"However, that's all beside the point. Here's what I was railing against: the idea that the rich bear too heavy a tax burden compared to the rest of our society. And I pulled those stats to show that under this supposed 'huge burden' the rich have gotten richer in relation to the rest of society."
Your argument seems to be that because they are rich, they are not "burdened" by the taxes they have to pay. Why does that make it fair to take a disproportionately larger percentage of their money? Why don't we just make people pay for everything as a percentage of their income or ability to pay. That way if a rich guy wants to buy the same car as you, he can pay more because he can afford to, sounds fair to me.
I don't necessarily support the fair tax, flat tax, or national sales tax. I just posted the article so you could give it a read, and you did come up with some very good arguments against it.
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Ok, I've got another task for you that should put this argument in perspective. I know you didn't do the last task of stating exactly how you would reduce government spending, but this is a lot easier.
Consider the following household budget items for a family of four, one adult head of household and three children aged 17, 14, and 11 living in your hometown. Consider current living costs and calculate the amount of income necessary for each budget item to generate a MINIMALLY adequate living standard. (This should be for a family you would consider to be not well off, but just barely above poverty)
Housing Expenses:
Rent or Mortgage Payment ___
Utilities, including electricity, heat, air conditioning, and water ___
Telephone, Cable, and Internet Services ___
Real of personal property Insurance ___
Household Expenses ___
Food, Clothing, and Medical Expenses:
Food Expenses ___
Personal Care Products ___
Clothing for adult ___
Clothing for children ___
Laundry and Cleaners ___
Health Insurance ___
Medical expenses, including non-prescription drugs, glasses, etc. ___
Dental expenses, including orthodontics ___
Transportation:
Car payment ___
Gas expenses ___
Car Repairs and Servicing ___
Car Insurance ___
Other Transportation, including bus, taxi, etc. ___
Other Expenses:
Dining, Movies, and Entertainment ___
Education and Training Expenses (household head) ___
School-related expenses (children) ___
Extracurricular activities ___
Travel and/or Vacation Expenses ___
Religious Tithing ___
Gifts (Birthdays, Holidays, etc.) ___
I'll give you my figures after you post yours.
Still waiting ....
You sound like my professors at school. They also seem to think I have all time in the world to do the things they assign. Your premise was that the poor don't have a propensity to save. So is it that they don't save or they can't? If they couldn't save under a flat tax or national sales tax, can they save now? If they can't save now what's the point in me making a budget, to prove your point for you?. I know that the common expenses eat almost every penny of the poor, if you missed it, I'M ONE OF THEM. I just don't agree that it should be the governments role to redistribute the wealth. If I can't make ends meet while in school, I'll take a semester off, if I still can't, my family will help me, if that's not enough, my church will help, if that's not enough, my wife could work, etc, etc. Why does government have to be a part of the picture. That's just other peoples money stolen from them to give to me. I'd rather they had the choice of helping me or not.
I think you're making the mistake in thinking that all of the poor are just like you. But you obviously have some opportunities and an excellent support structure in place that a good many people don't have.
What I was trying to get you to do in making the budget was to realize that your perspective on who is and who isn't poor doesn't match up with the government's definition, and to realize that the things you were proposing regarding savings and taxation just aren't feasible when it comes to low-income households.
I'm not even sure what we're arguing here. Is it the reasons why we have a progressive tax system? Or am I just trying to get you to recognize that poverty is a problem big enough that it requires all of us as a society to solve? Or is it the very nature of government - does gov't act out the wants of society vs. is it an unwanted intrusion into our lives? We probably disagree on all three.
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