Taxes // Current

Are we trending toward socialism?

I realize that the term “Socialism” has been thrown around during the presidential campaign, especially when looking... more

mikerowan
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Groups line up for another bailout

"It's the last call for a multibillion-dollar bailout from Congress, and business and labor groups are eagerly lining up... more

DeliaTheArtist
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U.S. Shifts Focus in Credit Bailout to the Consumer

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. is hoping to put in place a major new lending program that would be run by the Federal... more

bedeboop
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Treasury backs away from plan to buy bad assets

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Wednesday said he was backing away from buying troubled mortgage... more

bedeboop
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Is Obama's tax plan really equivalent to socialism???

For a while now I've heard lots of people screaming about how Obama's tax plan is a huge shift towards socialism, yet that honestly doesn't seem to be the case unless you're trying to say that we were a socialist nation for most of the last century.

If you think taxing the rich is socialist, you need to take a look at the history of taxes for the top bracket. Over the last century they have paid as high as 90% on income over $350,000. Compare that with Obama's proposed increase from 35% to 39% and you'll realize the socialism argument is moot.

In fact, as the taxes for the upper bracket have come down drastically in the last 30 years, the taxes for the middle and lower income brackets have come up. Until about 1940, just before the start of WWII, the bottom bracket taxes where under 4%. During WWII the bottom bracket jumped up to from 4.4% to 20% while the top bracket jumped from about 80% to over 90%. This rise in taxes was of course a response to help pay for the cost of going to war.

After WWII ended taxes stayed approximately the same until the Revenue Act of 1964, which reduced the lower bracket to 14% and the top bracket to around 70%.

More tax cuts in 1982 saw the lower bracket fall to 11% and upper bracket to 50%.

In 1988, the tax rates changed again. This time the lower bracket went up to 15% while the top bracket was reduced to an all time low of 28%!!!

For the next two decades the lower bracket has stayed at about the same 15%. The top bracket was adjusted in 1991 to 31% then again in 1993 to 39.6%.

In 2000 President Bush instated his own tax cuts which have become quite infamous now. He cut the top bracket from 39.6% down to 35% and basically left the lower brackets exactly where they where.

SOOOO... in the grand scheme of things, Obama's tax plan is both far from socialist and just as far from being anything radical. It's a rather meager adjustment by all means, but at least it's in the right direction. The bottom tax bracket has come up while the top bracket has come way down, all while our government continues to spend outrageous sums of money. Is it any wonder we have a $600 billion deficit??

The anit-Obama people would have you believe that he wants to redistribute wealth to the poor, when I would honestly say that he is simply trying to slow the redistribution that is already in place. It is apparent to me that redistribution is a very real problem. The problem is that the money is flowing towards the top 1%, slowly sucking the lower tiers dry.

It's amazing how short sighted people can get in politics when a simple look into our past can reveal a great deal of information and shed light on difficult debates.

I hope this has helped everyone put things in perspective!For a while now I've heard lots of people screaming about how Obama's tax plan is a huge shift towards socialism, yet... more