House Plans to Tax Millionaires to Fund Health Care

House Plans to Tax Millionaires to Fund Health Care

www.bloomberg.com

July 15 (Bloomberg) -- House Democrats plan to fund the broadest U.S. health-care expansion in four decades by increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans, imposing a surtax of 5.4 percent on couples with more than $1 million in income.

The legislation unveiled yesterday would place additional taxes on households with more than $350,000 a year in income and calls for further increases if the measure doesn’t hit a target for cost savings. The provisions are intended to raise $544 billion over 10 years.

(visit the link for the full news article)

edit: title changed, but i stand by it

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread466733/pg1

[edit on 15-7-2009 by Kevin_X2]

Mod edit: Thread title changed from "Upper-middle class millionairs take another blow on Health-Care expansion" to original article title. Please see: Instructions for the Breaking News Forums -- Majic

[edit on 7/15/2009 by Majic]

It has been predicted many times on this forums that the middle class would be one of the first to go. We have seen the lower class suffer, and just as commodity prices begin to climb even further and the country starts to believe it might stabilize, we throw all our money at an invisible health care system.

There are thousands of millionaires in the country, and its their dependence in the economy that is keeping it all up at the moment. No reason to panic quite yet, but slowly and surely they are taking pieces out of the foundation.

Or, healthy redistribution of wealth for a beneficial health care system?

www.bloomberg.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I predict Congress will never collect the amount they are anticipating from the rich. The rich are able to hire the best accountants in the world and find every loophole possible if they so desire.

Ultimately, the hard working middle class(non-millionaires) will foot the bill. Congresses plan all along.

reply to post by Kevin_X2


Where does it say anything about middle class in here?


Did I miss something? Middle class are not millionaires... sorry....

Haha middle class millionaire! Ummmmmm I don't think they should be taxed any more than anyone else but middle class is not millionaire sorry!

I thought there were no "Classes" in the US.. Equality and all that Also, middle class are like 250k+ not millionaires..

Seriously though.. If these households that are earning over a million a year are going to lose 5.4% of their income, wont those that are earning over a billion also?

At the risk of sounding like a dreaded socialist.. Whats the big deal with that?

And don't say that it will stop them investing that money in new ventures because free healthcare benefits everyone from the patients to the extra jobs that are created and therefore the economy as a whole..

reply to post by Zosynspiracy


The title article actually never mentions middle class, this is the OP's attempt at getting others riled up over something they won't be paying for.

It appears in these times of multi-billion dollar bailouts the bar for middleclass has been raised. No longer are middleclass Americans in the $250,000/yr and under level. No, no. Middleclass is now millionaires! How's that for change you can believe in?

reply to post by Hazelnut


thats kind of what i had assumed. didnt mean to piss anyone off, but personally i see the middle class as the people living in the same neighborhood as me. anyone with a reasonably average american life, meaning house, car, mabey family, and no real stake in the state of the world, can be recognized as middle class.

The people i meet who are millionaires (not multi-millionaires, that's a lot of money) seem no different to me then a person living in a semi-detached home. When i see someone in passing who is a billionaire or multi-millionaire its pretty evident their living on a whole other level.

This technicality doesn't change the issue, which is that those in the mid-upper class are being chipped away at. and if you ask me, they are the most important support for our economy.

I really find it amusing at how ambiguous "Middle Class" is and is often abused.

Middle Class is meant to be the Median Income Level. The Median Income Level in the United States is $46,326 per Average Household. So, basically anything between $25,000 and $100,000 per Household is Middle Class Income Level.

Of course, there are many different models, for instance the "Baucus middle class" takes the middle 60 percent of Americans, with 20 percent of households earning more and 20 percent earning less than the Median) which changes this range from $24,000 to $121,842 per Household.

However, @ $100,000 Annual Income per Household is a far cry from being a Millionaire!

Don't let those making in excess of $100,000 per Household convince you that they are "Middle Class". They are in the Upper 20% of Americans. They are "Upper Class" no matter how much they try to convince you otherwise. Sure, they may not make what the Upper 5% of the "Higher Upper Class" make a year, but Middle Class they are not.

The Upper Class (those with a household income that exceeds lets say $125,000 to be fair to those that are borderline between the Middle and Upper) should be bearing the Tax Burden of the Lower Class (the Bottom 20% of Americans) especially. 20% of $1,000,000 = $200,000 in Taxes whereas 20% of Poverty Level $10,000 Income = $2,000 in Taxes. One Millionaire equals the Tax Revenue of 100 Welfare Recipients. The only difference between the two is that Welfare Recipients don't have the Tax Shelters and Deductions that give them a 0% or $0 Tax Liability that the Millionaires currently enjoy.

reply to post by fraterormus


LOL I was going to say even 250K is not middle class. I live in a very wealthy area. My wife and I together are upper middle class but everyone around are much wealthier.

Originally posted by Kevin_X2

Middle class millionairs take another blow on Health-Care expansion

www.bloomberg.com

July 15 (Bloomberg) -- House Democrats plan to fund the broadest U.S. health-care expansion in four decades by increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans, imposing a surtax of 5.4 percent on couples with more than $1 million in income.

The legislation unveiled yesterday would place additional taxes on households with more than $350,000 a year in income and calls for further increases if the measure doesn’t hit a target for cost savings. The provisions are intended to raise $544 billion over 10 years.

(visit the link for the full news article)

edit: title changed, but i stand by it

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread466733/pg1

[edit on 15-7-2009 by Kevin_X2]

ummm Upper-middle class is like $ 100,000-300,000 annual income.

The people you report about are WEALTHY !!!!!!!!!!!

That has no impact to most of us on here...

Originally posted by Dermo
I thought there were no "Classes" in the US.. Equality and all that

Also, middle class are like 250k+ not millionaires..

Seriously though.. If these households that are earning over a million a year are going to lose 5.4% of their income, wont those that are earning over a billion also?

At the risk of sounding like a dreaded socialist.. Whats the big deal with that?

And don't say that it will stop them investing that money in new ventures because free healthcare benefits everyone from the patients to the extra jobs that are created and therefore the economy as a whole..

Wrong middle class is not 250k plus !!!!!!

If only 1-10% of Americans make $100,000 a year, that would mean only 1-10% of America is middle class?

How is that middle !????

Once again.........0-40k is prob lower class........50-100k is about middle class....

100-300k is about upper middle class............anything more is wealthy.......

Please actually know what you are posting instead of throwing out random huge sums of money- numbers.....

You know it wouldn't suprise me at all if the mega-wealthy just left this country. If I were a wealthy person and targeted by ever increasing taxes, I sure would leave,and take my wealth with me.

If the wealthy leave, who is next in line to pay all the taxes?

Does anyone believe that the taxes will stop when the wealthy are broke,or have left the country?

I guess the mentality of "let's take it from the rich" works right up to the point when you find out your next in line!!

Originally posted by ZosynspiracyLOL I was going to say even 250K is not middle class. I live in a very wealthy area. My wife and I together are upper middle class but everyone around are much wealthier.

The difference between $7500 Annual Income and $14,000 Annual Income is like night and day, and the lifestyle of someone making $24,000 is lightyears different from $14,000 a year, yet they all fall in the Lower Class. Even at Middle Class, $25,000 a year is nothing like $100,000 a year. That is basically comparing a family of two working Secretaries with a family of a Dentist. Both are Middle Class, but one family shares a single Hyundai while the other family have separate BMWs.

However, even at the Median Income Level of $46,326 the Middle Class barely can make ends meet. The American Dream of owning a home is nothing more than a dream to that Median Income Level. A $200,000 Median Home in the United States would come with a PITI (Principal+Interest+Taxes+Insurance) Payment of 50% their total Gross Income (or 62% of their Net Income after Federal/State/Social Security Taxes). Until one gets into the White Collar Upper Middle Class range of $75,000 - $100,000 Household Income can a Median Home become truly affordable.

I'm one of those people whose Gross Income is close to the Median Income Level but after Taxes and Child Support (for one child) my Net Income Level is at the Poverty Level of $13,000. Still, I'm far better off than many of my friends and manage that measly $13,000 a year better than some of my friends making $75,000 - $100,000 Gross.

Thankfully, in my generation there seems to be little difference socially between the Classes. In my immediate social circle the Median Income is about the same as the US Median Income, but we have a large number below the poverty level, many of us in the middle, and a few in the $350,000 a year ballpark and three that are in excess of $1,000,000 a year. One member of our social group makes more money than the rest of us can conceive and throws down $30 million on things without little thought. Yet despite all of our different incomes, despite having grossly different lifestyles, we come together on a regular basis and consider one another as equals. While the poorer of our group may bring a bottle of Captain Jacks, while us in the middle may bring a bottle of Absinthe, while the richer may bring a bottle of Richard Hennessy, and our richest friend may bring a Montrachet 1978 to share when we get together. However, despite the walks of life that we come from, we bond and we share, and more importantly we look out for one another. One of our group making $13,000 a year might never think to ask the millionaires for a loan, but we take care of our own in times of need and if that person making $13,000 ends up in the hospital, each and every one of us pitches in to help out, according to how much we make. We never give it a second thought. Just as the richest of us may plunk down $30 million on a single expense, they certainly don't complain or regret throwing down 1/10th of what it would cost them for that bottle of Montrachet 1978 they bring when we get together, to help out a friend in need.

And that is why it confuses me so when the richest of the rich in our country are so unwilling to help others who are less fortunate. When you spend more on a single pair of cufflinks than 100 people make in a year, is it really going to put you out to be taxed a little more to the point that it's still a fraction of the cost of that single pair of cufflinks? Are they really going to miss that? Besides, it buys them a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling in knowing that they helped many of their fellow neighbors out in doing so.

5.4% is what we are talking about here. An additional 5.4% for those who make in excess of $1,000,000 in Household Income a Year. That's an extra $54,000 which seems a lot until you realize that's about the cost of a single bottle of Montrachet 1978. In these times we have to make sacrifices to help one another out. The Middle Class has to stop drinking their Absinthe and drink Captain Jack, just as we are asking the Upper Class to give up one bottle of Montrachet 1978 a year for a bottle of Romanee Conti 1978 instead. That hardly seems like much of a sacrifice to help one's fellows.

The poor oppressed millionaires!

O NOES!!!

It's so tragic & unfair that they have to pay taxes

reply to post by xmotex


Ah, a gross oversimplification. The majority of people affected by this tax "surcharge" (Hmm... Obama's people putting lipstick on a pig? Curious that it was Obama who threw that accusation at his opponents months back.) are small business owners. Let's say Joe Business Owner makes $500,000 a year at his Widget Repair shop which employs 10 people at $30,000 a year. Now the government gets him by his short hairs and says "Hey, not only do have to provide health insurance for your employees, but we're also gonna tax you an additional... errr, sorry, surcharge you 1.5% to pay for everybody else's health coverage, too." OK, so now Mr. Owner is on the hook for an extra $12,000 per employee for coverage (and that is a brutally conservative estimate. The total would almost certainly be much higher) PLUS he gets to pay the government an additional $7,500. Hmmm, it's pink slip time! We need to trim at least 2, possibly 3 employees to get Mr. Business Owner's books balanced again OR we need to increase the incoming work by an equivalent percent (how good is THAT prospect in this recession?)

Thank you for making the unemployment crises even worse, Congress. I hope you recieve a boot to the ass on your way out the door next election cycle as a parting gift.

What's wrong with progressive taxation to provide national healthcare coverage?

Is this freerepublic.com or stromfront.org and I'm the only one who hasn't caught on?

Is the OP a millionaire or just a shill for his corporate handlers? Are you payed to parrot republican talking points or is it just your life's purpose?

Do you even know that very reach people and corporations pay less taxes, percentually, than the blue collar and working stiffs?

Do you think millionaires give a rat's ass if you go into bankruptcy or can't meet your mortgage payments and are foreclosed on in order to pay for your child's cancer treatment or whatever?

Cry me a river.

Disgusting rethuglican propaganda.

Take your filthy peddling somewhere else.

[edit on 15-7-2009 by SonyAD]

reply to post by fraterormus


Sounds like you have a good group of friends good for you. But I have a question. Is your millionaire friend smarter and harder working than your $13K a year friend or for that matter any of you? How does he make so much more money than all of you? Was he self made? Doe he actually produce anything or just make most of his money with his hand in the next guy's pocket? I.e. finance, banking, real estate, insurance?

If I had all that money the least I would do is offer my friends and family low interest rate loans. And you guys are happy when he brings an expensive bottle of wine to the party? LOL. That's the problem with rich in this country in my opinion and the slack the average American cuts them.

I find it interesting that so many here see the wealthy as either evil or worthy of having all of their money taken from them. Many even say this tax won't effect them.

Are you sure?

Many millionaires (note, millionaires are no longer the extremely wealthy, but instead just wealthy. We're not talking 2,000 millions+, but 1 or 2 millions) open franchises or small businesses. Many people have a dream of opening their own business, and most who successfully do so have a figure in mind as to when they're going to quit their jobs and venture into building a business.

For many, this tax will by a reminder that they will need more equity before they can venture out on their own.

As to current business owners... Are you upset your boss is paying you minimum wage? Do you happen to work for Starbucks and you're upset over the benefits beings scaled back? In what is already a weak economy, kicking up taxes for businesses as well as business owners is a motivation to lay off workers and lower wages or benefits. If you go from paying 30% of your income (a generous amount, considering most millionaires pay over 50% in taxes already) to 40% and you bring in $1,000,000 a year, that means you have $100,000 less to spend on product and wages. The product will stay at the demand levels, which means wages must be lowered.

You will be effected, especially if you're lower-middle or middle class. Your wages will be lower and your job opportunities will dry up.

Granted, mega-millionaires have many loopholes often to work with, the average millionaire is investing into the economy almost as much as they're taking in. Instead, our government thinks it will manage that money better than the consumers.

We all know how streamlined the government is, after all...