I swear, I really liked Jon Lovitz until this morning. One of my favorite shows was "The Critic". I love his SNL skits. But now? Not so much.
See, I just find it a bit disheartening to hear someone who makes $12 million a year, 659 times my current yearly salary, complaining about paying more taxes than I do. I find it a tad distressing to hear that someone who makes 120 times the average income of a moderate taxpayer (who is classified in studies as having an adjusted gross income of less than $100,000) thinks that he shouldn't need to be subjected to a 30 percent tax break, even though the average moderate income household-less than $100,000 per year, mind you-already pays a 26.5 percent tax rate. And I find it a little frustrating that someone who even makes 40 times the average annual income of a wealthy household-about $300,000 per year-doesn't think that Obama has a point in making sure that the wealthy are paying a proper amount of tax as compared to the middle class.
And those are the moderate and wealthy families. What about the families and younger individuals on their own, like myself at 24 years old, that pay about 19 to 23 percent tax? What about those who have so much taxable income that they end up owing the government thousands of dollars? They pay their taxes, or else they are punished. Why should the overly wealthy, the millionaires and billionaires, be exempt from that?
The answer, which is hopefully obvious to everyone, is that they shouldn't. The rest of us don't get a break. A bus driver pays more taxes than a restaurant manager. A teacher pays more taxes than a bus driver, and doctor pays more taxes than a teacher. It's a system that works, and a system that makes sense. Investor Warren Buffett has even been fighting to raise taxes for the millionaires and billionaires, saying that part of the reason the wealthy become wealthy are investments, which have a low tax rate. So, while part of their income is their actual payroll salary, the other, usually larger part is investments. This is in contrast to the average lower, middle, and upper class family, who's income is usually completely made up by payroll tax. Payroll taxes are always higher than taxes on investments, so the average working family ends up paying more tax in total each year than the mega-wealthy do. This claim has also been backed up by the arrival of Mitt Romney's 2010 tax return on the internet, showing that while he made $21.6 million in 2010, his tax rate was only 13.9 percent after investments and charitable contributions helped to lower it. Compare that to most secretaries, who pay roughly 31 percent tax already depending on their individual salary, and you have a serious problem of class inequality.
Hopefully, Obama's "Buffett Plan", in which "no household making over $1 million annually should pay a smaller share of its income in taxes than middle-class families pay", will be passed. And hopefully, Jon Lovitz won't complain about the overwhelming stress he'll face having to live on a mere $8.4 million annual salary after taxes. Which is, by the way, still 84 times more than the average moderate-income family.
Hopefully, the tax laws will soon be place and everyone will pay what they deserve to pay. And hopefully, the wealthy will get a clue and stop whining about paying less taxes than their secretaries and doormen. If you would like to hear Jon Lovitz's lovely, expletive and hate filled rant, you can click here:
http://youtu.be/spd5cwlfRdk
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