"Poor people don't pay taxes"

reply to post by Lowtoc

The only thing I could think of off the top of my head is military service so people get a greater respect for the systems that we do have in place here in the USA.

I tried to join the Navy out of high-school but washed out at the meps center due to some physical problems.

My brother thought he would escape poverty in the Army. After two tours in the desert, he was still pretty broke, and couldn't find a real job, so now he's back in the desert as a contractor. Another good reason to keep people in poverty, they'll be on the front lines to kill people for the profit of the same corporations that drove them into poverty in the first place.

reply to post by DwnitsDwn

I have found that most of the people who claim that the poor dont pay taxes, and have a problem with welfare programs , are the very people who have caused the need for it, with massive layoffs, outsourcing of jobs to foriegn countries, down sizing ....and on and on ifinitum, then they cry get a Job...why should we have to pay for what we have created....why should we be held accountable....there is no profit in accountability

It really is a conspiracy. People are kept poor deliberately, not even so much for direct profits, but direct control over the masses.

Fear of going into poverty themselves keeps people from supporting social programs. They think that the social programs will tax them into poverty, when in reality, it would be paying to erradicate any such possibility.

It's a self-perpetuating cycle of myth, fear, and good old fashioned greed, put in motion by the power-elite. Keep the people divided.

What a cruel joke. Blame poor people for being poor, and worse yet, for being a bother to everyone else.

Here check this out:

Why is your employer “Withholding” your wages?

IRS Reg. 31.3402(f)(2)-1(a) stipulates that if an employee fails or refuses to file a valid W-4, withholding should be as if the employee were single with 0 allowances. See also:

TITLE 26 > Subtitle C > CHAPTER 24 > § 3401
TITLE 26—INTERNAL REVENUE CODE
Subtitle C—Employment Taxes
CHAPTER 24—COLLECTION OF INCOME TAX AT SOURCE ON WAGES
§ 3401. Definitions

(e) Number of withholding exemptions claimed
For purposes of this chapter, the term “number of withholding exemptions claimed” means the number of withholding exemptions claimed in a withholding exemption certificate in effect under section 3402 (f), or in effect under the corresponding section of prior law, except that if no such certificate is in effect, the number of withholding exemptions claimed shall be considered to be zero.
URL: www4.law.cornell.edu...

TITLE 26 > Subtitle C > CHAPTER 24 > § 3401
TITLE 26—INTERNAL REVENUE CODE
Subtitle C—Employment Taxes
CHAPTER 24—COLLECTION OF INCOME TAX AT SOURCE ON WAGES
§ 3401. Definitions

(c) Employee
For purposes of this chapter, the term “employee” includes an officer, employee, or elected official of the United States , a State, or any political subdivision thereof, or the District of Columbia , or any agency or instrumentality of any one or more of the foregoing. The term “employee” also includes an officer of a corporation.
URL: www4.law.cornell.edu...

TITLE 26 > Subtitle C > CHAPTER 21 > Subchapter C > § 3121
TITLE 26—INTERNAL REVENUE CODE
Subtitle C—Employment Taxes
CHAPTER 21—FEDERAL INSURANCE CONTRIBUTIONS ACT
Subchapter C—General Provisions
§ 3121. Definitions

(h) American employer
For purposes of this chapter, the term “American employer” means an employer which is—
(1) the United States or any instrumentality thereof,
(2) an individual who is a resident of the United States ,
(3) a partnership, if two-thirds or more of the partners are residents of the United States ,
(4) a trust, if all of the trustees are residents of the United States , or
(5) a corporation organized under the laws of the United States or of any State.
URL: www.law.cornell.edu...

(e) State , United States , and citizen
For purposes of this chapter—
(1) State
The term “State” includes the District of Columbia , the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa .
(2) United States
The term “United States ” when used in a geographical sense includes the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , the Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa .
An individual who is a citizen of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (but not otherwise a citizen of the United States ) shall be considered, for purposes of this section, as a citizen of the United States .
URL: www.law.cornell.edu...

im from ireland and if you are at the poverty line you dont pay any taxes, apart from value added tax on all the stuff you buy, but there's no way around that!

reply to post by Pro-genetic

im from ireland and if you are at the poverty line you dont pay any taxes, apart from value added tax on all the stuff you buy, but there's no way around that!

Are you sure? After all, a lot of people came into this thread believing that poor people don't pay taxes here in the States. There was a Brit who popped in here too, but I don't think they specified their tax situation.

reply to post by RexxCrow

For purposes of this chapter, the term “employee” includes an officer, employee, or elected official of the United States , a State, or any political subdivision thereof, or the District of Columbia , or any agency or instrumentality of any one or more of the foregoing. The term “employee” also includes an officer of a corporation.

Notice that "American person" is not listed as a taxable employee.


[edit on 3/6/0808 by jackinthebox]

I've had some good jobs, and some McJobs, but I've always paid taxes, even when that put me below the poverty level. I think if you make less than $8,500 a year you get all your federal taxes back, but not your state taxes (at least not in my state) and you still pay social security of course. The tax rate goes down the more money you make. The lower and middle classes --those who make more than $8,500 up to about $100,000--pay the most proportionally. Warren Buffet has famously said that his secretary has a higher tax rate than he does.

[edit on 6-3-2008 by Sestias]

dbates, I think you are confused on the standard deduction and what it's applied to and what it does. (I realize this was at the beginning of the thread, but jackinthebox I don't think has responded to this as I'm stating it)

You don't have to surpass the standard deduction in order to be taxed, you subtract the standard deduction from your income because that is an amount of income that -cannot- be taxed.

I don't remember what the standard was for this year, but I deducted 16k or so from our income due to a number of factors. The standard deduction was something like 10k or so if I remember correctly. (jointly) - edit

If you make 30k and subtract 10k, you're left with a taxable income of 20k.

If you make 10k, and subtract 10k, you're left with 0 taxable dollars. So how much do you pay the federal government if you have 0 taxable dollars? Zero dollars.

So like I said once before, if you make less than the standard deduction, you are not taxed. So what is your definition of poor? I'll give you that it probably includes a bigger income range than the standard deduction!

[edit on 6-3-2008 by Sovereign797]

Maybe I did miss understand what you said, sorry I am.

I also wrote, "women in the neighborhood who collect."



[edit on 6-3-2008 by observe50]

For anyone who believes that poverty is caused by the laziness, I suggest you read throught the thread "Let Them Eat Cake". It shows that laziness and obesity are deliberately induced for corporate profit. Obesity is actually a symptom of malunutrition. Yes, fat people are literally being slowly starved to death.

Stumbled across this article about tax myths. Hope it can be helpful to some of us here.

finance.yahoo.com... ax-Myths

reply to post by jackinthebox


Exactly. but to be hoenst the part that really pissed me off, is when you sit on the bus on your way to work, working the crappest hours of 11-12 morning till night and you drive past pubs with men in their 30-50's standing outside drinking, or the guy behind you says 'yeh i'll come for a drink now, am just on my way to sign on (claim benefits) and i'll come round then.

Fair enough, people are allowed to go out. But when you think this is at 11:15 in the morning on a tuesday you can't help but think:
"Why the hell am i slogging my nuts off going to work for minimum wage and getting slaughtered for tax when this guy can spend his day drinking?"

Another small point, it's the kind of stuff that really winds me up though.

reply to post by Longy4eva


You mean people on welfare going for pints after they get their check?

Well, when all is said and done, I will only getting back less than half of what I paid in this year, despite the fact that I am presently unable to find work due to sharp increaes in unemployment in my region. I have been without a job for so long now, that I am no longer counted among the unemployed. I am also "between homes" due to my lack of meaningful employment.

Poor people DO pay taxes.
You know who DOESN'T pay taxes?
Million dollar a year prostitutes like Ashley Alexandra Dupre, who the feds give immunity to, in order to testify against Spitzer. That's probably $400,000 in taxes that she doesn't have to pay, while the rest of us work hard at legal jobs to pay our taxes.
What a joke! I think we should all write to our congress reps to protest this.

I think that just about covers it then. Being poor does not make you immune to paying taxes. It may not be much to some people, but a few hundred dollars can mean the difference between shelter and homlessness to a poor person on the brink.

OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long,
building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and
plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

-------------------------------------------

MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his
house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and
plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and
demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed
while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS , CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the
shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home
with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor
grasshopper is allowed to suffer so ?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody
cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.'

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where
the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Jesse then
has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry King that
the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for
an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act
retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green
bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is
confiscated by the government.

Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a
defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of
federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent
welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of
the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to
be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain
it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the
house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the
once peaceful neighborhood.

reply to post by theQuest


Nice rant, but your analogy is flawed. We're all ants. The real grasshopper is the Federal Reserve.

no, the real Grasshopper is exactly as stated. You could possibly use that argument if everyone actions mirrored that of the ants, but unfortunately too many mirror the Grasshopper. The Grasshopper way is to blame the Goverment for everything. Are you a Grasshopper?

reply to post by theQuest


I'm the ant who worked his ass of his whole life and is now homeless and hungry.