Please define "fair". Those who like to use the phrase "pay your fair share" tend to be people who feel they are "entitled" to something and who harbor a feeling of "if I can't have it then I don't want you to have it either."

Here is what is fair: a flat tax.

 

Many paychecks are signed by folks making a million dollars a year. When they and their money leave they don't necessarily take the work force with them neither do they invest as much into the market, capital expenditures, and into the overall economy.

I don't make over 1 million dollars a year either, but I don't want my income level to be the top level by default.

 

Jungle,
Mark Steyn explained the numbers behind the Buffett Rule:
Mark Steyn: Buying ‘Buffett Rule’ makes you a fool | buffett, obama, tax - Opinion - The Orange County Register

"According to the Congressional Budget Office the Buffett Rule will raise – stand well back – $3.2 billion per year. Or what the United States government currently borrows every 17 hours. So in 514 years it will have raised enough additional revenue to pay off the 2011 federal budget deficit."

Sounds like a realistic fix. Let's just take a MILLENIUM to pay off TWO YEARS of US budget deficit...assuming a zero interest payment during that time. Can I get that schedule to pay off my house?

 

Better luck next time !
Once again anyone who wants to pay more taxes send a check .

Ally

 

This has always been an option, and one roundly refused by those who croak the loudest.

 

I seriously hope no one is claiming "quick fixes", but it always amazes me when proposed with decent ways to bring in more revenue or save money how people always fall back on: "well, it's not significant". Seriously? A few billion here, a few billion there, eventually it adds up. What a ridiculous reason to not support it. If rich people are getting away with not paying the same percentage of taxes just because they are rich (thereby getting them even richer), then that should stop. Entitlements like child credits and other deductions should also stop. If given the chance to IMPROVE something, we should. Some of the ways that people are able to circumvent and sidestep taxes are just ridiculous.

 

It is very easy:

Everybody starts paying the same rate, no deductions, no exceptions(see also the 14th ammendment).

Make spending more than revenue taken in illegal, further limit spending to a fixed percentage of GDP.

Allow anyone to opt out of SS, Medicaid or public education. Those who desire to continue may do so.

The reason this is broken is that you are being sold, without your permission in most cases.

This is not(or should not) be political, it is pure economics and almost all of us have been handed the short end of the stick by all of those making the law.

It is one of the great ironies of life that those who declare they want a fair shake are least likely to accept it and at least half who demand justice are going to be gravely disappointed.

James, if you had given even a few minutes of study to the problem you would understand that revenues, under even the most draconian proposals, cannot possibly keep up with spending, do your homework before you post again please. The arithmetic is dirt simple, you just have to look at reality for a few minutes to understand it: http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/mo...8695-good.html

 

A serious economic collapse is required and inevitable.. Unfortunately, our leaders are not mature or responsible enough for an effective solution.

Hey Jungle- You fly for UPS? I jumpseat often on them.. which bird do you fly?

 

Me? I'm nobody, just a voice in the wind.

Narrator: [voice over] Sometimes all you could hear were the flat, hard packing sounds over the yelling, or the wet choke when someone caught their breath and sprayed. You weren't alive anywhere like you were there. But fight club only exists in the hours between when fight club starts and when fight club ends. Even if I could tell someone they had a good fight, I wouldn't be talking to the same man. Who you were in fight club is not who you were in the rest of the world. A guy came to fight club for the first time, his ass was a wad of cookie dough. After a few weeks, he was carved out of wood.


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From some of the answers here it is clear that few really understand their own situation, this should give you some idea:

Guest Post: Why the Middle Class Is Doomed | ZeroHedge