have and focus more on what you have, you'll find yourself in a much better position.
The government has got a spending problem not a revenue problem. You cannot simply spend money that you don't have as it is common sense that you need to cut back.
Sadly most politicians do not care as majority of them had never had done a day's work in their lives or ran a business.
Personally for me I would cut taxes and cut spending plus I would deregulate the economy so that it would be easier for people to set up businesses. The top rate of tax here in the UK is 45% for incomes above £150000.
This is a good analysis.
If the government wants more taxes it means it's wasting money. It needs to be replaced with people who know how to manage taxes well and not waste those funds on bullshit programs.
preach
This is why Ireland is getting a ton of companies. They have the lowest corporate tax rates now big corporations like google, Facebook and Pfizer are all there. If you want to send more job creators overseas keep taxing the rich, they can offerd to move. Can you?
If we ever hope to pay down the $23 trillion national debt, we need to maximize revenue and not simply taxes.
I own a business and employee many people all with great wages and bonus, healthcare, retirement, while the country criminally surcharges my property tax to nearly double its market value, and this year I will pay 400K in taxes in federal in addition to another 100K in property and state franchise, and personal property tax just because I hold product inventory. In fact, when you have a business the IRS forces us to pay estimated tax before I even make the money myself. It's all pure extortion and yet the excuse is that this is the price to pay for being part of the economy and system which according to Obama I didn't build my business on my own, dead wrong.
You don't have to go far to see the negative effects of high tax rates, just look at NYC, even cuomo and deblasio admit it now
Tax rates change, people adapt. What never changes is dishonesty from politicians.
I just don't want to be a part of this country anymore. If there was a better place to go, I would leave
Try MY. If you live abroad more than 330 days a year, you don’t have to pay fed taxes (only state). The government in MY is so feeble it’s like the Wild West out here! live in a tree house with solar panels, buy a sailboat ($10k) and park it for free off some beach. Start a bonfire in your driveway. No one cares and the people are pretty nice (it’s not like Mexico, the culture here is very honest and respectful). My house rent is 100$ a month! I have palm trees in my yard and I’m 20 minutes from a white sand beach! 25cent beer, too.
@@calvinatdrifterstudio8438 what is MY short for?
Jajajajajaja now the State of his is literally his fantasy State (it's his Joke)
And if rent was 100 dollars a month id worry because in his State it would likely catch on fire or topple when i am sleeping (because his State has no regulations)>
@@calvinatdrifterstudio8438 What is MY? Or where is MY? Is it Malaysia?
You're the man, Mr. Stossel.
I just learned Stossel is 73!
I thought he was in his 40s!
thank you John Stossel for the job well done!
This video needs 340 Million views.
Agreed.
Rich people dont EVADE high taxes they AVOID them..The difference is 4 years in jail..
In general, people are wealthy because they create wealth, wealth which benefits all of society including the poorest. Allowing people who have demonstrated the ability to create more wealth for society (i.e. the rich) to keep more capital benefits everyone far more that money given to those who have demonstrated the opposite, an ability to waste money.
Fuck off. You don't get to decide what's beneficial. That's up for discussion. While it's true that they (sometimes) generate wealth, I say we're all worse off for it.
@@Qstandsforred What are you not okay with being put up for a vote?
@@MilwaukeeF40C *_"What are you not okay with being put up for a vote?"_* You phrase that as if I said that I'm against voting on something. As far as I can tell, this is entirely unrelated. Perhaps you responded to the wrong thread?
@@Qstandsforred You want matters of individual voluntary discretion to be "up for discussion". Fuck that shit. I decide what is beneficial for me.
am I paying my fair share ? I feel not. But I wouldn't mind to.
John Stossel is like that smart Aunt or Uncle who always gives us great advice when we see em during the holidays...
...and leftists are like an obnoxious know-it-all niece or nephew that tells them how wrong they are simply because.
@@melainewhite6409 second year college students...lmao
Leave rich people alone! Tax the poor, not the rich!
Taxation is extortion!!
If you owe the IRS they charge you 150$ to make payment arrangements on top of the interest which is a base of 3% plus current Fed funds rate on,top of the penalties which comes to 30% or more. If the democrats want people to pay their" fair share" then the poor should start to pony up.
Love the videos Stossel, keep 'em coming.
half the country doesnt pay federal income taxes, how is that fair?
Most people are paid very little. In fact most of the population could only afford to live in the cheapest areas of the country.
AOC's own mother left NY because of taxes! 🤣
Fake news.
@@KevinTheNoobie Occasional-Cortex and her family also lived in one of the Wealthiest Counties in the Nation. A lot of Americans have fled where they lived for long periods, to gain lower tax rates, property tax rates, utilities, more land, less Regulations, less Agenda 21 Congestion. 'for most of her formative years, she was actually raised in one of the United States’ wealthiest counties. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the county’s average annual income of the top one percent is a staggering $4,326,049. Yorktown Heights, specifically, offers a sharp contrast from Bronx living. According to USA.com, the town’s population is 81 percent white, and median household income is $96,413 - nearly double the average for both New York state and the nation, according to data from 2010-2014'
www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/06/29/fact-check-girl-from-the-bronx-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-grew-up-in-one-of-richest-u-s-counties/
@@Brucev7 LOL! Breitbart...
@@KevinTheNoobie Ignoring the truth is not intelligent
@@Brucev7 And yet you're religious.
If the government quit spending money frivolously they would have a budget instead of a deficit. And if they were honest and had true integrity and honor they might actually hold up to their word shocker!
“The poor don’t get poorer, that’s another myth”
Me watching my student loans rise as college costs more than ever, while Its hard to find a place to live because of the cost of housing in America, while I can’t afford healthcare because of corporate politicians
I mean yeah u could've studied abroad for way cheaper
@@royjaber571 I mean that doesn’t change the point I was making
@@Ps3luvr260 I understand hope u get out of debt soon man
@@royjaber571 thanks 🙏
The 'poor' generally dont get a college education and work in labor, where wages are increasing
Income tax does not go to essential services, roads any of that. Income tax barley goes towards the interest on this bankrupt franchise. There is no law that forces you to pay income tax. We all consent to having those funds deducted from our paycheques. Not suggesting anyone stop giving those crooks money until you know how to deal this the state on the matter, proper.
You guys should have these with Spanish subtitles
you can add them if you have the time, click on the 3 dots under the video and select "add translation"
Yes I agree with you but not everybody speaks English and that everybody wants to learn English
Latin American countries and Spain should really listen to these things.
50's "Loopholes" = Reinvest and research, which paid off in spades. Made this country excel. Any tax discussion that does not parse the very specific difference between wage tax and profit tax and sales tax and property tax and taxes called fees license taxes etc. etc. . Disingenuous discussion Stossel. American TAX talk is one of the greatest scams in history. NONE of these "taxes" are equal or on the same playing field at all.
Simple: close the tax loopholes. There, I fixed it for you. You’re welcome.
Wish it was that simple
Rich would still find them.
Wow 420K subscribers, congrats!!!
Half the country pays NO income tax and many get money back! No skin in the game! #RedistributionOfWealth
#NoSkinInTheGame
Income tax is only on of the federal taxes paid, and the most progressive tax. The taxpolicycenter has an effective tax rate chart for between 1979 and 2015, the lowest 20% of households paid an average of 1.5% in 2015, which is not much, but they did so with a negative income tax. But they did pay 9.6% from payroll taxes, while the top 1% only paid 2.2% to payroll taxes. End regressive taxes!
@@Loathomar They get some of that money back in the form of refunds if they got more of their money taken then they actually owed due to tax credit and deductions. As an accounting major taking a tax class, I guarantee you that the tax code is designed to benefit the lowest % of households more than the top %. Many of the top 1% aren't employed, so they don't pay the payroll tax, they pay self-employment tax. Quit being misleading.
@@cs0345 As an accounting major taking a tax class you should really know that payroll tax and pay self-employment tax are the same taxes. They are called different things because the payroll tax is paid for by both the employer and employees, but they are still the same tax and the tax policy center knows this and counts them as one. The real reason why the rich pay a very small percent of their income to payroll taxes is because it is capped at $128,400, so if you double twice that, your effect tax rate is halved. Also, capital gains are not subject to payroll taxes which also only really effects the rich.
I remember in history class US overthrew government over a tea tax. Now we have tax on everything and government is spending like there is no future.
Doesn’t matter what they raise it too, they will waste fully spend it.
John, you are a lighthouse of truth in the world!
Poor doesn't get poorer, but the income gap increases at least for last 40 years. The problem is, when a person gets unspendable amount of money, then this person starts to crave power, not money. And this pursuit of power always brings disasters. Not everybody is Elon Musk.
@Paramecium Tollies say what you wanna say, the man is doing good, and already did some..
@Ken MacDonald The problem is;
A millionaire can't buy a law or lawmaker to make another million. But a billionaire can. These laws or lawmakers are supposed to protect your health, freedom, rights, life. And if a multi-billionaire or more want to change or break them for another billion, also with the purchased will and power of the government, would not that be a big problem? İsn't that the main reason of the most wars??
@Ken MacDonald No to equality of outcome but, balance is important.
ruclips.net/video/L2vXK9LgO9A/видео.html
as you can see there..
In the future everybody will be Elon Musk. He's got a secret cloning lab and a plan to wipe the rest of us out using automated death cars.
@@nanyakoncerno7295 Only Kim Jong Un can save us from him.. That's why the secret agenda makes him look bad..
Thank you John Stossel.
I think Bernie Sanders sorta looks like a talking mime
I swear he sounds like a cartoon character I liked.
Matt Johnson stupid comment
the issue is not needing more taxes; the issue is spending what we have properly.
Try cutting the military in half.
But that would go against the hegemony functioning
WT? Does" Ilan Omar" know about the USA historical tax structure?
Hahaha. Nothing!