The Nation: For The Tea Party, Maybe It's Magic

Oh please....get a life. You can't take a joke and don't see the humor in that statement????

 

He was in the debate. He answered a question on national security by saying we could cut military spending without affecting defense spending.

Huh?

 

Sorry, no. No smiley was included in your post. It's tough to read someone's mood on a forum.

 

Please list the special tax breaks that those earning over $200,000 a year receive.

 

He's absolutely right. The money spent on maintaining a state of the art military should be seperate from the money spent on invasions & imperialist meddling.

 

None of these are specifically for those making over $200,000 a year. Please list tax breaks for people making more than $200,000 a year.

 

What sort of a tax break? Additional deduction for mortgage interest and real estate taxes? Everybody gets these deductions. In any event, you don't have to be rich to have a vacation house. I live in Minnesota and many, many middle class people have cabins on lakes in addition to their primary residence.

As to owning a home in a foreign country, any tax break would be under their laws, not U.S. laws.

You are probably talking about a traditional IRA which is funded from pre-tax wage dollars. As long as the parent is a business owner, they can pay wages to their child and fund a traditional IRA with pre-tax dollars. Any business owner can do this, not just those that make over $200,000 a year. For a child, the contribution limit is $5,000 a year. Of course the child must actually perform work for the business owned by the parent, not just for "tasks they do around the house."

If you are talking about a Roth IRA, I think anybody could set one up for their child, but of course Roth IRA's are funded with post-tax dollars so there is no tax break for the rich, or for anyone that starts one of these IRAs.

FLP's do not protect an estate from all taxation. FLP's are typically created to pass wealth from one person in the family to another person.

Any amount given from one person to another is subject to the gift tax. I think the maximum amount to gift and avoid taxes is $11,500 for 2011. This means that a family member can give another family member up to $11,500 and the recipient need not pay taxes on it. So anyone, not just the rich, could gift someone else $11,500 and avoid taxes.

FLP's come into play with larger quantities of money (or real estate or vehicles, or any asset.) It's kind of complicated to explain but any asset worth more than the gift tax maximum is subject to taxation based on the Fair Market Value. A way to game the system is to declare the Fair Market Value to be lower than reasonable and pay less taxes.

I don't think this is really a tax break for the rich since they must pay taxes on the amount above the gift tax threshold. Now, if there was no tax at all on any amount that was gifted, THEN you might say that was a tax break for the rich.

Sorry, but I think you are batting .000 on this argument.

 

1. The government does not even HAVE a salary, much less one that may be increased. I know you know that, but it does not help to frame it in those words. It's like the welfare mom on 20/20 or one of those shows a few years ago that referred to her welfare as her "salary". It exposes a certain mentallity.

2. The government CAN drastically cut spending, and they can do it very quickly. Get rid of the Dept of Education altogether, we have enough new school buildings for kids to disrupt in and not learn in already. Then get rid of the Dept of Homeland Security next. We already have a "Defense Department", don't we? And then stop with all the military deployments already. Enough is enough.

 

What he said!

 

It is after all the Department of DEFENSE.

 

The liberal's argument about how the wealthy don't pay their fair share is nothing short of coveting thy neighbors donkey. I think it is also called "wealth envy."

 

See InTheLight's answers to each break you mentioned specifically. He handles each case well.

 

As to the vacation house--Both of my next door neighbors. A neighbor three houses down. The guy that set me up on the blind date whereupon I met my wife. My roommate from 25 years ago. A friend of mine I met back in my high school days. That's six people and I didn't even have to think about very long.

As to the IRA--any business owner, no matter their personal income, that employs their child. I personally don't know of anybody that does this. Giving a child a job, then putting 100% of their earnings up to $5,000 into an IRA is a pretty convoluted way of avoiding taxation, considering you are not the beneficiary of the tax break.

As to the FLP--it's not a tax advantage for rich people if you get taxed on an amount more than $11,500.

These would be CEO's of large corporations and not the typical sole-proprietor or S-Corp owner. The loopholes are granted to their corporations and not to them as individuals.

Their tax withholding bracket received the largest percent reduction, yes. Those are not special tax breaks, however.

 

Then why do you persist in your claim that those making over $200,000 a year have special tax breaks that the average person does not have?

It is obvious from what you have written that you have no idea what so ever of what you are talking about.

 

All right, back to the topic. Exhibit A, from last night's debate:

BLITZER: Good question. Let me begin with Michele Bachmann.

Congresswoman, how do you do that? How do you go ahead and change, reform Social Security, Medicare, while at the same time getting votes?

BACHMANN: Well, one thing that we need to let senior citizens know is, for those who are currently on the Social Security system, the United States government made a promise to senior citizens, and we have to keep that promise to them.

But we also need to know that for those who are not yet on the system, the system simply has to be reformed in order for it to work. The same goes with Medicare. We know that President Obama stole over $500 billion out of Medicare to switch it over to Obamacare. We also know that Medicare hospital trust fund will be bankrupt within nine years.

These are programs that need to be saved to serve people, and in their current form, they can’t.

So we need to have someone who understands these programs, who — who understands the solutions to these programs. I’m a person that’s had feet in the private sector and a foot in the federal government. I’ve been there long enough to know the problems, but not long enough to become a part of the system. I know what to do, and I have the core of conviction to be able to make the changes that senior citizens can count on.

No question was answered. Just a summary of the situation and the statement of "I know what to do". (Also, I chuckled when Mrs. Bachmann apparently said she has three feet--"I've had feet in the private sector and a foot in the federal government.") :laugh:

 

Changed my mind.

 

Changed your mind about what?