Last night, the PBS program "Now" delved into how the poor are unfairly taxed. They focused on Alabama but it's an issue in all fifty states of the USA. Just something else to think about come election time.

To find out where your state ranks click on here:
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/415/states ... ality.html

Living up to it's nickname, "The Empire State" of New York ranks number one for the biggest gap. Utah is number 50.

Thanks Zap. I did not see the show, but looked at the link for my state. The link only shows income levels, not taxes?

It points out that income inequality grew in the last 20 years.

Makes sense, if you make $50k/year and get a 2% raise, thats $1k. If you make $100k and get a 2% thats a raise of twice as much, $2k. Income goes up faster.

In Cali dollars $1k = 4 meals in a high end restaurant.

Making Californians the poorest rich people in the world.

While the program dealt with the poor being unfairly taxed, I believe that the link has to do with the wage gap. But, as the show pointed out, because most states give tax breaks to the wealthy or have a flat rate tax for all income groups and/or have a sales tax that is the same for all, the poor are left with even less money to get by. One six figure income family that they interviewed thought that the flat rate tax was unfair to lower income families as well and support a higher tax for higher incomes. Given that and the fact that many businesses are given extreme tax breaks (to attract them say state legislators), the burden is indeed on the lower income folks.

I forget the commentator's name on CNN headline news, but the other night the guy was blaming the recession on the Democrats voting for an increase in minimum wage (among other things). Once again, the poor, not the rich, are being blamed for being too greedy! I don't know how many times I've heard employers or corporate execs tell the employees that they (the employees) are the company's biggest expense! Like you're suppose to feel guilty for wanting to make a living wage! WTF!!!

hmm...what if everybody paid the same percentage...???

That, too, could be viewed as a "regressive tax." Some could rightfully say that they are paying a disproportionate percentage! Why, if the flat tax were 15%, that would amount to a huge chunk for those of the lower income, and a very tiny amount for those of upper income.

That was the point about last Friday's "Now" on PBS. The poor are being taxed the same as the rich for everyday necessities. If you've got little or no disposable income, then that tax is giving you even less to get by on. Lots of disposable income and "Yahoo! I got me one of them 200 inch HDTVs, an IPod, IPhone and still have plenty to eat!" no matter if they're paying the same percentage on taxes.

I have a feeling that the shit's gonna hit the fan soon. And between the wars, recession, gas/oil prices rising, bigger rich/poor gap, health care crisis, global climate change, crop shortages, endangered species/extinction, pollution, over population, etc., etc., there's gonna be a lot of it! People and good ol' Mother Earth are just going to be able to take so much.

I have problems with that argument. I know some really rich people that pay less (percentage wise) than I do. That means we're missing out on shitloads of their money.

No argument there. The every day, across the board tax I was talking about was the sales tax. Things like the sales tax are the same for everybody but, because the poor use more of their income to buy stuff they need, some living from paycheck to paycheck, they pay a bigger percentage of their income in tax. On top of that, the well to do have more disposable income that they can invest and play all of those tax loop hole games with and pay less percentage wise. There was just an article about that in Tuesday's Hartford Courant. In Connecticut, the wealthiest households pay less than 5% of their income in taxes while the middle & lower income families pay up to 10.9%. So, while the rich, dollar-wise, do pay more money, they pay a substantially lower percentage. Check out the article:

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-voic ... 0862.story

Read the report that the Courant article was based on here:

http://www.ctkidslink.org/pub_detail_409.html

The poorer you are, the more percentage of your income you pay. Any candidates addressing that?

This is a test I just learned some where else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgq5suMX ... ce=rgemail

Well, it looks like it failed but 1 minute 40 seconds of how to spend trillions is always good for laugh. (I was hoping the you-tube screen would appear, iinstead of just the link.)

All I can say is.....start planting Heritage Vegetables and saving your own seed. Be the worst consumer in the world.

Dumpster diving sometimes has its benefits as well (depending on the dumpster.)! It's the ultimate in recycling!

Become a Locavore

My dad has dumpster dived before. One time some yrs ago I went out to eat with my folks at a restaurant which is no longer around. After we ate my dad went dumpster diving in a dumpster behind there. My mom was having fits lol. She was telling him, don't take that home Ed. LOL...

I wasn't talking food dumpsters! Aye, yie yie!! That's like the Seinfeld eclair episode times 1000! Explains a lot.