At the same time, WE THE BANKERS, have off-shore Swiss bank accounts so you the Federal government can't tax us. So whether or not you the Federal Government raises taxes, we the bankers don't really care...
Mr. Uygur, you do realize that most bankers are Democrats. I work for Goldman Sachs as an investment banker and here's my experience. The Democrats make erroneous promises through parks, welfare, housing, and so on to the American people during general elections. They fulfill their promises by issuing 30-year general obligation bonds to finance their legislation to score political points WHILE WE, THE BANKERS, COLLECT FEES TO UNDERWRITE THESE BONDS.
It‘s interesting how liberals scream about how corporations spend so much money to get Republicans elected. Yet in the same breath, Dems praise labor unions as real people -- completely ignoring the “corporations” that employ them and the astronomical amounts unions spend to elect Democrats.
@SullivanSean1 - no argument about the collection of taxes. The point is the gov't is NOT intended to provide everything for people. Just govern. So understand the context --
A friend of mine has recently been working with some young Republican staffers in Washington on a big ‘tax freedom’ project.
The idea is that all those earning over $250k should be able to pay some or all of their tax liabilities to a charitable organisation of their choice, rather than the government. This is all about real economic freedom & will really help to get big govt. off our backs for good!
Hopefully it will be included on the Palin ticket in a couple of years!
Maybe repubs don't know politics but liberals are moving America towards socialism...What's sad is, you guys don't even know it! Read the Constitution & you'd realize the gov't was NOT meant to do what they are trying to do today (both repubs & libs). When gov't "raises" taxes, Americans have been desensitized to think it's the gov'ts money. It's NOT! It's YOUR MONEY! Rich or poor, principally it's yours. Most rich EARNED their wealth! Why do you all work so hard? So you can be taxed more?
All politicians suck up to rich people. They have to in order to get the money to buy tv ads. Christian Republicans offer rich Americans tax breaks. Marxist Democrats offer rich ex-Nazis in Europe human sacrifices of poor working class unborn babies. It's hard for GOP to raise taxes yes, but its a bit harder for Democrats to raise the dead.
Yeah, GOP fights to keep taxes from rising on small businesses who actually create jobs. But you're probably right with the close minded classwarfare - keep raising taxes and spending like Obama has been doing it seems to be working out well so far huh (Obama Admin said stimulus would keep unemployment below 8% - it's been as high as 10 and is hovering around 9.6% now). How's that hope and change working for all our unemployed?
DUDE, where do all the Corporation presidents and executives come from ?? Harvard left wing, Yale left wing, Princeton left wing, Columbia left wing, Penn left wing etc, the problem is we have too many left wing kool aid drinkers in charge, TIME FOR A CLEAN SWEEP, including people like your self
First mistake, you are not evading tax if you establish an offshore company, you are simply using the registration of your business overseas as way of ensuring your profits are not taxable.
Let's face it, tax lawyers are generally twice as clever as any legislator, if a legislator closes one loophole they will simply find a new one and THANK GOD for that.
Not necessarily, there's ways to do it, complex and probably beyond the comprehension of the majority of people who are not tax law specialists but there's reasons why tax lawyers are among the best paid lawyers.
Haven't we already figured out that torture doesn't work, at least not as well as interogation that does work? Why do you think we STOPPED USING IT ALMOST A CENTURY AGO? Why are we REGRESSING? Jeez, we treated the Nazis better. am i wrong?
No the Nazis were tortured and illegally killed as POWs they were also starved to death. It was pretty fucking shabby actually but the propaganda machine was more powerful then.
People still don't get it, Republicans have no policy. Their only policy is to fight EVERYTHING the democrats wants, no matter what.
I bet if Obama comes out tomorrow and say we are gonna do everything that stands in the GOP's program...if they have any that is... The GOP will even fight that, because to them it has nothing to do with USA doing great, its all about beating the other party.
Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rove and Rice are busy working for their own business so the republican party can't be run by them alone anymore...sorry to you republicans who are old and senile and got lost on the way to congress but you guys gotta come up with some good ideas or you are fucked
Enron, the poster child of corporate crime, fraud and abuse, was no less aggressive in seeking to avoid paying taxes than it was in manipulating markets and cooking the books. Enron paid no taxes in four of the five last years before it filed for bankruptcy
* By 2000, U.S. federal and state corporate taxes had dropped to 2.5% of GDP from 4.1% in 1965, while corporate income taxes in other OECD countries had risen to 3.4% GDP. In 2002, U.S. corporate taxes plummeted to only 1.5% of GDP.
* The New York Times reported in August, 2002 that the 100 largest U.S. publicly traded companies pay a significantly smaller share of their profits in taxes worldwide than the 100 largest companies based outside the United States.
Two congressional experts familiar with the corporate tax debate suggest that "the U.S. tax system, with its combination of deferral and a foreign tax credit, is probably more generous in most circumstances than the "territorial systems" used by other countries." The data bear this out:
Although no one knows for sure how much offshore tax avoidance is costing the country, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee estimates that the cost of tax avoiding by both individuals and corporations through the use of offshore tax shelters to be $70 billion a year - roughly the same amount that President Bush requested to pay for the first 6 months of the war and occupation of Iraq.
Looked at from the perspective of who pays what portion of the nation's overall taxes, the decline in corporate taxation is even more stark. In a recent special investigation on corporate taxes, Business Week reported that in 1940, companies and individuals split the federal income tax bill equally. Corporations now pay only 13.7% of the federal income tax bill and individuals pay 86.3%
studies indicate corporate taxes are at their lowest levels in decades. Although the statutory corporate income tax rate is up to 35%, according to Robert McIntyre of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the top 250 companies paid what amounts to only a 20.1 % rate in taxes in 1998, down from 22.9% in 1996 and well below the 26.5 percent that a similar group paid in 1988.McIntyre estimates that currently, big corporations pay only about 15% of their pretax U.S.profits in federal taxes.
Boo freaking woo, like any middle class person with half a brain will feel sorry for the billion dollar businesses that gave us $5 dollar a gallon gasoline and banks that made bad housing investments only to get billions of tax payers money. No tax loopholes for hedge fund billionaires that drained peoples 401Ks
ck your approach to the tax cuts isnt the reality.. Its sounds good to give tax cuts to those who create jobs. thats all fine but, there are sooo many companies who took advantage of the tax cuts by not only NOT creating jobs for US citizens but hiring people for a lower wage in countries overseas, thats the problem. this approach does not help the economy grow in america, it only helps the company grow financially.
Bush's tax cuts weren't enough to bring back jobs. Companies are heavily taxed on profits for doing business in the U.S. compared to companies in other countries. It makes sense if you want bigger profits to go overseas. The U.S. needs to lower taxes in order to be competitive. Wages still won't be competitive, but there are other associated costs for doing business overseas. Congress could pass incentives for businesses to create jobs here in the states. Obama wants them to be taxed 35% still.
Democrats complained about Bush cutting taxes for the rich. I remember Sen. Daschle showing a brand new Lexus and saying "A person making a million dollars a year will be able to buy this Lexus". And, I remember asking myself: "Who puts that Lexus together? Workers!" So, Bushs' tax cuts would help create jobs provided the yearly millionaire buys the Lexus. So, why not lower a company's tax rate on their profits if they invest in U.S. capital or make them pay 35% if they don't? Just a thought...
There is no guarantee that they will spend any or all of their money in the US. And you know, those companies use the public roads/education/health care in order to operate, so they should have to pay their fair share to keep those things operating.
Yeah, except supply side economics is a myth that was debunked in the 80s. Find me a PhD in economics who specializes in supply side today, in the public or private sector. I'll wait.
If America didn't have such insane taxes on business, THEY WOULDN'T HAVE TO HAVE LOOPHOLES you fuckin' idiots! Jesus Christ, get a clue. This country IS full of idiots, just the foreigners say. My God. Keep electing trash. Dummies.
Your Obama gave a bailout that would have paid for all the mortgages of the U.S., all the credit cards, and all the auto debt of all the citizen of the United States. WAKE UP, the Left and Right are playing US like FOOLS!
The tax rate on the top 5% between 1932-1993 was between 50-90%. The current tax rate on them is 35% (and they consume more now than then). What do we have to show for it? Falling wages.
The United States still ranks at the top of the HDI list w/ 300 million people. Sweden is also at the top, is 10 million people. The United States is 30x larger than Sweden, you can't even compare the two. Other larger European socialist countries rank below the U.S, still with a population that can't compare.
Even the poor Americans are wealthy compared to most of the world.
Was it more backwards than for the 70 million executed under USSR rule?
"the United States still ranks at the top of the HDI list"
No it doesn't. Those European "socialist" countries are ahead of us.
en.wikipedia (dot) org/ wiki/ List_ of_ countries _ by_ Human _ Development_Index # High
We're, sadly, in 15th place now.
"Even the poor Americans are wealthy compared to most of the world"
Not compared to the poor in Japan and most of Western Europe. And that figure is BS. 70 million people were not executed in the USSR (not that the USSR is a model nation).
European socialist countries are only responsible for themselves. I don't know any country which has lavishly spent money to fight the world's problems like Clinton and GW did, and like Obama is doing now.
If these European countries were not socialist, they could generate the revenue to help the United States save the world.
So you support GW's spending, and think the world needs to join in. That's a scary thought, every country spending as much as the United States on arms etc. is not a good thing. The world needs less arms not more.
I'm not a left wing enthusiast, just someone who thinks the world would be better off with fewer bullets flying through the air. Violence begets violence and there is no way to change that.
"I don't know any country which has lavishly spent money to fight the world's problems like Clinton and GW did"
The US under ever president after Herbert Hoover and before Bush II. Actually, no, scratch that: ALL of them spent lavishly. Your messiah Ronald Reagan included. They had various results because of the things they spent ON. Spending is not inherently bad - it's what you spend on. Bush spent on worthless wars and worthless tax cuts with no wage increases or increase in production.
Most of us understand that when one says that money is spent to fight the world's problems, it means that money is spent on humanitarian efforts--and my original statement holds.
Moreover, if you want people to take your comments seriously, you might aim for credibility.
Employing some bizarre habit of assigning messiahs to other YouTube posters is no way to achieve that. (I hope this advice is helpful.)
Hello Mcfly, Obama gave you a tax cut and now it time for the top 5% to pay up and stop using loopholes and tax shelters, The ultra rich power base has some middle class people brainwashed into defending greedy corporations WTF the same companies that bulked the consumer and the economy out of billions and billions with $5 a gallon gas and off shoring of jobs. Some people cant see the forest through the trees.
you are right maryambakhsi88, capitalism is great and that is why this country is so special. But what SOME companies are doing is moving those jobs meant for us/Americans and moving those same jobs overseas to foreign countries for more capital gain. That is perfectly legal and there are nothing saying companies cant do that. But is takes jobs from people in this country. they pay the people less money and they continue to get richer. thats my problem with capitalism, it can turn into greed.
this is why we need the sales tax and offshore accounts would be irrelevant. fairtax (dot) org website would untax the business itself and move the taxes onto the owners that want to live here buying piles of crap. prebate makes it progressive - done.
Dont underestimate corporate greed, they move off shore to take advantage of workers in other countries that dont have labor or environmental law. If corporations move off shore for cheap labor and to evade environmental laws and then ship goods back to the US they should pay US taxes on the profits end of store. The threat of job loss is an old scare tactics to keep the little guy inline.
Look at one of the biggest tax evaders Chevron Oil over 3 decades of oil drilling in Ecuadorian Amazon, Chevron dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into the rainforest leaving local people suffering. You call that not breaking the law
In fact, this is my least favourite TYT video ever. Usually Cenk sounds intelligent and gives well reasoned arguments. Here, he was just spouting off media talking points that have very little basis in fact and very much basis in appealing to the people who listen to said media.
You are delusional, The only person trying to get us to war with Iran is Dick Cheney. And he would have done so had things gone better in Iraq. Had they not lied and we had never gone into Iraq Iran would still be contained. Just because someone is jewish doesn't mean they want to go to war. After all I am sure he(Emmanuel) loves his children too. Dick Cheney I'm not so sure about, I don't even know if he is human!
Let's see ... according to you neocon Libertarians the Jews are responsible for 9/11, the Fed Reserve, every war we've ever lost, dismantling the Constitution, corporate corruption, etc etc ..... and I'm beginning to wonder .... if the Jews are really so intelligent, crafty and clever that they can pull that all off by themselves .... maybe they SHOULD rule the world!
You are right, We are borrowing money from China to pay for the 13 billion dollars amonth we are spending in Iraq, while the Iraqies are sitting on billions in oil revenue. They (Iraq) just contracted their oil to China so that China is getting the oil and our money and not a drop of Chinese blood was spilt for it.Also for Mary belw- How do you know that? Oh I see it's because all the rich republicans and their cowharts have told you so. Pehaps the ignorance here belongs to you!
And whose fault is that? It's not the fault of rich people that non-rich people set their own minimum wage under which they will not go. If Americans wanted to work for wages that people in India are willing to work for, Americans would get some of these jobs.
If American workers feel they are in a position to dictate their own wages, they certainly don't have a situation about which they can complain.
Riiight .... every time I struggle to pay my rent I get a chill of gratitude that there are a few multi-millionaires out there who don't pay any taxes ... I feel so patriotic reflecting on the image of corporate executives sipping tax-free margaritas in Bermuda while we workers keep the country humming along. (sigh)
Not ot mention the biggest money give away of all times,the TARP fund. The republicans having been giving tax breaks to the rich for the last eight years, I don't see any great amount of jobs created. I also don't see how that helped keep big business from needing TARP fund money. So these republicans are screaming this will hurt business, Where has it helped? Look what 8 yr of their advice has done for this country. They need to move out of the way and let someone else try to repair their mess
Your word choice makes my point better than I do. If it weren't for tax breaks for the rich, many of us wouldn't be able to call ourselves workers at all.
The problem is that too many of us workers are so spoiled that we don't understand how good we have it.
Remember, employment is good, and unemployment is bad--as evidenced by all the talk about unemployment rates.
A chill of gratitude on your part would be justifiable here.
What was the tarp fund? Corporate welfare! Redistributing the wealth. It was ok with the republicans that the goverment took our tax money and re distributed it to the banks so the CEO's could get big bonuses. What the republicans don't like is anyone who needs alittle help getting it. Thn it's all about the goverment shouldn't be involved. Who is the goverment supposed to be for? If you're a republican the answer is big business., if you're a democrat the answer is the people.
There are two issues here. The only answer is to rework the tax code. The loopholes came about because corporate tax code in the US is way too high. Set up a fair tax code and don't allow any loopholes. Do the same thing for personal taxes. This would make closing loopholes more acceptable. Start by taxing all religious organizations.
If businesses are not allowed to cut costs by outsourcing and setting up offshore companies (in response to America's inflated minimum wage), they'll either raise the costs of their products, cut the number of their American employees. or ultimately might consider moving out of America all together.
He will not prevent it, but did he not "proposed Monday to raise taxes on the overseas profits of U.S. companies and to go after evaders who abuse offshore tax shelters" and "crack down on companies 'that ship jobs overseas'"(AP)? My point is, sure, it is unethical to evade taxes, but is it really fair to tax companies who are simply trying to make profit? By "cracking down" on these companies who aren't doing anything illegal, the consequences might even worsen the economy (previous comment).
Nobody is saying they can't make a profit otherwise it would be pointless being in business. But these companies are sheltering their profits abroad in tax havens simply because they are greedy and they do not want to pay tax. They are tax cheats and they owe the American people billions in back taxes.
"Currently, the average combined federal and state corporate tax rate in the U.S. is 39.3 percent" (Tax Foundation), the highest in the world. Why are they tax cheats? Because the taxes are not fair. Why should they have to pay more for being successful? That's like punishing progress. Then again, I'm only voicing an opinion that I believe in. If you disagree, that is fine with me. Just thumb down my comments.
Whether taxes are 'fair' or 'unfair' they still have to be paid. I am sure that poorer people don't want to pay taxes because they are unfair but boo hoo they still have to pay em and that applies to greedy bosses who are taking their money offshore to dupe the American people out of what they are owed. Time to pay up
Please don't misunderstand me, Cutchswife: I am not saying the concept of taxes is unfair; I am saying that the increase in the tax rate for "rich" people, or in this case "greedy" companies, is. Shouldn't it be equal? Wasn't America founded on the concept of equal opportunity and rights for all? Taxes are a necessity of a civilized society, I do recognize that. They pay for schools, roads, state and national defense, and the like. They also pay for unnecessary things. I'd elaborate but no room.
@ eiendeeai: I don't believe that you can have the same tax rate for poorer people as you do for the rich. Imo the rich should pay more because they earn more. It is morally repugnant for them to hoard their profits at the expense of other, poorer tax payers
Your comment was very fair and reasonable but I just have one analogy that I would like for you to consider. If we both bought a house (the US) and the house has two rooms, one 100 sqft. and the other 1000 sqft. shouldn't the person with the bigger room pay more of the mortgage? Lets be honest, once you start making a certain amount of money, you no longer work, others work for you. There is nothing to gripe about. just tell your accountant to pay your taxes and appreciate your success!
I'm grateful for your comment, actualcollegegrad, and, I must say, your analogy really stumped me. But, I'll still try to hopelessly defend myself. Let's say we did buy a house together. Wouldn't that imply that we both make around an equal amount of money? If that is the case, then I'll agree to your analogy. But if that is not the case, why then would you, if you were the richer one, agree to allow me to buy the house with you when I am poorer and will be able to pay less of the mortgage?...
...Though I have the smaller room, I still get the living room, bathroom, kitchen, & essentially a roof (I'm sure a really nice one if a single room is 1000 sq.ft.) over my head for much less than you would have to pay. And, correct me if I'm wrong (as I'm merely a high school kid), once the mortgage is paid off, since we bought it together & signed the contracts together, in spite of the fact that you'll had paid more, we'll both end up owning it 50-50, which wouldn't be fair to you, no?
They must not be doinfg too badly, when ceos make multi-million dollar bonuses. But, I am sure they could do just fine living on the inflated minimum wage.
After all, When the cost of living skyrockets, why should wages go up for ordinary Americans and cut into those bonuses?
HAHA this is coming from a guy who his own chief of staff brags he doesn't pay the income tax. Just another case of the classic divide and conquer with the left right paradigm.
Are you saying he shouldn't work? You can be owned by greedy bastards that doesn't mean you like what they are doing. If we improve the tax code yes that means even Cenk's BOSSES will have to pay much more taxes. That's exactly what he, and I want. I don't care if your democrat or Republican. Hiding your money while ppl making >$50k pay %20-%25 is despicable.
The opulent are our masters and saviors. Sacrifice more and more of the money we should have been paid so they can give more coorporate bonuses to their high level executive (like me! hahaha) and fire the high paid worked (like those who make more than $20k a year and outsource their jobs to Indians and Chinese who get $5k a year!
Repeat after me: We are the slaves! We are the serfs! We love to be dominated by our opulent masters!
hmmmm....water-boarding vs beheading....water-boarding vs beheading....hmmmmm....well, actually, I've heard that as far as the pain and suffering of the dieee is concerned, it's actually the quickest, least painful way to die. But beheading DOES make you die.....well, water-boarding can too but only if you screw it up. Soooo, I'd say beheading is worse! Cool! That makes my torture better than their torture so I'm cool! I can torture to my hearts content!!!! Yipeeeeee!!!!
Say it after me: We are the slaves! We are the serfs! We love to work 80 hours a week! We want to get cancer and lose our homes, and end up on the streets and lose our kids because we can't take care of them. We want to get Salmonella from improperly inspected food. We want our medications to kill us. We want to be dominated by the opulent! We are the slaves! We are the serfs! We want to be dominated by the opulent!!!
Oh yeah, and we want our kids to die from lead poisoning. We are the slaves! We are the serfs! We want to die of exhaustion in our cubicles! ra! ra! ra! ra!. Praaaaaaaise the opulent!
Ladies Ladies, we are not supposed to torture under any circumstances period.. Bitch all you want but part of the reason we have people wanting to kill us is our rogue like acts like waterboarding which by the way we executed the Japanese for doing that to us.
Black, seriously? No they will not stop bombing because we stop waterboarding, Its about a great country setting standards and keeping them. If we executed the Japanese for water boarding US servicemen then we set a standard for this.
As for homosexuality being illegal, your making crap up now. According to the UCMJ Sodomy has always been illegal even with your wife not just with two men and it is today, this is for military only. Its never been illegal as a citizen of the United States.
No, I'm not making anything up. You know damn well homosexulity wasnt legal by any means at that time and it was very socially unacceptable.
Its very hilarious IMO, because liberals are always making the snide remark that conservatives are "stuck in the 50s"... but with this waterboarding thing, you guys are all of a sudden very appreciative of mid 20th century law and its "merits". Hahahahaha.
Waterboarding and terroristic bombings are both illegal. One does not negate the other.
That homosexuality was illegal 50 years ago and is not now does not mean that all laws that were relevant 50 years ago are no longer relevant. Waterboarding was illegal then, and it is illegal now.
Try running your arguments by a high school graduate (for approval) before you display them in public.
By your name and your posts, I can tell how angry of a person you are. My guess is small dick, bad job, no woman, and it really wasn't hard to figure that out.
That doesn't make it any less illegal then it already is. Regardless of the circumstances, torture is illegal and waterboarding is torture by international law. There is no getting around it.
Wait what? since when will waterboarding someone save 100 people? Thas is bullshit! Most confessions if not all from waterboarding were false. Not to mention when we close guantanamo we are MONITORING the peeople who were there, we aren't just letting them go in the middle of manhattan with bomb-making materials!
3 important questions about self proclaimed conservatives:1. what does one actually have to do to be a conservative; 2. why does that make one a conservative; & 3. is it a good or bad type of conservative
the republican party is doomed unless they ditch the neo-cons and let ron paul with his libertarian movement take over the party. no independant or conservitive democrat will listen to rush limbugh or any other neo-conman seiriously after what thier policies did to this contry. ron paul and his message has brought new life and youth to the G.O.P. 's libertarian wing. let the old wing of the g.o.p. die i say. glad i voted for nader. if ron paul runs again who knows?
is obama finaly doing something that he campained on? holyshit! its about time! id like to see the hr bill because i bet obama is going to let the loophole in but in a differant form. ill belive it after i read it but it sounds good. obama has been a wall st. banker puppet so far, if he does this who profits? i cant wait to see this play one out. glad i voted for nader. he would have done this already!
This legislation doesn't just go after the coporate 'fat cats', because alot of average schmoes are invested in these type of companies through mutual funds and 401ks blah blah blah.....but i think it is the right thing to do anyway.
Obama more than likely knows nothing about running a business.However he seems good at twisting the arm of productive people that do know how to run a business.I wonder if Obama ever had a job other than being a student ,community organizer or politician .
You people don't get it. Corporations do not pay taxes. What the Corproation pays in tax is passed onto the consumer in higher charges for goods and services. Corporations set up offshore accounts for the tax advantages. Do away with the tax advantage and the Corproation wil shut down these accounts and these taxes the Gov't expects to receive will not materialize and the consumer will sufferr. The Corporation will not suffer because their decisions are the based best financial advantage.
"if you want to close the loopholes in the tax code, then enact the flat tax. "
Agreed, it is long over due. The reason why it never gets any real traction is because both of the major parties are beholden to special interests.
Some people like to push the lie that a flat income tax hurts people with lower incomes than higher income people but nothing could be further from the truth. Low income people don't buy the amount of luxury goods & services that rich do. "Progressive tax" is a fraud.
You are correct, but my point remains the same. Goods and services will still be taxed, when people have more disposable money they buy more goods and services. The net result is that those with money end up paying much more but yet the system remains completely fair because everyone has the same percentage of skin in the game. (whatever the flat tax rate is) So that ends the complaints, greatly shrinks the IRS and allows them to be more efficient.
You say if I am rich give my money.Well I'm not rich but I also am not a little bastard like you,full of envy because you're to lazy or stupid to earn your own money.You're just a scum communist piece of garbage.You're the retard ,you stupid ass!!
Most people who are rich never earned their money but stole it by taking advantage of others, I am pretty much a communist and it is because of people like you who think that if someone has money they earned it and those that don't should suffer.
I worked at a resteraunt that this guy owned, I had an accident on the job (pushed accidentally into an oven burned arm). The policy was that if you had such an accident, the company (basically just the owner an his wife) were supposed to pay for it. They didn't though and changed the policy making me have to pay for the hospital visit AND wrote me up for having to leave work. He later stopped paying exterminators to come around, causing infestations, and wouldnt fix the roof so it leaked.
I was going to turn them in for all this when they fired me and then paid off everyone I could get help from. He is now in government here. John Flemming
The wealthiest 1 percent of the population earn 19 percent of the income but pay 37 percent of the income tax. The top 10 percent pay 68 percent of the tab. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent—those below the median income level—now earn 13 percent of the income but pay just 3 percent of the taxes.
-Journal of the American Enterprise Institute
The biggest thief in the world is the U.S. Government. History shows that Communism doesn't work because it destroys incentives for success.
Keep in mind that the progressive tax system is neither new, nor communist, nor socialist. It's been around since Athens.
Why?
You can't go to your hourly wage job if the government can no longer afford to provide public transportation, or infrastructure like roads and traffic lights, which means you can't buy that new iPhone, which means the CEOs and upper level managers of AT&T and Apple don't get their bonuses- bonuses which aren't uncommonly multiples of their base salaries.
The U.S. Progressive tax isn't truly progressive and holds down the MC.
The Constitution grants Government the power to provide basic services needed by a government ie- Military Defense, Police, Construction/upkeep of roads, interstate commerce and international commerce
Public Transportation doesn't move 300 million Americans, the private Auto Industry does.
Capitalism rewards success, if you don't like how CEOs are paid, don't buy their products, I don't like Apple so I don't buy Apple
It's hard to tell if you're agreeing or disagreeing, which isn't surprising given our 500 char. limit, so feel free to clarify your statements. But thanks for your civil and intelligent reply.
My last point was less about CEO compensation and more about avoiding taxes.
Still, to speak towards CEO compensation, the wealth distribution of today's America is returning to the days of robber barons- which I hope we can all agree is a bad thing.
The BB CEOs make some of the most money in the economy but so do Actors and Professional Athletes, for the same reason. Their worth (revenue increased by their abilities) to the corporation/employer is worth the salaries and bonuses given to them. I don't see anybody calling for taking away the money made by athletes.
U.S. Progressive tax does not hurt the ultra wealthy, it protects them. The limit for tax increase is 250,000. So if you make 250,000 you're taxed the same as a billionaire.
You're oversimplifying the situation. Someone making 250,000 is not taxed the same as a billionaire. The amount of tax you pay doesn't so much depend on your income per se. A lot of it depends on your sources of income (some income is taxed differently then others) and the various deductions and credits you claim.
Just a fun piece of trivia: 60% of the nation's taxpayers paid less than 1% of the income tax burden. And yet the government collects several trillion dollars in personal income tax receipts every year. Wonder where that money is coming from? The rich are our golden goose...
The rich are paying more than ever before. I was saying that the U.S. Progressive Tax is not truly progressive, its ends at 250,000. This is good to be limited, but it should be limited to a percentage for everyone (FLAT TAX), this would help the Middle Class more than it would the Upper Class
I was correcting the misconception that the Flat Tax would help the rich and hurt the MC/Poor. It would instead boost them up
Because of that the ultra rich are not affected by a percentage increase in taxes, while that same increase could change a major lifestyle decision for someone making 250,000.
Big Businesses don't pay taxes because any profit loss by the business from taxes/litigation are implemented in the prices. This means that the middle class bear the burden through the purchase of goods for taxes put upon businesses.
What passes as the poor in the U.S. would be considered wealthy in most of the world.
But, that doesn't mean everyone else is like that. Bill Gates has willed nearly all of this money and stock options to charity. He's leaving his kids with about 20 million each, I believe, the other 30 Billion is going to the poor. He doesn't exactly seem like an asshole or a thief to me.
I think he's giving his kids way too much but beyond that he is one of the few exceptions. Like the woman not to long ago who gave everything to her dog.
"He doesn't exactly seem like an asshole or a thief to me."
His company is a virtual monopoly of sorts and has all sorts of overpriced crappy hardware and software that the company fucks with to force you to pay for more of their shit. Ever heard of "Microsoft Genuine" or other company-created spamware? Not to mention they don't pay people very much overseas.
Defending Big Business is a fruitless exercise. Many robber barons were philanthropists, doesn't make what they did okay.
Capitalism needs competition to be successful, it is what protects the consumer. But for competition to grow the companies need to be unrestricted and free from government intrusion (taxes and unneeded regulation). When Monopolies take over it is undermining the basic principles of Capitalism. It just so happens that the U.S. Government is the biggest monopoly in the world. You can avoid Microsoft's garbage software, you can't escape from the Government's oppression.
"But for competition to grow the companies need to be unrestricted and free from government intrusion (taxes and unneeded regulation)"
This hasn't panned out in reality. In reality when they have conditions like that they just create sweatshops and use loopholes to eliminate competition.
Besides, there is absolutely no reason why businesses should not pay taxes. Taxes are payments for use of public services (as well as paying rent for the government lending you land to operate your business).
Same solution, competition for consumers and competition for work. If people have a choice they will work for the best company they can work for, a company that provides the best money and conditions. Any monopoly is bad.
I said unneeded regulation, and I implied unfair taxes. All people should pay taxes, half the country doesn't. The top 1% pay 37% of income taxes and own 19% of the wealth.
Big Business pays 0 taxes. Any loss from taxes/litigation is implemented into goods we buy
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At the same time, WE THE BANKERS, have off-shore Swiss bank accounts so you the Federal government can't tax us. So whether or not you the Federal Government raises taxes, we the bankers don't really care...
derivativesarecool 1 week ago
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Mr. Uygur, you do realize that most bankers are Democrats. I work for Goldman Sachs as an investment banker and here's my experience. The Democrats make erroneous promises through parks, welfare, housing, and so on to the American people during general elections. They fulfill their promises by issuing 30-year general obligation bonds to finance their legislation to score political points WHILE WE, THE BANKERS, COLLECT FEES TO UNDERWRITE THESE BONDS.
derivativesarecool 1 week ago
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It‘s interesting how liberals scream about how corporations spend so much money to get Republicans elected. Yet in the same breath, Dems praise labor unions as real people -- completely ignoring the “corporations” that employ them and the astronomical amounts unions spend to elect Democrats.
vechorik 5 months ago
@SullivanSean1 - no argument about the collection of taxes. The point is the gov't is NOT intended to provide everything for people. Just govern. So understand the context --
afmsc 5 months ago
hey ya fat turd. what about GE? Immelt not paying taxes? GOP your ass...you loser..GET OUTTA YOUR MOMS BASEMENT YOU NAIVE cocksucker.
IdiotsForObamaCom 10 months ago
A friend of mine has recently been working with some young Republican staffers in Washington on a big ‘tax freedom’ project.
The idea is that all those earning over $250k should be able to pay some or all of their tax liabilities to a charitable organisation of their choice, rather than the government. This is all about real economic freedom & will really help to get big govt. off our backs for good!
Hopefully it will be included on the Palin ticket in a couple of years!
SuperTruth77 1 year ago
Maybe repubs don't know politics but liberals are moving America towards socialism...What's sad is, you guys don't even know it! Read the Constitution & you'd realize the gov't was NOT meant to do what they are trying to do today (both repubs & libs). When gov't "raises" taxes, Americans have been desensitized to think it's the gov'ts money. It's NOT! It's YOUR MONEY! Rich or poor, principally it's yours. Most rich EARNED their wealth! Why do you all work so hard? So you can be taxed more?
afmsc 1 year ago
All politicians suck up to rich people. They have to in order to get the money to buy tv ads. Christian Republicans offer rich Americans tax breaks. Marxist Democrats offer rich ex-Nazis in Europe human sacrifices of poor working class unborn babies. It's hard for GOP to raise taxes yes, but its a bit harder for Democrats to raise the dead.
Texasjim2007 1 year ago
Why should we trust either party on these issues ?
jayantpraharaj 1 year ago
Looks like you guys underestimated the ignorance of the American voter!
upplsuckimcool16 1 year ago
obama will kill America, we will go broke the working people will pay the price.
snoopdog68 1 year ago
Yeah, GOP fights to keep taxes from rising on small businesses who actually create jobs. But you're probably right with the close minded classwarfare - keep raising taxes and spending like Obama has been doing it seems to be working out well so far huh (Obama Admin said stimulus would keep unemployment below 8% - it's been as high as 10 and is hovering around 9.6% now). How's that hope and change working for all our unemployed?
SamCatLu 1 year ago
republicans are complete scum
hempartist420 1 year ago
DUDE, where do all the Corporation presidents and executives come from ?? Harvard left wing, Yale left wing, Princeton left wing, Columbia left wing, Penn left wing etc, the problem is we have too many left wing kool aid drinkers in charge, TIME FOR A CLEAN SWEEP, including people like your self
phillynotebook 2 years ago
@phillynotebook are you really THAT dumb, grow up
hempartist420 1 year ago
First mistake, you are not evading tax if you establish an offshore company, you are simply using the registration of your business overseas as way of ensuring your profits are not taxable.
Let's face it, tax lawyers are generally twice as clever as any legislator, if a legislator closes one loophole they will simply find a new one and THANK GOD for that.
theporksicle 2 years ago
which is tax evasion
Elendil176 2 years ago
Not necessarily, there's ways to do it, complex and probably beyond the comprehension of the majority of people who are not tax law specialists but there's reasons why tax lawyers are among the best paid lawyers.
theporksicle 2 years ago
Haven't we already figured out that torture doesn't work, at least not as well as interogation that does work? Why do you think we STOPPED USING IT ALMOST A CENTURY AGO? Why are we REGRESSING? Jeez, we treated the Nazis better. am i wrong?
grindstone1 2 years ago
No the Nazis were tortured and illegally killed as POWs they were also starved to death. It was pretty fucking shabby actually but the propaganda machine was more powerful then.
nilbud 2 years ago
People still don't get it, Republicans have no policy. Their only policy is to fight EVERYTHING the democrats wants, no matter what.
I bet if Obama comes out tomorrow and say we are gonna do everything that stands in the GOP's program...if they have any that is... The GOP will even fight that, because to them it has nothing to do with USA doing great, its all about beating the other party.
jotunPIKK 2 years ago
Funny not how some big co operations pay 0 dollar a year in taxation. While an average household is paying lets say 25% tax?
Mmm something is wrong here.
masticina 2 years ago 6
Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rove and Rice are busy working for their own business so the republican party can't be run by them alone anymore...sorry to you republicans who are old and senile and got lost on the way to congress but you guys gotta come up with some good ideas or you are fucked
seestickglue232 2 years ago
Enron, the poster child of corporate crime, fraud and abuse, was no less aggressive in seeking to avoid paying taxes than it was in manipulating markets and cooking the books. Enron paid no taxes in four of the five last years before it filed for bankruptcy
FluxCapacitor2008 2 years ago
* By 2000, U.S. federal and state corporate taxes had dropped to 2.5% of GDP from 4.1% in 1965, while corporate income taxes in other OECD countries had risen to 3.4% GDP. In 2002, U.S. corporate taxes plummeted to only 1.5% of GDP.
* The New York Times reported in August, 2002 that the 100 largest U.S. publicly traded companies pay a significantly smaller share of their profits in taxes worldwide than the 100 largest companies based outside the United States.
FluxCapacitor2008 2 years ago 2
Two congressional experts familiar with the corporate tax debate suggest that "the U.S. tax system, with its combination of deferral and a foreign tax credit, is probably more generous in most circumstances than the "territorial systems" used by other countries." The data bear this out:
FluxCapacitor2008 2 years ago
Although no one knows for sure how much offshore tax avoidance is costing the country, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee estimates that the cost of tax avoiding by both individuals and corporations through the use of offshore tax shelters to be $70 billion a year - roughly the same amount that President Bush requested to pay for the first 6 months of the war and occupation of Iraq.
FluxCapacitor2008 2 years ago
Looked at from the perspective of who pays what portion of the nation's overall taxes, the decline in corporate taxation is even more stark. In a recent special investigation on corporate taxes, Business Week reported that in 1940, companies and individuals split the federal income tax bill equally. Corporations now pay only 13.7% of the federal income tax bill and individuals pay 86.3%
FluxCapacitor2008 2 years ago
studies indicate corporate taxes are at their lowest levels in decades. Although the statutory corporate income tax rate is up to 35%, according to Robert McIntyre of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the top 250 companies paid what amounts to only a 20.1 % rate in taxes in 1998, down from 22.9% in 1996 and well below the 26.5 percent that a similar group paid in 1988.McIntyre estimates that currently, big corporations pay only about 15% of their pretax U.S.profits in federal taxes.
FluxCapacitor2008 2 years ago
Boo freaking woo, like any middle class person with half a brain will feel sorry for the billion dollar businesses that gave us $5 dollar a gallon gasoline and banks that made bad housing investments only to get billions of tax payers money. No tax loopholes for hedge fund billionaires that drained peoples 401Ks
FluxCapacitor2008 2 years ago
ck your approach to the tax cuts isnt the reality.. Its sounds good to give tax cuts to those who create jobs. thats all fine but, there are sooo many companies who took advantage of the tax cuts by not only NOT creating jobs for US citizens but hiring people for a lower wage in countries overseas, thats the problem. this approach does not help the economy grow in america, it only helps the company grow financially.
curtrob 2 years ago
Bush's tax cuts weren't enough to bring back jobs. Companies are heavily taxed on profits for doing business in the U.S. compared to companies in other countries. It makes sense if you want bigger profits to go overseas. The U.S. needs to lower taxes in order to be competitive. Wages still won't be competitive, but there are other associated costs for doing business overseas. Congress could pass incentives for businesses to create jobs here in the states. Obama wants them to be taxed 35% still.
cknight63 2 years ago
Not to mention that in general tax cuts don't work:
cbpp (dot) org/ cms/ ? fa = view & id = 692
thomasnogales (dot) com/ US- Debt - Nowhere -to - Hide (dot) htm
A86 2 years ago
Democrats complained about Bush cutting taxes for the rich. I remember Sen. Daschle showing a brand new Lexus and saying "A person making a million dollars a year will be able to buy this Lexus". And, I remember asking myself: "Who puts that Lexus together? Workers!" So, Bushs' tax cuts would help create jobs provided the yearly millionaire buys the Lexus. So, why not lower a company's tax rate on their profits if they invest in U.S. capital or make them pay 35% if they don't? Just a thought...
cknight63 2 years ago
ck,
...and a damned good thought as well. It would be nice if you could get through to some of these jealousy-bent, liberal hatemongers.
maryambakhshi88 2 years ago
There is no guarantee that they will spend any or all of their money in the US. And you know, those companies use the public roads/education/health care in order to operate, so they should have to pay their fair share to keep those things operating.
ojisama8 2 years ago
Yeah, except supply side economics is a myth that was debunked in the 80s. Find me a PhD in economics who specializes in supply side today, in the public or private sector. I'll wait.
BaconStrip78 2 years ago
Republicans will never approve of welfare, unless it's corporate welfare.
TheSkeletonGuy 2 years ago
How do we know that there aren't teeny tiny people working inside each of those P.O. Boxes?
MrGovtCheese 2 years ago
If America didn't have such insane taxes on business, THEY WOULDN'T HAVE TO HAVE LOOPHOLES you fuckin' idiots! Jesus Christ, get a clue. This country IS full of idiots, just the foreigners say. My God. Keep electing trash. Dummies.
EJsigstrat 2 years ago
Your Obama gave a bailout that would have paid for all the mortgages of the U.S., all the credit cards, and all the auto debt of all the citizen of the United States. WAKE UP, the Left and Right are playing US like FOOLS!
Pricklyash1 2 years ago
kind of ironic isn't it? Bank of "America" robbing the tax payer.
so why are these tax evaders getting away with fraud? shouldn't they be prosecuted?
tomitstube 2 years ago
"Socialism concentrates power in the Government"
Thanks for stereotyping but that's incorrect.
huppi (dot) com/kangaroo/ L-socialism (dot) htm
"The rich are paying more than ever before"
Horseshit:
visualizingeconomics (dot) com/ 2007/ 11/ 03/ nytimes - historical - tax- rates -by -income - group/
The tax rate on the top 5% between 1932-1993 was between 50-90%. The current tax rate on them is 35% (and they consume more now than then). What do we have to show for it? Falling wages.
A86 2 years ago
The United States still ranks at the top of the HDI list w/ 300 million people. Sweden is also at the top, is 10 million people. The United States is 30x larger than Sweden, you can't even compare the two. Other larger European socialist countries rank below the U.S, still with a population that can't compare.
Even the poor Americans are wealthy compared to most of the world.
Was it more backwards than for the 70 million executed under USSR rule?
breakinthebend 2 years ago
"the United States still ranks at the top of the HDI list"
No it doesn't. Those European "socialist" countries are ahead of us.
en.wikipedia (dot) org/ wiki/ List_ of_ countries _ by_ Human _ Development_Index # High
We're, sadly, in 15th place now.
"Even the poor Americans are wealthy compared to most of the world"
Not compared to the poor in Japan and most of Western Europe. And that figure is BS. 70 million people were not executed in the USSR (not that the USSR is a model nation).
A86 2 years ago
European socialist countries are only responsible for themselves. I don't know any country which has lavishly spent money to fight the world's problems like Clinton and GW did, and like Obama is doing now.
If these European countries were not socialist, they could generate the revenue to help the United States save the world.
maryambakhshi88 2 years ago
So you support GW's spending, and think the world needs to join in. That's a scary thought, every country spending as much as the United States on arms etc. is not a good thing. The world needs less arms not more.
I'm not a left wing enthusiast, just someone who thinks the world would be better off with fewer bullets flying through the air. Violence begets violence and there is no way to change that.
Invain01 2 years ago
"I don't know any country which has lavishly spent money to fight the world's problems like Clinton and GW did"
The US under ever president after Herbert Hoover and before Bush II. Actually, no, scratch that: ALL of them spent lavishly. Your messiah Ronald Reagan included. They had various results because of the things they spent ON. Spending is not inherently bad - it's what you spend on. Bush spent on worthless wars and worthless tax cuts with no wage increases or increase in production.
A86 2 years ago
A,
Most of us understand that when one says that money is spent to fight the world's problems, it means that money is spent on humanitarian efforts--and my original statement holds.
Moreover, if you want people to take your comments seriously, you might aim for credibility.
Employing some bizarre habit of assigning messiahs to other YouTube posters is no way to achieve that. (I hope this advice is helpful.)
maryambakhshi88 2 years ago
wow. it's never very often that people leave comments that are seriously intelligent on youtube.
DBVPSlayer 2 years ago
Hello Mcfly, Obama gave you a tax cut and now it time for the top 5% to pay up and stop using loopholes and tax shelters, The ultra rich power base has some middle class people brainwashed into defending greedy corporations WTF the same companies that bulked the consumer and the economy out of billions and billions with $5 a gallon gas and off shoring of jobs. Some people cant see the forest through the trees.
FluxCapacitor2008 2 years ago
you are right maryambakhsi88, capitalism is great and that is why this country is so special. But what SOME companies are doing is moving those jobs meant for us/Americans and moving those same jobs overseas to foreign countries for more capital gain. That is perfectly legal and there are nothing saying companies cant do that. But is takes jobs from people in this country. they pay the people less money and they continue to get richer. thats my problem with capitalism, it can turn into greed.
curtrob 2 years ago
for true young turks, keep it going man
tracehazarrrrd 2 years ago
this is why we need the sales tax and offshore accounts would be irrelevant. fairtax (dot) org website would untax the business itself and move the taxes onto the owners that want to live here buying piles of crap. prebate makes it progressive - done.
ambientdiscord 2 years ago
Dont underestimate corporate greed, they move off shore to take advantage of workers in other countries that dont have labor or environmental law. If corporations move off shore for cheap labor and to evade environmental laws and then ship goods back to the US they should pay US taxes on the profits end of store. The threat of job loss is an old scare tactics to keep the little guy inline.
FluxCapacitor2008 2 years ago
Look at one of the biggest tax evaders Chevron Oil over 3 decades of oil drilling in Ecuadorian Amazon, Chevron dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into the rainforest leaving local people suffering. You call that not breaking the law
FluxCapacitor2008 2 years ago
Why is this show named after the group that committed The Armenian Genocide?
Why is youtube promoting this trash?
DiversityRecession1 2 years ago
There are hundreds of taxes.
They are almost all regressive -- that is to say they take a bigger % of the income from the lower & middle classes than the upper class.
Even the Soc Sec Tax is regressive.
If the Income Tax is not progressive, the lower & middle income folk are really gonna get screwed.
DillonX 2 years ago
In fact, this is my least favourite TYT video ever. Usually Cenk sounds intelligent and gives well reasoned arguments. Here, he was just spouting off media talking points that have very little basis in fact and very much basis in appealing to the people who listen to said media.
Where did the real Cenk go? :-(
Surlish 2 years ago
Tax avoidance is legal.
Tax evasion is not.
Cenk, learn the difference before you try and sound smart on the tax system.
Surlish 2 years ago
You are delusional, The only person trying to get us to war with Iran is Dick Cheney. And he would have done so had things gone better in Iraq. Had they not lied and we had never gone into Iraq Iran would still be contained. Just because someone is jewish doesn't mean they want to go to war. After all I am sure he(Emmanuel) loves his children too. Dick Cheney I'm not so sure about, I don't even know if he is human!
plumbweis 2 years ago
Oh, boy ... here we go ... another anti-Jew rant.
Let's see ... according to you neocon Libertarians the Jews are responsible for 9/11, the Fed Reserve, every war we've ever lost, dismantling the Constitution, corporate corruption, etc etc ..... and I'm beginning to wonder .... if the Jews are really so intelligent, crafty and clever that they can pull that all off by themselves .... maybe they SHOULD rule the world!
Arondeus 2 years ago
"Do you think waterboarding is a worse crime than blowing up a building?"
Do you think that killing 3,000 people is a worse crime than forcefully inserting your fingers into a woman's privates against her will?
See, this is the problem with Republi-logic. One wrongdoing does not make another wrongdoing okay.
A86 2 years ago
You are right, We are borrowing money from China to pay for the 13 billion dollars amonth we are spending in Iraq, while the Iraqies are sitting on billions in oil revenue. They (Iraq) just contracted their oil to China so that China is getting the oil and our money and not a drop of Chinese blood was spilt for it.Also for Mary belw- How do you know that? Oh I see it's because all the rich republicans and their cowharts have told you so. Pehaps the ignorance here belongs to you!
plumbweis 2 years ago
plumbweis,
When our government takes less money from the rich, the rich are left with more money to expand and grow. This creates more jobs for the rest of us.
maryambakhshi88 2 years ago
That's assuming that every dollar the rich do not pay in taxes is used to create more jobs. How naive of you to believe in voodoo economics.
As everyone knows by now, the rich corporations splurge on HUGE bonuses for executives who may or may not have done a good job.
Their priority is NOT to create more jobs, but to make more money and keep as much of it as possible.
juarezrt 2 years ago 2
not when the rich people get all their cheap labor from india due to outsourcing.
spiraldown333 2 years ago
spiraldown333,
And whose fault is that? It's not the fault of rich people that non-rich people set their own minimum wage under which they will not go. If Americans wanted to work for wages that people in India are willing to work for, Americans would get some of these jobs.
If American workers feel they are in a position to dictate their own wages, they certainly don't have a situation about which they can complain.
maryambakhshi88 2 years ago
The GOP has the right idea here. Taxing the rich hurts all of us.
It's too bad that too many Americans, including some posting here, are too ignorant to understand this.
maryambakhshi88 2 years ago
Riiight .... every time I struggle to pay my rent I get a chill of gratitude that there are a few multi-millionaires out there who don't pay any taxes ... I feel so patriotic reflecting on the image of corporate executives sipping tax-free margaritas in Bermuda while we workers keep the country humming along. (sigh)
Arondeus 2 years ago 3
Not ot mention the biggest money give away of all times,the TARP fund. The republicans having been giving tax breaks to the rich for the last eight years, I don't see any great amount of jobs created. I also don't see how that helped keep big business from needing TARP fund money. So these republicans are screaming this will hurt business, Where has it helped? Look what 8 yr of their advice has done for this country. They need to move out of the way and let someone else try to repair their mess
plumbweis 2 years ago
Arondeus,
"...we workers...," you say.
Your word choice makes my point better than I do. If it weren't for tax breaks for the rich, many of us wouldn't be able to call ourselves workers at all.
The problem is that too many of us workers are so spoiled that we don't understand how good we have it.
Remember, employment is good, and unemployment is bad--as evidenced by all the talk about unemployment rates.
A chill of gratitude on your part would be justifiable here.
maryambakhshi88 2 years ago
What was the tarp fund? Corporate welfare! Redistributing the wealth. It was ok with the republicans that the goverment took our tax money and re distributed it to the banks so the CEO's could get big bonuses. What the republicans don't like is anyone who needs alittle help getting it. Thn it's all about the goverment shouldn't be involved. Who is the goverment supposed to be for? If you're a republican the answer is big business., if you're a democrat the answer is the people.
plumbweis 2 years ago
in oregon, corporations are only required to pay $10 a year. wtf?! and they want to lower taxes more?!
end corporate greed.
ddean1987 2 years ago
The Corporate Tax in the USA is one of the lowest among the advanced countries.
Oh, yes, I know some try to give you BS about a high % but what you must look at is what they ACTUALLY PAY!
Over half of the major corporations pay no Corporate Tax (that's how many loopholes they have).
Thank God Bush is standing up for the middle class & not turning the govt totally over to corporations & the top 5% as Bush did.
DillonX 2 years ago 2
well you know, for a Republican, facts does not matter anyway...
Melpheos1er 2 years ago 3
"Thank God Bush is standing up for the middle class & not turning the govt totally over to corporations & the top 5% as Bush did."
Did you mean Obama as the former?
A86 2 years ago
There are two issues here. The only answer is to rework the tax code. The loopholes came about because corporate tax code in the US is way too high. Set up a fair tax code and don't allow any loopholes. Do the same thing for personal taxes. This would make closing loopholes more acceptable. Start by taxing all religious organizations.
finerbiner 2 years ago
GOP views corporate welfare ok as long as it doesn't filter down to the working man/woman.
I could have used a view loopholes over the years.
EquivocallyAbsurd 2 years ago 4
There was an article not long ago on which people here in Houston made the most money.
Two of the people on the list made over $50 million each & they had set up their oil companies over-seas so they paid no tax.
And then you have middle-income people here paying 20-30% in tax.
THANK YOU, PRESIDENT BARACK, FOR GOING AFTER THE CHEATS!
DillonX 2 years ago
Comment removed
heIIhawk 2 years ago
I can't believe how the GOP always pick the worst side in any given arguement. What are they gonna back next, extra tax cuts for pedophiles?
october4891647 2 years ago
If businesses are not allowed to cut costs by outsourcing and setting up offshore companies (in response to America's inflated minimum wage), they'll either raise the costs of their products, cut the number of their American employees. or ultimately might consider moving out of America all together.
eiendeeai 2 years ago
There is nothing in what Obama is proposing that will prevent companies from setting up offshore companies or outsourcing. So what is your point?
happytravelling 2 years ago
He will not prevent it, but did he not "proposed Monday to raise taxes on the overseas profits of U.S. companies and to go after evaders who abuse offshore tax shelters" and "crack down on companies 'that ship jobs overseas'"(AP)? My point is, sure, it is unethical to evade taxes, but is it really fair to tax companies who are simply trying to make profit? By "cracking down" on these companies who aren't doing anything illegal, the consequences might even worsen the economy (previous comment).
eiendeeai 2 years ago
Nobody is saying they can't make a profit otherwise it would be pointless being in business. But these companies are sheltering their profits abroad in tax havens simply because they are greedy and they do not want to pay tax. They are tax cheats and they owe the American people billions in back taxes.
Cutchswife 2 years ago 4
"Currently, the average combined federal and state corporate tax rate in the U.S. is 39.3 percent" (Tax Foundation), the highest in the world. Why are they tax cheats? Because the taxes are not fair. Why should they have to pay more for being successful? That's like punishing progress. Then again, I'm only voicing an opinion that I believe in. If you disagree, that is fine with me. Just thumb down my comments.
eiendeeai 2 years ago
Whether taxes are 'fair' or 'unfair' they still have to be paid. I am sure that poorer people don't want to pay taxes because they are unfair but boo hoo they still have to pay em and that applies to greedy bosses who are taking their money offshore to dupe the American people out of what they are owed. Time to pay up
Cutchswife 2 years ago 5
Please don't misunderstand me, Cutchswife: I am not saying the concept of taxes is unfair; I am saying that the increase in the tax rate for "rich" people, or in this case "greedy" companies, is. Shouldn't it be equal? Wasn't America founded on the concept of equal opportunity and rights for all? Taxes are a necessity of a civilized society, I do recognize that. They pay for schools, roads, state and national defense, and the like. They also pay for unnecessary things. I'd elaborate but no room.
eiendeeai 2 years ago 2
@ eiendeeai: I don't believe that you can have the same tax rate for poorer people as you do for the rich. Imo the rich should pay more because they earn more. It is morally repugnant for them to hoard their profits at the expense of other, poorer tax payers
Cutchswife 2 years ago
Your comment was very fair and reasonable but I just have one analogy that I would like for you to consider. If we both bought a house (the US) and the house has two rooms, one 100 sqft. and the other 1000 sqft. shouldn't the person with the bigger room pay more of the mortgage? Lets be honest, once you start making a certain amount of money, you no longer work, others work for you. There is nothing to gripe about. just tell your accountant to pay your taxes and appreciate your success!
actualcollegegrad 2 years ago 4
I'm grateful for your comment, actualcollegegrad, and, I must say, your analogy really stumped me. But, I'll still try to hopelessly defend myself. Let's say we did buy a house together. Wouldn't that imply that we both make around an equal amount of money? If that is the case, then I'll agree to your analogy. But if that is not the case, why then would you, if you were the richer one, agree to allow me to buy the house with you when I am poorer and will be able to pay less of the mortgage?...
eiendeeai 2 years ago 2
...Though I have the smaller room, I still get the living room, bathroom, kitchen, & essentially a roof (I'm sure a really nice one if a single room is 1000 sq.ft.) over my head for much less than you would have to pay. And, correct me if I'm wrong (as I'm merely a high school kid), once the mortgage is paid off, since we bought it together & signed the contracts together, in spite of the fact that you'll had paid more, we'll both end up owning it 50-50, which wouldn't be fair to you, no?
eiendeeai 2 years ago 2
They must not be doinfg too badly, when ceos make multi-million dollar bonuses. But, I am sure they could do just fine living on the inflated minimum wage.
After all, When the cost of living skyrockets, why should wages go up for ordinary Americans and cut into those bonuses?
"Are there no workhouses for the poor?"
Ebeneezer Scrooge - R
adamsfall 2 years ago
Comment removed
heIIhawk 2 years ago
And Republicans wonder why they lost the election?
EvieFl 2 years ago
so Democratic Alliance, can you spare a dime?
We can divide and conquer the American people with irrelevant bullshit, such is that being squandered here.
therealcaptobvious 2 years ago
HAHA this is coming from a guy who his own chief of staff brags he doesn't pay the income tax. Just another case of the classic divide and conquer with the left right paradigm.
jemen9 2 years ago
TYT is aired on Air America, who is sponsored by the wealthy Democratic Alliance. So Cenk is a sell out.
Gosh, nothing makes a capitalist republican such as myself prouder than the next money whore.
therealcaptobvious 2 years ago
Are you saying he shouldn't work? You can be owned by greedy bastards that doesn't mean you like what they are doing. If we improve the tax code yes that means even Cenk's BOSSES will have to pay much more taxes. That's exactly what he, and I want. I don't care if your democrat or Republican. Hiding your money while ppl making >$50k pay %20-%25 is despicable.
Teremei 2 years ago
I'm sure Democratic Party does bad things, But fighting to keep tax loopholes? That's just retarded.
MaxwellBennett 2 years ago
Hey NSA, take a snapshot.
NookulerFreedom 2 years ago
"This is a healthy baby step in the right direction."
Yes exactly DrakeMagnum.
This is a step in the right direction....
Are we all on the same page?
Carry on....
NookulerFreedom 2 years ago
This is a healthy baby step in the right direction.
DrakeMagnum 2 years ago
The opulent are our masters and saviors. Sacrifice more and more of the money we should have been paid so they can give more coorporate bonuses to their high level executive (like me! hahaha) and fire the high paid worked (like those who make more than $20k a year and outsource their jobs to Indians and Chinese who get $5k a year!
Repeat after me: We are the slaves! We are the serfs! We love to be dominated by our opulent masters!
Skydancer365 2 years ago
hmmmm....water-boarding vs beheading....water-boarding vs beheading....hmmmmm....well, actually, I've heard that as far as the pain and suffering of the dieee is concerned, it's actually the quickest, least painful way to die. But beheading DOES make you die.....well, water-boarding can too but only if you screw it up. Soooo, I'd say beheading is worse! Cool! That makes my torture better than their torture so I'm cool! I can torture to my hearts content!!!! Yipeeeeee!!!!
Skydancer365 2 years ago 2
Say it after me: We are the slaves! We are the serfs! We love to work 80 hours a week! We want to get cancer and lose our homes, and end up on the streets and lose our kids because we can't take care of them. We want to get Salmonella from improperly inspected food. We want our medications to kill us. We want to be dominated by the opulent! We are the slaves! We are the serfs! We want to be dominated by the opulent!!!
Skydancer365 2 years ago
Oh yeah, and we want our kids to die from lead poisoning. We are the slaves! We are the serfs! We want to die of exhaustion in our cubicles! ra! ra! ra! ra!. Praaaaaaaise the opulent!
Skydancer365 2 years ago
Whats worse beheading or waterboarding?
xxdonaldqxx 2 years ago
I hope they don't go after Seychelles.
jxsilicon9 2 years ago
What the hell does Obama plan to do to convince Terrorists to talk now?
Obama: Pretty, pretty please tell us where the bomb is.
Terrorist: No.
Obama: Well, I've done all I can do.
moneypolo12321 2 years ago
Ladies Ladies, we are not supposed to torture under any circumstances period.. Bitch all you want but part of the reason we have people wanting to kill us is our rogue like acts like waterboarding which by the way we executed the Japanese for doing that to us.
grudgekeeper 2 years ago
So you think they are going to stop bombing just because USA stopped waterboarding? That is unbelievably naive.
BTW homosexuality was also considered illegal and immoral in 1950, so I dont see how the laws of that time can be considered relevant to today.
BlackpeopleLOL 2 years ago
Black, seriously? No they will not stop bombing because we stop waterboarding, Its about a great country setting standards and keeping them. If we executed the Japanese for water boarding US servicemen then we set a standard for this.
As for homosexuality being illegal, your making crap up now. According to the UCMJ Sodomy has always been illegal even with your wife not just with two men and it is today, this is for military only. Its never been illegal as a citizen of the United States.
grudgekeeper 2 years ago
No, I'm not making anything up. You know damn well homosexulity wasnt legal by any means at that time and it was very socially unacceptable.
Its very hilarious IMO, because liberals are always making the snide remark that conservatives are "stuck in the 50s"... but with this waterboarding thing, you guys are all of a sudden very appreciative of mid 20th century law and its "merits". Hahahahaha.
BlackpeopleLOL 2 years ago
Blackpeople,
Your arguments are flawed.
Waterboarding and terroristic bombings are both illegal. One does not negate the other.
That homosexuality was illegal 50 years ago and is not now does not mean that all laws that were relevant 50 years ago are no longer relevant. Waterboarding was illegal then, and it is illegal now.
Try running your arguments by a high school graduate (for approval) before you display them in public.
ebutym11225 2 years ago 4
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Fine whatever. None of that bullshit noise distracts from the fact that blowing a building up is a bigger crime than waterboarding.
Of course its easy for you to stand on your little high horse there.
I'd like to see you try to explain to some families of bombing victims "oh, but two wrongs don't make a right!"
Fucking pussy, fucking cowardly little gremlin, greaseball piece of liberal shit pisstain, dog shit.
BlackpeopleLOL 2 years ago
By your name and your posts, I can tell how angry of a person you are. My guess is small dick, bad job, no woman, and it really wasn't hard to figure that out.
BaconStrip78 2 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
That's really answering my question isn't it? Yeah, typical from liberals, the intellectual approach. LOL
BlackpeopleLOL 2 years ago
Black peopel I agree with you I'd rather have 1 person waterboarded then 100 people die in someone blowing up a building.
Elevan613 2 years ago
That doesn't make it any less illegal then it already is. Regardless of the circumstances, torture is illegal and waterboarding is torture by international law. There is no getting around it.
LifeUntilLove 2 years ago
100% true. Not to mention there hasn't been a circumstance to at all justify torture!
thetotalvidwatcher 2 years ago
Wait what? since when will waterboarding someone save 100 people? Thas is bullshit! Most confessions if not all from waterboarding were false. Not to mention when we close guantanamo we are MONITORING the peeople who were there, we aren't just letting them go in the middle of manhattan with bomb-making materials!
thetotalvidwatcher 2 years ago
Well that 1 person is you, off you pop.
nilbud 2 years ago
What if that person was you, chuckles?
robfathah 2 years ago
except it does not work watch the news. and IT IS ILLIGAL
avalsonline 2 years ago
Okay,guys fight nice.
xxdonaldqxx 2 years ago
Where is Ana?
Prophetess7 2 years ago
Whao 200 Billion!
The debt would be paid off sooner then expected.
And that's just some of the TAX havens.
imbeachasbro 2 years ago
3 important questions about self proclaimed conservatives:1. what does one actually have to do to be a conservative; 2. why does that make one a conservative; & 3. is it a good or bad type of conservative
Joerexia 2 years ago
the republican party is doomed unless they ditch the neo-cons and let ron paul with his libertarian movement take over the party. no independant or conservitive democrat will listen to rush limbugh or any other neo-conman seiriously after what thier policies did to this contry. ron paul and his message has brought new life and youth to the G.O.P. 's libertarian wing. let the old wing of the g.o.p. die i say. glad i voted for nader. if ron paul runs again who knows?
denisdeveze 2 years ago 4
is obama finaly doing something that he campained on? holyshit! its about time! id like to see the hr bill because i bet obama is going to let the loophole in but in a differant form. ill belive it after i read it but it sounds good. obama has been a wall st. banker puppet so far, if he does this who profits? i cant wait to see this play one out. glad i voted for nader. he would have done this already!
denisdeveze 2 years ago
Gee, these guys are real rebels...
What kind of rebels right about the tax code and want taxation for everybody no matter what; all just to blow it out obama's ass.
Sounds like they all have a case of jungle fever, they all got obama's dick up their ass and they're whiped. It's sad.
Oh yeah, they're so hardcore rebels. =/
mexicanskip 2 years ago
This legislation doesn't just go after the coporate 'fat cats', because alot of average schmoes are invested in these type of companies through mutual funds and 401ks blah blah blah.....but i think it is the right thing to do anyway.
Antichryst666 2 years ago
the title of this vid is vague. can someone name a few of these big businesses being admonished by young turk
motion00815 2 years ago
Ok, what about off shore accounts that are protected by the patriot act like Cheneys?
Pleblian 2 years ago
The big business's are the reasons we have jobs.
So I don't blame people for trying to keep their money when the government trying to jack the prices up.
OmnipotentDivinity 2 years ago
LOL
Someone should do a parody music video.
bart11114 2 years ago
its not just republicans, dems are doing it too
jtilak 2 years ago
does Obamba pay property taxes? he should be paying tax on all that stuff he uses. the big house, the airplanes, the cars, the helicopters
motion00815 2 years ago
Obama more than likely knows nothing about running a business.However he seems good at twisting the arm of productive people that do know how to run a business.I wonder if Obama ever had a job other than being a student ,community organizer or politician .
xxdonaldqxx 2 years ago 3
Big business always owns the government! It doesn't matter whether it is a Republican or Democrat...
fatmoleman 2 years ago
You people don't get it. Corporations do not pay taxes. What the Corproation pays in tax is passed onto the consumer in higher charges for goods and services. Corporations set up offshore accounts for the tax advantages. Do away with the tax advantage and the Corproation wil shut down these accounts and these taxes the Gov't expects to receive will not materialize and the consumer will sufferr. The Corporation will not suffer because their decisions are the based best financial advantage.
93065simivalley 2 years ago
Let them fight.
We'll just steam roll right over them.
Bush really fucked their party up.
dapdaddy10 2 years ago
God, these Young Turks are fucking retarded.
Big Business doesn't pay taxes dumbfucks, and if you want to close the loopholes in the tax code, then enact the flat tax.
breakinthebend 2 years ago
"if you want to close the loopholes in the tax code, then enact the flat tax. "
Agreed, it is long over due. The reason why it never gets any real traction is because both of the major parties are beholden to special interests.
Some people like to push the lie that a flat income tax hurts people with lower incomes than higher income people but nothing could be further from the truth. Low income people don't buy the amount of luxury goods & services that rich do. "Progressive tax" is a fraud.
kmg501 2 years ago
I think you're confusing flat income tax with value added tax. Flat tax has nothing to do with purchases.
johnedwards1968 2 years ago
You are correct, but my point remains the same. Goods and services will still be taxed, when people have more disposable money they buy more goods and services. The net result is that those with money end up paying much more but yet the system remains completely fair because everyone has the same percentage of skin in the game. (whatever the flat tax rate is) So that ends the complaints, greatly shrinks the IRS and allows them to be more efficient.
kmg501 2 years ago
Sometimes I wonder how republicans and other dumb people live past adolescence. I know now; so others can laugh at their stupidity.
JerkyChid 2 years ago
You say if I am rich give my money.Well I'm not rich but I also am not a little bastard like you,full of envy because you're to lazy or stupid to earn your own money.You're just a scum communist piece of garbage.You're the retard ,you stupid ass!!
xxdonaldqxx 2 years ago
Most people who are rich never earned their money but stole it by taking advantage of others, I am pretty much a communist and it is because of people like you who think that if someone has money they earned it and those that don't should suffer.
JerkyChid 2 years ago
Give me example of money that was stolen from you by a wealthy person.
xxdonaldqxx 2 years ago
I worked at a resteraunt that this guy owned, I had an accident on the job (pushed accidentally into an oven burned arm). The policy was that if you had such an accident, the company (basically just the owner an his wife) were supposed to pay for it. They didn't though and changed the policy making me have to pay for the hospital visit AND wrote me up for having to leave work. He later stopped paying exterminators to come around, causing infestations, and wouldnt fix the roof so it leaked.
JerkyChid 2 years ago
I was going to turn them in for all this when they fired me and then paid off everyone I could get help from. He is now in government here. John Flemming
JerkyChid 2 years ago
The wealthiest 1 percent of the population earn 19 percent of the income but pay 37 percent of the income tax. The top 10 percent pay 68 percent of the tab. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent—those below the median income level—now earn 13 percent of the income but pay just 3 percent of the taxes.
-Journal of the American Enterprise Institute
The biggest thief in the world is the U.S. Government. History shows that Communism doesn't work because it destroys incentives for success.
breakinthebend 2 years ago
BINGO!!!!!!!!!!
xxdonaldqxx 2 years ago
still no rebuttal to my example for you?
JerkyChid 2 years ago
Keep in mind that the progressive tax system is neither new, nor communist, nor socialist. It's been around since Athens.
Why?
You can't go to your hourly wage job if the government can no longer afford to provide public transportation, or infrastructure like roads and traffic lights, which means you can't buy that new iPhone, which means the CEOs and upper level managers of AT&T and Apple don't get their bonuses- bonuses which aren't uncommonly multiples of their base salaries.
thecrazing 2 years ago
The U.S. Progressive tax isn't truly progressive and holds down the MC.
The Constitution grants Government the power to provide basic services needed by a government ie- Military Defense, Police, Construction/upkeep of roads, interstate commerce and international commerce
Public Transportation doesn't move 300 million Americans, the private Auto Industry does.
Capitalism rewards success, if you don't like how CEOs are paid, don't buy their products, I don't like Apple so I don't buy Apple
breakinthebend 2 years ago
It's hard to tell if you're agreeing or disagreeing, which isn't surprising given our 500 char. limit, so feel free to clarify your statements. But thanks for your civil and intelligent reply.
My last point was less about CEO compensation and more about avoiding taxes.
Still, to speak towards CEO compensation, the wealth distribution of today's America is returning to the days of robber barons- which I hope we can all agree is a bad thing.
thecrazing 2 years ago
The BB CEOs make some of the most money in the economy but so do Actors and Professional Athletes, for the same reason. Their worth (revenue increased by their abilities) to the corporation/employer is worth the salaries and bonuses given to them. I don't see anybody calling for taking away the money made by athletes.
U.S. Progressive tax does not hurt the ultra wealthy, it protects them. The limit for tax increase is 250,000. So if you make 250,000 you're taxed the same as a billionaire.
breakinthebend 2 years ago
You're oversimplifying the situation. Someone making 250,000 is not taxed the same as a billionaire. The amount of tax you pay doesn't so much depend on your income per se. A lot of it depends on your sources of income (some income is taxed differently then others) and the various deductions and credits you claim.
econmists 2 years ago
Just a fun piece of trivia: 60% of the nation's taxpayers paid less than 1% of the income tax burden. And yet the government collects several trillion dollars in personal income tax receipts every year. Wonder where that money is coming from? The rich are our golden goose...
econmists 2 years ago
I agree w/ you.
I've already put up the Tax Info
The rich are paying more than ever before. I was saying that the U.S. Progressive Tax is not truly progressive, its ends at 250,000. This is good to be limited, but it should be limited to a percentage for everyone (FLAT TAX), this would help the Middle Class more than it would the Upper Class
I was correcting the misconception that the Flat Tax would help the rich and hurt the MC/Poor. It would instead boost them up
500 char limit too short
breakinthebend 2 years ago
Because of that the ultra rich are not affected by a percentage increase in taxes, while that same increase could change a major lifestyle decision for someone making 250,000.
Big Businesses don't pay taxes because any profit loss by the business from taxes/litigation are implemented in the prices. This means that the middle class bear the burden through the purchase of goods for taxes put upon businesses.
What passes as the poor in the U.S. would be considered wealthy in most of the world.
breakinthebend 2 years ago
He sounds like a real motherfucker.
But, that doesn't mean everyone else is like that. Bill Gates has willed nearly all of this money and stock options to charity. He's leaving his kids with about 20 million each, I believe, the other 30 Billion is going to the poor. He doesn't exactly seem like an asshole or a thief to me.
TheSynesthetic 2 years ago
I think he's giving his kids way too much but beyond that he is one of the few exceptions. Like the woman not to long ago who gave everything to her dog.
JerkyChid 2 years ago
"He doesn't exactly seem like an asshole or a thief to me."
His company is a virtual monopoly of sorts and has all sorts of overpriced crappy hardware and software that the company fucks with to force you to pay for more of their shit. Ever heard of "Microsoft Genuine" or other company-created spamware? Not to mention they don't pay people very much overseas.
Defending Big Business is a fruitless exercise. Many robber barons were philanthropists, doesn't make what they did okay.
A86 2 years ago
Capitalism needs competition to be successful, it is what protects the consumer. But for competition to grow the companies need to be unrestricted and free from government intrusion (taxes and unneeded regulation). When Monopolies take over it is undermining the basic principles of Capitalism. It just so happens that the U.S. Government is the biggest monopoly in the world. You can avoid Microsoft's garbage software, you can't escape from the Government's oppression.
breakinthebend 2 years ago
"But for competition to grow the companies need to be unrestricted and free from government intrusion (taxes and unneeded regulation)"
This hasn't panned out in reality. In reality when they have conditions like that they just create sweatshops and use loopholes to eliminate competition.
Besides, there is absolutely no reason why businesses should not pay taxes. Taxes are payments for use of public services (as well as paying rent for the government lending you land to operate your business).
A86 2 years ago
Same solution, competition for consumers and competition for work. If people have a choice they will work for the best company they can work for, a company that provides the best money and conditions. Any monopoly is bad.
I said unneeded regulation, and I implied unfair taxes. All people should pay taxes, half the country doesn't. The top 1% pay 37% of income taxes and own 19% of the wealth.
Big Business pays 0 taxes. Any loss from taxes/litigation is implemented into goods we buy
breakinthebend 2 years ago