How do you think losing the AAA rating will effect you on a personal level?

[Free4Life11]

A flat tax makes so much sense to me that I simply can't understand the nay-sayers' complaints. I don't think I'd pay any less with a flat tax (because I think I'm right there in the middle-middle-middle spot), but I would feel better knowing that everyone (from the high school part-timer to the highest-paid CEO) paid a portion, an equal-percentage portion.

And how much simpler would it be!

Determining your tax under our current system is very simple AND fair: Everyone pays a 10% tax on their first $X.XX in income. Everyone pays a 15% tax on their next $X.XX in income. I've never understood how this is unfair? Everyone pays the same tax based on their income.

To me, the "unfair" and challenging part is determining your taxable income...it's all of the credits, deductions, and different types of income (capital gains versus employment income) that make it so difficult and unfair.

 

[nunzia]

I'm not all that familiar with military pay scales, but I do know teacher salaries. A few areas of the country pay $$$$$; thus, people get the idea that all teachers make that much. I personally am about to begin my 20th year in the classroom (so I'm nearing the top of my state's payscale) and earn about 42K/year. This is fairly average for MOST places in America. That's slightly less than I was earning 3 years ago, and it's less than the average professional with two college degrees and two decades of experience.

If not for my pension, I would not be teaching. It wouldn't be worth the monthly paycheck.

Yes, well, and that is why I dn't want to start a war..I think 42K is a fair salary. Just my opinion.

 

[MrsPete]

Determining your tax under our current system is very simple AND fair: Everyone pays a 10% tax on their first $X.XX in income. Everyone pays a 15% tax on their next $X.XX in income. I've never understood how this is unfair? Everyone pays the same tax based on their income.

To me, the "unfair" and challenging part is determining your taxable income...it's all of the credits, deductions, and different types of income (capital gains versus employment income) that make it so difficult and unfair.

False. Because of those credits, etc., the tax rates don't STAYthe same for everyone. Approximately half of all Americans get a full refund of all their tax money, and a smaller percentage receive EIC -- more money than they paid in to start with.

So, no, we aren't all paying the same tax rate. How's that fair?

Yes, well, and that is why I dn't want to start a war..I think 42K is a fair salary. Just my opinion.

Fair or unfair, my point was that it is lower than a person'd expect to earn in the private sector. A person with two degrees and 20 years experience, that is. The pension is a part of the compensation. If you want to get rid of the pension, you have to raise the salary to meet those in the private sector.

 

[Free4Life11]

Warren Buffet wrote a great opinion piece and pretty much sums up my thoughts exactly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/o...h.html?_r=2&smid=tw-nytimesbusiness&seid=auto

Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.

 

[dsnymnky86]

It won't.
It should not be surprise either. SP has been telegraphing it all along.

 

[Free4Life11]

False. Because of those credits, etc., the tax rates don't STAYthe same for everyone. Approximately half of all Americans get a full refund of all their tax money, and a smaller percentage receive EIC -- more money than they paid in to start with. So, no, we aren't all paying the same tax rate. How's that fair?

You're correct, but my point was as long as the credits and deductions remain in place, it doesnt matter if you have one tax rate, 10, or 100. I don't think the current system is fair, but not because we have progressive tax rates, but because we have so many deductions, credits and preferential treatment for different types of income.

How would switching from progressive tax rates to a flat rate do anything about the deductions and credits that currently exist?

 

[CdnCarrie]

Yes, well, and that is why I dn't want to start a war..I think 42K is a fair salary. Just my opinion.

Teachers in the U.S. make much less than Canadian teachers. Here they start at around $45,000 and max out around $70.000.

 

[runwad]

Teachers in the U.S. make much less than Canadian teachers. Here they start at around $45,000 and max out around $70.000.

Not all states in the US make less. I'm in Ohio and in my school district the teachers start somewhere in the 40's and go all the way up to the 80s. A group was so ticked at how much teachers/admins make that they started a website buckeyeinstitute.org to get the word out to the public how well our teachers are paid.

 

[ilovemk76]

False. Because of those credits, etc., the tax rates don't STAYthe same for everyone. Approximately half of all Americans get a full refund of all their tax money, and a smaller percentage receive EIC -- more money than they paid in to start with.

So, no, we aren't all paying the same tax rate. How's that fair? Fair or unfair, my point was that it is lower than a person'd expect to earn in the private sector. A person with two degrees and 20 years experience, that is. The pension is a part of the compensation. If you want to get rid of the pension, you have to raise the salary to meet those in the private sector.

To have a fair tax all tax credits and deductions would need to be eliminated. The government does many of the deductions and credits to manipulate the general population to veer one way of the other. I am not a fan of that. Look how well it worked with mortgages. The feds saw that home owners had a higher networth than non-homeowners. They did not look at the education level, age, job and other factors but just the owning the home. They concluded that homeownership=wealth so they force Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac to approve loans that should have never been approved. Now we are cleaning up that mess.


What do private school teachers in your area earn? That is the only person you can compare yourself to. You cannot say that your salaray should be higher because an RN makes more. They are two different professions.

 

[Muushka]

To have a fair tax all tax credits and deductions would need to be eliminated. The government does many of the deductions and credits to manipulate the general population to veer one way of the other. I am not a fan of that. Look how well it worked with mortgages. The feds saw that home owners had a higher networth than non-homeowners. They did not look at the education level, age, job and other factors but just the owning the home. They concluded that homeownership=wealth so they force Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac to approve loans that should have never been approved. Now we are cleaning up that mess.


What do private school teachers in your area earn? That is the only person you can compare yourself to. You cannot say that your salaray should be higher because an RN makes more. They are two different professions.

Right you are. I don't understand why that fact is not understood by so many.
And now it seems with the Dodd-Frank financial regs mess, the same thing will take place.
Hopefully that will also be repealed.

 

[punkin]

Right you are. I don't understand why that fact is not understood by so many.
And now it seems with the Dodd-Frank financial regs mess, the same thing will take place.
Hopefully that will also be repealed.

What? Do you really think the answer to all this is a free for all for banks? I want them very well regulated after the 2008 fiasco.

 

[Muushka]

What? Do you really think the answer to all this is a free for all for banks? I want them very well regulated after the 2008 fiasco.

My understanding of the DF ACT will be that the same regulations placed on mortgage lenders to give mortgages to people who cannot pay will now also include giving credit cards to people who cannot pay.

 

[punkin]

My understanding of the DF ACT will be that the same regulations placed on mortgage lenders to give mortgages to people who cannot pay will now also include giving credit cards to people who cannot pay.

You will have to explain where you are getting this info. There is absolutely no law (Dodd Frank or otherwise) that requires mortgage lenders to lend to people who cannot pay (I think here you may be referring to community reinvestment, but that has nothing to do with Dodd Frank). As for forcing banks to give out credit cards to people who can't pay...

 

[MrsPete]

Not all states in the US make less. I'm in Ohio and in my school district the teachers start somewhere in the 40's and go all the way up to the 80s. A group was so ticked at how much teachers/admins make that they started a website buckeyeinstitute.org to get the word out to the public how well our teachers are paid.

Yeah, Ohio teachers are in something of an odd situation -- and there's more than salary involved. We actually have MORE Ohioans (is that a proper word?) than North Carolinians teaching at my daughter's middle school. Teachers from other states aren't rushing to live here, but it's like Ohio's bussing 'em in.

What do private school teachers in your area earn? That is the only person you can compare yourself to. You cannot say that your salaray should be higher because an RN makes more. They are two different professions.

No, you're missing the point -- the point is that the pension is a part of the compensation package.