What Donald Trump & his chauffeur have in common — their tax rates
This Buffalo News editorial is the very best explanation I’ve seen of what’s wrong with the Governor’s budget proposal. AS RT reported earlier here, here and here, this budget hits the poor with Medicaid and education cuts, hits the middles class with numerous extra taxes and fees, but gives wealthy New Yorkers a free ride.
… middle-class residents already are paying for an economic crisis not of their making.
They will pay even more, not only in Paterson’s fee hikes and service cuts, but in property tax hikes if localities have to make up for what the state used to do.
While middle-income homeowners ponder that, the Fiscal Policy Institute has shown that over the last two decades, the richest 20 percent of New Yorkers have seen their incomes grow at four times the rate of those in the middle quintile.
Similarly, the elimination of tax brackets at the top and bottom of the scale in recent decades has compressed all New York taxpayers into a narrow range so that, as one critic put it, Donald Trump pays virtually the same rate as his chauffeur.
= EQUALS =
It’s a great essay. Email it to your all your friends, especially the conservatives!
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Your argument fails because you ignore the word “RATE”. The tax rates might be the same but Donald Trump pays many more dollars in taxes than his chauffeur. You position your whole argument as if paying the same rate equals paying the same amount of taxes . . .it simply isn’t true.
BTW, property tax increases affect everyone. Perhaps we should have property tax fairness - all property is taxed on square footage. The rich are currently penalized for maintaining their property better.
Under the current system, and proposed changes, the rich subsidize government services for everyone else. The net outcome is the current economy.
If you really want to make a difference, advocate freedom and liberty, not legalized theft and coercion.
the freedom and liberty that give us love canal style developments, sweet heart deals, tax breaks for the rich, looted (and never repaid) 401ks and taxpayer supported corporate retreats?
Love Canal was the result of Government purposely overlooking the potential poison in the area because they wanted the land. Hooker Chemical warned them about the problem and was ignored, prior to the land transfer. Sweet Heart deals, tax breaks and any kind of subsidies do not constitute freedom or liberty, I am completely opposed to them. We need to disconnect the government from all forms of support for all private industries. Otherwise, the temptation for politicians to abuse the system results in a financial mess like we have now.
Only when freedom is restored to the free-market can we benefit from a true free-market economy.
Love Canal? How does extreme incompetence on the part of the Niagara Falls Board of Education have anything to do with this argument?
The Niagara Falls School Board chose to construct a school on a known retired toxic waste dump, and the City of Niagara Falls permitted the building of homes and rental units on this property. The development released the chemical waste, leading to a public health emergency, an urban planning scandal, and a finding of negligence by the former owner. In the words of a state health commissioner, “Among its legacies, Love Canal will likely long endure as a ‘national symbol of a failure to exercise a sense of concern for future generations.”
Love Canal
The Truth Seeps Out - that article is very enlightening.