ANSWERS: 30
  • They do, just not enough.
  • Favoritism is sick. +5
  • Bill Gates paid ZERO income taxes in 2008. Rich folks know exactly how to take advantage of loopholes within the system, so they don't have to pay taxes. The reason those loopholes were created (and are maintained, even today) is so the rich will have more money to donate to political candidates, so they can have them in their back pockets. +5
  • Then neither should I.
  • There is absolutely nothing I can do about it anyway so I really don't care.
  • Let's take them to the gallows!
  • I don't so am I rich ?
  • They found the loopholes of the system and they aren't paying there percentage anymore.
  • "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" I say thats America good old USA.
  • Greedy, keep your dirty money.
  • That is not entirely true. They may not pay their fair share but the majority of corporations and the wealthy pay some taxes.
  • Some of them don't. Thank Congress for creating the loopholes for them. . On the other hand, the taxes they are theoretically supposed to pay are higher as a percentage than the taxes everyone else is supposed to pay. There is no way to square that with justice, to say, 'oh, you're winning too much, give me a bite of your winnings'. Sorry, but that's wrong. So we have this stupid game where they try to navigate between being gouged and getting away with paying nothing. Not surprisingly they aim towards the paying nothing.
  • You know, this is a common misunderstanding about our tax system. Before anybody gets off on something like "flat tax", all I'm going to say about any alternative tax code that may ever come about is this: it WILL evolve into a complex creature, every bit as complex as it is now. 'nuff said about alternative tax systems. Now, about THIS one: There is a very good reason that corporations and individuals who own corporations get tax breaks, whether anyone out there agrees with it or not. Tax breaks are INCENTIVES used to lure and keep businesses operating and employing people. Plain and simple. And this benefits the economy, which in turn benefits the tax structure. People often think of a corporate owner as filthy rich because he's "worth 50 million dollars" or something. And they aren't necessarily wrong. But the key word here is "worth". Not "has". Just because an individual owns a business worth $50 million doesn't mean he has $50 in the bank. It means he's got a business that financial institutions recognize as having a VALUE of $50 million, when you add it all up. But that worth is tied into the economy. If the economy goes up, his worth goes up. If it goes down, his worth goes down. And if he were to sell it, then he'd get $50 million dollars for it. BUT HERE'S THE CATCH! If he SELLS his business, he has to pay taxes on the profits! UNLESS he reinvests it in some form to gain a tax break. And these "loopholes", for the most part, are ECONOMICALLY DRIVEN! Which means that $50 million dollars has to be tied up in something in order to gain that tax break. If he puts it into a bank or personal investments....then he gets the cr*p taxed out of him for it. So, without tax breaks, picture this: A man busts his butt and builds up a business to a value of $50 million dollars. At this point he says "Screw it! I'm tired of this! I'm selling the company and taking my money to Barbados to retire!" And the company is sold or allowed to go to crap as the guy flys away to live in his new lear jet to the sunny island of his dreams. And all those people employed by the company? Who cares! So what does this do when a person keeps his fortune tied up in a business? Well, for starters, it keeps people employed! The "money" is invested, if you will, in keeping the economy STABLE. Because when people just build up a business and sell it in the short term, the economy cannot maintain a stable, predictable platform for long term growth and earnings. Instabilities mean higher interests, because banking institutions are taking greater risks on loans to people who may not be able to pay them back if they lose their jobs or companies go under. That sort of thing. The people on the lowest end of the income scale don't pay ANY taxes. And the higher you go in income, the more taxes you pay. When you are on the really high end of the income scale, your taxes are ALSO high. But if you want to take advantage of tax breaks, you have to tie large chunks of your money up to do it. So people complain: "Oh, the rich don't pay any taxes! The middle income people pay all the taxes!" Not quite true, and it's a deliberately propagated misconception. The lowest income people DON'T pay taxes. The highest income people have to keep the vast majority of their worth tied up in acceptable tax shelters to get a break on taxes. Which helps keep the economy stable and people employed. And employed people earn money and spend it on the economy. People in middle income levels, often pointed out at the people who pay the most into our tax structure, CAN take advantage of tax shelters, too. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/TaxShelters/TheUltimateTaxShelterYourOwnBusiness.aspx Investing in municiple bonds is another way. And there are others, too. Beware of extremists when it comes to talking about taxes. Most often people who speak in absolutes (especially those in political positions) are doing so to gain power for their position. NOT for the benefit of the people when it comes to taxes. The reality is often found between the two extremes taken when discussing the tax system.
  • I say that if you do just a little research on the internet you'll find that the truth is actually quite the opposite.
  • i say..true of some but not of all.....you are not right or fair to 'assume' of ALL companies and ALL rich....its not Just.... and also, think, would you if you were rich or owned a company? would you not do all you could to keep from paying them? including 'donating' to write off? i'd rather write off to charity than give to the government.... I say ,of MANY, you are WRONG....and do you own a company or are you rich? how would you know ?
  • The Golden Rule. He who hath the gold makes the rules.
  • I pay taxes??? is this a trick question???
  • They do. http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/incometaxandtheirs/a/taxburden06.htm
  • Your an idiot.
  • You can research the matter at irs.gov but they make it hard to find things. A shortcut is available at http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/24944.html with a quick link to IRS sources. The top 1 per cent of earners pay over 40 per cent of taxes, so you cannot say the rich do not pay per your factless claim. It is typical liberal thinking that it matters what you think or what you feel instead of what the facts actually are. Any time a democrat starts talking about evils of taxes consider this history. Federal income tax was started in 1913, signed into law by democrat Woodrow Wilson. Mandatory withholding, 1943, democrat FDR. Ohio state sales tax, 1934, democrat gov George White. Ohio income tax, 1970, dem. gov. John Gilligan. Your state, if it has income and sales taxes, got them thanks to a democrat. Democrats have long used class envy and factless claims to justify robbing more and more of working people's money to buy off the lazy nonworking.
  • its sad when people dont realize that 70% of all the taxes paid come from only 5% of the entire population. that means that 95% of the population only pays 30%. lucky to be middle class then huh!
  • I say that there are reference works easily available on the Internet which you could access to determine whether your observation is true, and I say that rather than taking the minimal amount of time needed to check your facts, you preferred to just say it when even a little bit of checking on your part would have shown that what you say is complete bullshit, and I say that the fact that you didn't bother to check your facts before posting this piece of complete idiocy means that any time I spend talking to you (other than indulging myself with the opportunity to tell you that you're a moron) is a complete waste of my time. . That's what I say. . How's that? . -5
  • I agree with you. No matter what they say it doesn't make a dent in taxes. +5
  • It's not the questioners fault...they probably only watch MSNBC and were educated by the corrupt DEM supporting union teachers...they're only repeating what's been pounded into their heads, so...as attractive as it is to call these unfortunate Ignorami "idiots" (which is not an untruth) let's instead try to offer them the first true education they have ever had...perhaps, if they're not toooo challenged, they might see the light.
  • Bull Sh@t!
  • Ninety five per cent of taxes are paid by 'wealthy' and 25% pay nothing. If we loose the wealthy we are really in deep trouble. I never disparage the wealthy because I hope to be one someday.
  • Neither do the unemployed or those earning below a certain threshold.
  • the *legal* mid-class citizens pay all the taxes
  • Sort of true and sort of false.
  • I have read somewhere that the UK supermarket 'TESCO'S' pay no UK tax because they are off shore registered.If its true there must be many more companies doing the same thing.

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