How much do you care?

[rehmwa 2]

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You mean like Bill Gates coming to Stanford...a billionaire lecturing a bunch of millionaires, millionaires' kids, and potential millionaires on the benefits of philanthropy...and the next morning there are just as many homeless dudes sleeping at the bus shelter across the street from Stanford as the day before? Is that what fiscal conservatives do the help the world?

you think Bill Gates is a conservative? or a Conservative?

wow

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[rehmwa 2]

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I'd take the lump sum payout but offer to give every dime to charity if they gave me the full pretax amount.

Of course they wouldn't but would be fun to watch them squirm.

best answer yet -

IMO - They wouldn't squirm one bit - the politicians will allow it, but with a TON of debate and publicity, and FINALLY, pretending agonizing, they'll "permit" you to do this with your own money and then act like they personally choked up the $10M themselves (in their minds that would be truth since they consider that money 'theirs', not yours anyway)


then behind the scenes, they'd find some way to just get their cut directly from those charities after you hand over the $$$$. (windfall tax on charities......)

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[davjohns 1]

Did somebody check option four of the poll as a joke?

Anyone who checked that option should send their money to me. After a series of inefficient and ineffective uses of the money, I'll take care of you with the debt that is left over. You'll be responsible for the debt of course.

I know it just wouldnt be right to kill all the stupid people that we meet..

But do you think it would be appropriate to just remove all of the warning labels and let nature take its course.

[rehmwa 2]

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Did somebody check option four of the poll as a joke?

Anyone who checked that option should send their money to me. After a series of inefficient and ineffective uses of the money, I'll take care of you with the debt that is left over. You'll be responsible for the debt of course.

nope, those that actually do suggest such a high top tax bracket are silent when confronted with a scenario that has them being the rich guy

because, in the end, they also see that money as theirs, and they truly recognize that they could a better job doing good things with it that the government ever could

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[pirana 0]

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(and, easily, that extra $1M I get to choose to donate it to Cancer or Heart Disease research or start a business and hire a bunch of people, etc etc etc - that's what a greedy (small c) fiscal conservative does)...

You mean like Bill Gates coming to Stanford...a billionaire lecturing a bunch of millionaires, millionaires' kids, and potential millionaires on the benefits of philanthropy...and the next morning there are just as many homeless dudes sleeping at the bus shelter across the street from Stanford as the day before? Is that what fiscal conservatives do the help the world?

Hasn't he given some really huge chunks of his wealth to things like AIDS research and other very worthy causes? It occurs to me it would be a very good thing if he managed to influence all the millionaires of the world to do the same.

Of course there are those who think he should be taxed at some ungodly rate so the government could use it to fund the spread of democracy (their euphemism for kicking open the doors of other countries so multinational corporations can go in and rape them of their natural resources), subsidize the building of sports stadiums so millionaire crybaby all-stars have a place to play between the strikes they go on because they can't seem to make ends meet, and continue to pour gobs of money down the black hole known as public education.

If there were enough people like Gates around, we would probably be able to cut taxes because many of the causes would be fully funded by genuine charity.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[rehmwa 2]

You can't win, pirana, with this kind of argument.

they will always say "sure, he's donated so much, but he could {ready for it?} ALWAYS DO MORE"


they don't want the government to spend the money like the government does, they just want the government to take it away from others..... (drowning man thinks he'll save himself if he climbs on top of the swimming man - concept and all that - the most effective life guard is not the one that sits his post - it's the one off giving swimming lessons)

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[champu 1]

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they don't want the government to spend the money like the government does, they just want the government to take it away from others...

Using taxes to try and accomplish anything besides paying for the bills is putting the cart before the horse. But on the same note, complaining about taxes in and of themselves is too. I don't advocate either.

I chose $2M. It would be similar to my current situation: I pay what I owe but I also take tax credits, use 401(k), and write off donations, mortgage interest, and taxes where I can.

At then end of the day it's not really about an extra million bucks from some imaginary guy who just made $10M out of thin air even though that's apparently the only situation that's fun to argue about. Tax increases are about an extra couple grand avg from the 45M households that make $60-250K and maybe an extra $50K avg from the 2M households that make more than $250K. What's that raise? A couple hundred billion? That'll help, but it won't cover the deficit and it's not a hose bibb you can keep cranking wider.

[SivaGanesha 2]

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you think Bill Gates is a conservative? or a Conservative?

Certainly I would describe him as a fiscal conservative but then again I would consider it virtually impossible to amass great wealth in industry without being a fiscal conservative.

"It's hard to have fun at 4-way unless your whole team gets down to the ground safely to do it again!"--Northern California Skydiving League re USPA Safety Day, March 8, 2014

[RonD1120 58]

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Here's a concept game....

You just won a major lottery, and after taking the single payment option you get $10M dollars (before taxes).

Congrats - you are the FILTHY RICH

You have a great accountant and he gives you two options (he's amazing - you MAGICALLY get all $10M up front, but now you have to write a check to Uncle Sam to pay your taxes on the winnings):

1 - Follow all the rules and you owe Uncle Sam $3M - all legal and straightforward - Leaving you with a cool $7M

2 - Follow the rules, but it's a bit sneaky and transfer funds overseas and put some in trust and you owe Uncle Sam $2M - still all legal but a bit dirty - $8M in the bank, not bad

You have friends that are bleeding hearts that always thought the filthy rich should pay 60% to Uncle Sam. But it never applied to them, or you until now because you made less than $10M in any previous years.

So, end of the day, you have your checkbook open - you write in the date, and "U.S. Treasury" in the first line. You realize that sending in your 'fair share' means that money will go where ever congress says it will (could be guns, could be a couple jets for Congressional travel, could be research for disease, could be jobs programs, could be a small piece on an aircraft carrier, could go into green technology, could go to some industry that's just too big to fail, could just go into limbo). The point is, you give it to the government and have no say from that point.


How much do you write down? (legal options of $2 or 3M? or your liberal morals indicating overpay to a total of $6M or more)


Discussions on charity or starting businesses with it instead, are interesting, but that's above and beyond your 'fair share' of tax...... Spending it as you wish, even on charity, instead of giving to the treasury is a right wing concept, and that's dirty and foul.


Edit: for the more advanced thinkers out there - you want to tax wealth AND income - so, do you write 6 mil the first year - then volunteer 2.4 the next year - then volunteer 1M the next year - and then 60% of whatever is left over each year until you are no longer rich?

Edit Edit: Hey, if I gave the government (most any government) $10M they just might take care of me......)

I believe in America the IRS takes their share before you get your lump sum payment.

Edit: Oops, KJM already mentioned this in post #13.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[rehmwa 2]

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(he's amazing - you MAGICALLY get all $10M up front, but now you have to write a check to Uncle Sam to pay your taxes on the winnings)

I believe in America the IRS takes their share before you get your lump sum payment.

Edit: Oops, KJM already mentioned this in post #13.

Seriously, if you get bogged down in stuff that doesn't matter, then what's the point of hypotheticals?

Trying to keep it simple - but FINE - they took 20% up front - how much EXTRA will you send in if you're bleeding heart that thinks 60% is a good tax rate? Now that it applies to you, and not someone else anymore?

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Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants