'Tax us more,' US billionaires say

Give your tax cuts to charity/nonprofits, and that's what I've done;

a. I've donated my 2004 Dodge Ram to a regional food bank......value $8,500
b. $5,000 to a Missionary Church
c. $1,000 to Big Brothers/Big Sisters
e. $1,000 to a Trauma center
f. $500 to a Winter fest

Total donations; $16,000

Tax cuts; approx. $4,000

 

And how do you propose getting money out of people who are doing nothing? If one is doing nothing then they won't have anything to give.

 

The very wealthy typically have little to no income. <Rule 2/3>

 

Of course, that is true-
The purpose is not with the expectation of collecting, but with sending the message that such people ARE already being subsidized rather than being cheated out of someone else's money- which is exactly the kind of crap Sanders sells everyday. The message says- you are on your own, the free ride is over. Today- for the first time since the depression, we have more adults living with (and off) their parents than we have living in marriage or committed relationships. We have more grandparents raising their own grandchildren than ever, because their children are too irresponsible to be parents. Opportunity is everywhere- and that is not enough to motivate these people. However when you find out that nobody is going to save you from yourself, the possibility of change starts to look like a viable option.

Companies are always looking for good people to hire. Not warm bodies, not bad attitudes, not people who think they are being cheated out of the good life because they must work, and do as little as possible.
IF you apply for a job and you come across as honest, as reliable, as genuinely willing to learn and do the job, you have a huge advantage in qualifications- because most people don't have that. It just isn't that hard to work up the ladder IF YOU CAN BRING THE RIGHT STUFF TO THE JOB. So long as there is an excuse, a way around actually doing that, people will take it and tell themselves they deserve it. We have been raising immature adults now for the last 2-3 generations- Not real men and women, just grown-up people who use child-logic to assess life. Society is supposed to take the place of mom and dad as the providers and caretakers for such people- they just don't know better. They don't want to know better- and so long as their is a choice, a way to avoid it, so long as you keep protecting them from the responsibility for their own decisions- they will never change. When the situation gets desperate enough- many, but not all, will find motivation. Most think they have it- a gross miscalculation derived from the immature attitude that you already know everything. This is the "Me, Me, Me" generation.

Here's the cold, hard data: The incidence of narcissistic personality disorder is nearly three times as high for people in their 20s as for the generation that's now 65 or older, according to the National Institutes of Health; 58% more college students scored higher on a narcissism scale in 2009 than in 1982. Millennials got so many participation trophies growing up that a recent study showed that 40% believe they should be promoted every two years, regardless of performance. They are fame-obsessed: three times as many middle school girls want to grow up to be a personal assistant to a famous person as want to be a Senator, according to a 2007 survey; four times as many would pick the assistant job over CEO of a major corporation. They're so convinced of their own greatness that the National Study of Youth and Religion found the guiding morality of 60% of millennials in any situation is that they'll just be able to feel what's right. Their development is stunted: more people ages 18 to 29 live with their parents than with a spouse, according to the 2012 Clark University Poll of Emerging Adults. And they are lazy. In 1992, the nonprofit Families and Work Institute reported that 80% of people under 23 wanted to one day have a job with greater responsibility; 10 years later, only 60% did.

In the U.S., millennials are the children of baby boomers, who are also known as the Me Generation, who then produced the Me Me Me Generation, whose selfishness technology has only exacerbated. Whereas in the 1950s families displayed a wedding photo, a school photo and maybe a military photo in their homes, the average middle-class American family today walks amid 85 pictures of themselves and their pets. Millennials have come of age in the era of the quantified self, recording their daily steps on FitBit, their whereabouts every hour of every day on PlaceMe and their genetic data on 23 and Me. They have less civic engagement and lower political participation than any previous group. This is a generation that would have made Walt Whitman wonder if maybe they should try singing a song of someone else.They got this way partly because, in the 1970s, people wanted to improve kids' chances of success by instilling self-esteem. It turns out that self-esteem is great for getting a job or hooking up at a bar but not so great for keeping a job or a relationship. "It was an honest mistake," says Roy Baumeister, a psychology professor at Florida State University and the editor of Self-Esteem: The Puzzle of Low Self-Regard. "The early findings showed that, indeed, kids with high self-esteem did better in school and were less likely to be in various kinds of trouble. It's just that we've learned later that self-esteem is a result, not a cause." The problem is that when people try to boost self-esteem, they accidentally boost narcissism instead. "Just tell your kids you love them. It's a better message," says Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University, who wrote Generation Me and The Narcissism Epidemic. "When they're little it seems cute to tell them they're special or a princess or a rock star or whatever their T-shirt says. When they're 14 it's no longer cute." All that self-esteem leads them to be disappointed when the world refuses to affirm how great they know they are. "This generation has the highest likelihood of having unmet expectations with respect to their careers and the lowest levels of satisfaction with their careers at the stage that they're at," says Sean Lyons, co-editor of Managing the New Workforce: International Perspectives on the Millennial Generation. "It is sort of a crisis of unmet expectations."

Bottom line- the expectation of entitlement and the self-righteousness they have is overpowering the value, even the basic understanding of Self-Respect. That particular aspect of human psychology is more powerful than anything else you might possess, and they have no idea how important it is. They don't know you can't buy it, you can't inherit it- you must earn it from yourself; must prove yourself to yourself- there is no other way. Until people realize that, they have no power over their own lives- and just like children, it's never their fault. Nothing will change for them no matter what laws we pass until they come to understand that truth, and dedicate themselves to the job. Biggest challenge in life- with the best reward, but never available to those who will not look to themselves for the answers.

Quit helping people be dependent, because that makes them into sheep, weak people that can be herded around at will by the unscrupulous in governments and society.

 

I think the tax burden should never be so high for anyone that they flee elsewhere.

I disagree with how a lot of billionaires have got their money - subsidies collusion with government to erect regulatory barriers to competition, licensing, etc - but the solution to that isn't taxing them to ****, it's fixing the flaws in how government interacts with business.

The question is - how to do you respect the political freedom of all individuals while preventing collusion with government.

If you prohibit donations they will air independent political ads in advocacy for a politician. Surely prohibiting political advocacy is outside the purvue of sound republican government.

The tit-for-tat relies on government officials having power, which can be siphoned off to themselves through donations, independent advocacy, guaranteed lobbying or PR jobs paying huge sums, etc.

Governments all across the Western world are slowly memory holing the limits placed on them by their constitutions, instead building entrenched bureaucracies directed toward regulatory union with each other through treaties and superstates.

 

Just a point to remember- IF influence wasn't for sale in Washington, corporations wouldn't be buying it. Since it IS for sale, the consequences of not buying it is that your competitor will, and gain unfair advantage by doing so. IF it were criminal to sell influence in any way- both side of the problem would disappear. Unfortunately, Washington is addicted to the huge money they get from influence peddling, and you won't see any of them voting to eliminate it.

 

I paid thousands in taxes...and that went to things I wouldn’t single out li,e research etc

 

You shouldn’t be angry when the government gives us tax loopholes. You should be angry that other people don’t have them

 

I am not the least bit angry about loopholes, I use them every year. My accountant does magical things. I use every available tax break I can. Get love letters from the IRS most every year, all,turns out fine. But I am not going to complain about them to trick stupid people into thinking I go not like them. Read my post again what I do not like about Buffet is he owns a majority of the company, he is the chairman of the board, his son is on the board, if he truly thinks it is unfair that his secretary pays a higher percentage tax than him, he can make that happen by taking a salary and not getting paid in stock. How do you not see the bs he is shoveling. He took every step possible to pay less tax, then lied that he thinks he should pay more and gets weakminded people to think he is a great guy who is looking out for the little people. He is a cut throat business man that has no problem buying companies and send in efficiency experts to cut cost and send people packing(not that I think that is wrong either). Then liberals fall over themselves to sing his praises, when it they were intelligent enough they would realize he is the type of person they hate. But liberals just love words and not actions.

 

I know warren Buffett and he is a wonderful man. He did not lie
We also took every loophole but we were more than willing to pay more taxes if they were expected. I remember a time not to long ago paying aboutt 60% in taxes and it didn’t affect our standard of living one bit

 

Dude he said that it is not right that his secretary pays a higher percentage then he does. He actively sought out a way to pay a lower percentage. Then he complains that he is paying to low of a percentage. Do you truly not find his statement a bit disingenuous and phony. He is on the board he had vote and input on they say he would be payed. Do you really not see that.

 

Duplicate

 

I'm a BRK shareholder and have attended shareholder meetings in Omaha many times, especially to hear Buffet. He does structure and work the taxes to get the lowest tax possible- and the government does not argue with that. He has said he would pay a higher rate, IF the laws required it. Of course, if laws did, there would be no choice. He play the game honestly- but wisely, and in his own best interests, which is what every taxpayer should do. He's not so much saying "Raise my taxes" as he is saying he would cooperate and not object. He also would like to see government run with a financial management policy far better than it has, like business must do to survive.

 

Not likely, all things considered, but it is clear they are individuals of conscience. They know the difference between right and wrong, and they think that social justice is a good idea AND achievable by rational and human public policy.

Heck, maybe they are inspired by the Preamble to the US Constitution?

Maybe they think times were better back in the 50's, and that promoting the General Welfare and enjoying the Blessings of Liberty are worthy causes?

 

There is nothing stopping them from voluntarily paying more to the IRS. I'm calling fake news on this story.

 

There is nothing to prevent billionaires from writing a check right now to U.S. Treasury.

 

I would bet my last dollar that 99% of all billionaires take every tax break they are allowed. But by advocating for more taxation against themselves it eases their guilt for being so wealthy while others struggle day-to-day and 9-to-5. The billionaires know nothing is going to happen. I too feel compassion for those struggling paycheck-to-paycheck but me paying more tax won't improve their lives. But I don't want the government taking more of my money, not unlike most billionaires.

 

I don’t know how much of what you are saying is true because so much of it has been debunked all I know is that he fights for people like you but the Trumper’s aren’t smart enough to realize that they are getting screwed. And by the way I’m not a dude, OK sweetie pie?

 

You are right years ago when my husband was making tons of money on Wall Street we did take every tax break but we were also OK when we had to pay more than half of our money in taxation and it wasn’t about guilt, it was about doing what was right. We knew that paying more in taxes would not affect our standard of living one bit. And you’re stereotyping billionaires is not right. It is just another prejudice. Some of them are despicable and some of them are extremely generous and donate hospital wings etc.I would rather the government take money from me then from people who are struggling from paycheck to paycheck.

 

And regardless of what they pay, it won't ease anyone's tax burden not 1 penny.

 

You were OK paying more than half of what you made in taxes??? Not me. I don't want our taxes being used to penalize people who work hard and become prosperous. I didn't stereotype billionaires -- I stereotyped people because I know human nature. When someone donates a hospital wing etc it's tax deductible. Rest assured when the government takes money from you there are many who get off free. 50% of the lowest earners pay no income tax. Don't be a schmuck and fall for the politician who is always wanting to "tax the rich and help the poor".

 

Deriving progressivity is crucial for helping the poor. First, the rich tend to gain more from government spending (e.g. infrastructure public good provision that generates new business opportunity). Second, its crucial to minimise effective marginal rates of tax (reflecting the interaction of tax and benefit systems).

 

That’s where we differ I didn’t see myself as being penalized......Paying that much in taxes did not affect my cost-of-living at all. Plus in those days the wealthy got lots of tax shelters. Oh you don’t stereotype billionaires but the only reason they build a hospital wing is because it’s tax deductible. Do you know how silly that sounds. I understand what could be worse than helping the poor

 

Well if you think taxing some but not taxing others is fair you must love our tax system.

 

Everyone pays taxes. Whenever you buy gas you pay tax. Whenever you buy clothes you pay tax. I pay those same amount of taxes as the person who works at Burger King.. I guess I see a difference between greedy people and non-greedy people