Raising taxes on "the rich": How is this not discrimination?

Question

Discrimination: Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit.

Singling out the rich to pay more taxes while not raising (or even cutting) taxes for the middle class is singling out the rich based on their class. How is this not discrimination?

Answer 1

It is not so much as discrimination as it is punitive, a person is being punished for making huge amounts of money. Even today the top 1% of wage earners are paying 39% of all of the income taxes collected, if you drop that figure to the top 5% then 75% of all the taxes are paid by them.

Senator Obama has been investing his money, nearly $7.5 million, into tax free investments so that if he wins he will not have his taxes raised.

I am for a flat tax where everyone pays the same percentage of their income, if the rate is 15% everyone pay 15% of their income, certainly anyone can see that 15% of $4million is more than 15% of $40K but with a flat tax even the illegal immigrants and dope dealers would pay their fair share.

Answer 2

They have ALL THE WEALTH.  It's only right to charge the people WITH THE MONEY more.  Especially since the majority of them helped elect the worst president of the U.S. of A twice.

Answer 3

It is a good question but you have forgotten (either out of convenience or ignorance) that the wealthy (above 150K) have actually had more tax shelters from actual legislation (not the marketplace) than any other tax group in at least the last 20 years.

Taxes have historically had the most burden on the middle class... a more fair question would be "why is the middle class discriminated against by not passing equal legislature that provides tax shelters or tax concessions"?  

For a economy to truly flourish you need a strong middle class... America's middle class is shrinking.  The rich have been getting richer in the last 20 years while the middle class is getting poorer.  This generation is the first generation in the history of this nation that our standard of living is not as high or higher than their parents'.  This is a scary thought.  We might not be in trouble yet but the signs are there for disaster if we don't slow down the growth in the wealth class and the impoverished class at the expense of the middle class.

Answer 4

I think you need to consider that it actually may be the opposite. Consider that the rich are being included in sharing the burden of paying the taxes in a more proportionate way. They have not been discriminated against, quite the contrary but have been graciously welcomed to the same taxation that we all enjoy. Yeah, they'll pay more but that is because they have more. Look at 90% of the countries in the rest of the world. See how they function. Most of those tax systems are flat taxes or something very similar.

So when it comes down to it the rich are being invited to the same table the rest of us eat at.

Answer 5

It is. Flat tax please. Not gov't interference to make us all "morraly responsible" Church's job, not there's.

Answer 6

Same reason its not fair for the rich to enjoy government services that protect that high income.  Example: When George Bush has someone write his memoirs for $millions, I can not legally copy that book and sell it, nor would the publisher pay lots of money for that memoir if the government didn't stop me. Same goes for lots of things where the rich have barriers to protect their earnings inpartnership with government.

As the rich enjoy the marginal higher rates of production from government, so should they pay marginally higher rates.

Answer 7

It is but it's legal.

Answer 8

Because a flat tax is actually a regressive tax. The less money one has the more likely they are to need every one of their dollars to get by.

Either you are rich, in which case I have trouble feeling sorry for you, or you have been drinking WAAAAAAY to much Reaganomics kool aid to the point you are actually advocating against your own economic best interests!

Answer 9

It is something called reverse wealth discrimination. We should not have to pay anymore money then any other American. There should be a flat tax rate that allows all Americans to pay equal tax, regardless of income.

Answer 10

Mutt,

The fundamental problem with discriminating against the 'rich' is two-fold:

1. The rich use far fewer government programs than anyone else. Ie., they tend to send their kids to private schools, they own their own property rather than live in government subsidized housing, they provide their own healthcare, if in trouble they hire their own attorney, etc. Thus, to increase taxes on a catagory of people who use very little taxes is unjust.

2. It is the wealthy who employ others. They own businesses, manage businesses, and when they do make money they invest it. When someone middle-income or lower-income goes to the bank to borrow money to purchase a home, car, or borrow to put their kid through college, it's someone else's money they are borrowing. It would take very little for the upper income catagory to park their money off-shore and out of reach to those who need to borrow it. Many businesses have already moved overseas.

"Ranger"

Answer 11

FAIR TAX!! get the book (by boortz)

Answer 12

Not discrimination as much as distribution of wealth.

Answer 13

all taxes are always based on individual income....

so... raising taxes on individuals who make above a certain $ amount isn't "discrimination"

people can choose how much money they make

Answer 14

Rich want to profit from Bush/McCain wars, but not to pay for them.

Is it that siurpirsing that rich are getting progressively greedy ?

Republicans are feeding from the donations. Will they bite the hand that feeds them ?

Answer 15

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."



Thomas Jefferson

I have a silly idea,  

They ( President & congress) can only raise taxes on people that voted for them.......

Answer 16

It's a simple issue that to raise taxes on the rich means that governments do NOT have to cut the taxes on the poor. Which is how they keep control over the poor.

Answer 17

Because the discrimination is being reversed.

Right now the rich are not paying their fair share of taxes while the middle class is paying a higher percentage on the dollar. Making the rich pay more rectifies the situation.

As for giving tax breaks across the board, THE RICH HAVE ALREADY GOTTEN THEIR TAX BREAKS.

Answer 18

And since many of the "rich" are white it must be racist too.  Hey it works for the LaRaza supporters when they claim that requiring a driver's license is racist.

You all do know that our tax rate is from 0 at the lowest level to 28% at the highest level.  The wealthiest people pay more than 1 out of every 4 dollars in taxes.

Answer 19

It is discrimination on the basis of income. As it stands now, the highest percentage of tax cuts go to the lowest income Americans. I don't know why people want to punish success, discourage entrepreneurship, and penalize those who contribute the most to the nation’s prosperity. In the end, taxing the "rich" will just transfer more wealth from the US to other nations. If we really want to put an end to political favoritism, we need a flat tax.

Answer 20

Giving Tax Breaks to the rich and no one else?? How is that NOT discrimination??   This is even more silly politics.. When are you people going to talk REAL issues?

Answer 21

It is amazing the twisted logic those that do not pay taxes use to impose an even greater burden on those that do. God, thank you for not making me a leftist.  

Answer 22

The simple fact is that nothing about our tax system is fair period. No matter what level you are at. Now could it be viewed as discrimination? In a classic sense yes. This is because you are attempting to punishing one group based on a set of circumstances. Our tax system will never be fair as long as it continues in it's current form. I support a national sales tax. No one can escape paying this because it is paid at the time of purchase. The only thing I would exempt is food.

Answer 23

taxes should be distributed fairly.  However, when you have no job and no prospects taxing the rich sounds pretty good, maybe the rich should take an interest into helping others and then they would have much better Public Relations.  

there is also a lot of waste in government spending that would reduce taxes for all and enduce a healthy economy ie the guys in Iraq built cities in the middle of nowhere and got a ton of money for it, for no reason, not war reperations or anything.  why rebuild what we did not break and why add bunkers when we blew them up in the first place.