That's not that Obama said at all.

He said tax RATES:

Which is utter untrue.

We can have a discussion about tax loopholes and reforming the tax code in another thread. Let's stick to what the President said in this one

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"The ultimate decision about what is accepted as right and wrong will be made not by individual human wisdom but by the disappearance of the groups that have adhered to the "wrong" beliefs."
-- F.A. Hayek

I don't play the same extremely partisan game as you, Bodo, and so whereas you see the world in starkly black and white terms and so need to force the thread into a template whereby one either attacks Obama or defends him, I simply view it as an opportunity to remind people of some issues that are often overlooked due to the partisanship.

Don't you get it?

The "attack Obama" tactic TIES INTO their "ignore the main point being made" tactic (which is what you were getting at) so avoiding your point is obviously what they're going to do.

I have started a variety of threads on that issue before.
They go nowhere.

If they had their way, it would all be one flat tax rate and damn the economic / budgetary consequences. The poor paying little (changing that would gain our budget ridiculously little) means everything to them, while the rich paying less is trivial.
To a conservative, preserving our historical standards is key with one of the HUGE exceptions being the upper crust tax rate.

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"Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value."
Albert Einstein

Are you freakin' kidding me?
You actually believe this crap?

So when it comes to the average American worker, it's caused by what?
Laziness?

Look at the countries that are in the same boat as us.
Cameroon, Madagascar, Rwanda, Uganda, Ecuador

Furthermore, the economic inequality has been growing over the years.
Why?
Is it because the American worker is getting lazier?
Are the CEOs supposedly getting more brilliant in how they handle business?
How is it that our country has such a huge income inequality gap and unemployment, while the businesses can still pull down their profits in the past few years?


I realize that is your fear for the future, but I'm talking about the PRESENT.
Obama hasn't changed our system radically.
We do not have "social justice"

So how about you deal with our ACTUAL system instead of trying to divert to fear of what could be.
Our current problems ARE NOT due to "social justice"

Furthermore, since a quick check of the stats will show that the rich have continued to do very well, it's obvious that THIS fear of yours falls flat in the current reality.

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"Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value."
Albert Einstein

It's not partisanship. Words have meaning and if you can't take someone at what they said, what good are the words?

He may have meant something else, but that's not what he said and that's not what he spokespeople have said.

This was a prepared statement so they had time to get the language right.

I'm sorry if this thread frustrates you. It frustrates me that the media (PolitiFact for example) ignores his 'facts' while going after others.

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"The ultimate decision about what is accepted as right and wrong will be made not by individual human wisdom but by the disappearance of the groups that have adhered to the "wrong" beliefs."
-- F.A. Hayek

So you want to return to the ~90% tax rate? That'll be good for the economy.

__________________
"The ultimate decision about what is accepted as right and wrong will be made not by individual human wisdom but by the disappearance of the groups that have adhered to the "wrong" beliefs."
-- F.A. Hayek

I'm sorry, but the man has yet to make a speech that didn't involve pulling on the emotion strings.

State fact, quit trying to paint a pathetic, and in this case incorrect, picture of the abuse of the American people by the ebil rich, and state your reasons why the rates should be increased.

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"Try and fathom the hypocrisy of a Government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured, but not everyone must prove they are a citizen".

The fellow or family making $50K probably has access to deductions for home mortgage interest, charitable contributions, and so forth. These reduce taxable income and thus the effective tax rate. So, the rich aren't the only ones benefitting from tax deductions.

If we look at the effective tax rates on ordinary income, the middle quintile representing just under 20% of tax units pay an average effective rate of 12% while the top quintile pays 19.6%. The top-earners aren't doing as well utilizing "methods to protect their income for taxation."

Of course the President's rhetorical excess that the secretary pays at a lower rate than Buffet ignores that the bulk of Buffets earnings taxed at long term capital gains rates, 15%. While the "middle class" effective tax rate is lower at 12% the 3% differential doesn't tell the whole story. The money used to pay the bulk of Buffet's earning have already been taxed at corporate rates. If we assume a minimal corporate effective tax rate of 10%, the true tax rate is 25%, more than twice middle class tax rates.

Distribution of Effective Individual Income and Payroll Tax Rate, Under Current Law, by Cash Income Percentile, 2011

Glad to see you're finally getting it.
The rich aren't evil, but they should certainly have sacrifices especially since they are the ones to benefit over our l9oss the past thirty years or so. There is nothing wrong with collecting taxes from those who have it. In fact economies thrive on it.

Hope your being sarcastic.


Please cite your source

__________________
"The ultimate decision about what is accepted as right and wrong will be made not by individual human wisdom but by the disappearance of the groups that have adhered to the "wrong" beliefs."
-- F.A. Hayek