Posted in seeker, tagged median way, taxes on April 16, 2008 | 5 Comments »
Next year, I hope to have the courage to follow this example, from Vermont War Tax Resister Follows His Conscience:
Every year since 1982, Bennett writes a check out to the Internal Revenue Service for 48 percent of the taxes he owes, withholding the portion that would go to fund the military. “I knew my relationship [...]
Posted in seeker, tagged median way, taxes on April 16, 2008 | 5 Comments »
If everyone who opposes the war would refuse to pay their taxes, the war would end.* I don’t expect that to happen. Most of us have responsibilities to family or friends, so when the bandits come, we pay, because that’s less frightening than resisting.
Emma and I squeaked through 2007 without owing taxes. But our hands [...]
Posted in seeker, tagged taxes, war on March 19, 2008 | 3 Comments »
It’s the fifth year of the USA’s latest war. It’s also the fifth year that Emma and I have been living below the poverty line so our taxes won’t help to kill strangers. I don’t talk about that often, because it’s not an option most people have—we don’t have children, and some of the things [...]
Posted in seeker, tagged taxes on January 6, 2008 | 12 Comments »
The FairTax plan is a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal income and payroll based taxes with an integrated approach including a progressive national retail sales tax, a prebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar federal revenue neutrality, and, through companion legislation, the repeal of the [...]
Posted in seeker, tagged taxes, war on December 6, 2007 | 3 Comments »
Since I’ve been thinking about taxes, I checked to see how the US currently spends its money. From here: 51% goes to current and past military expenses.
War and taxes are more intimately linked than people may realize. The first time the US tried to impose an income tax? During the war of 1812. The first [...]
Posted in seeker, tagged taxes, wealth on December 5, 2007 | 60 Comments »
Robert Reich wrote:
Lower-income people spend a larger portion of whatever extra income they get than those with higher incomes (in economic jargon, lower-income people have a higher marginal propensity to consume). So every dollar of a tax cut aimed at lower-income Americans packs a bigger stimulative punch than a dollar of tax cut aimed at [...]
Posted in seeker, tagged taxes on November 19, 2007 | 18 Comments »
Warren Buffett, the third richest man in the world, testifying in favor of inheritance taxes at a Senate Finance Committee on estate tax reform: “I believe in keeping equality of opportunity. You don’t get to be a quarterback … because your father was a quarterback 20 years ago.”
Posted in seeker, tagged my vow, taxes, wealth on November 12, 2007 | 69 Comments »
As a poor person in a rich country, I’m very aware of my wealth: two dollars for a small cappuccino is a treat for me, but it’s a day’s living expense for half of the world. But what can I do personally to help others?
Philosopher (I love that title!) Peter Singer looks at this question [...]
Posted in seeker, tagged leveler, median way, taxes on October 12, 2007 | 52 Comments »
The primary reason I rejected Marxism as a practical ideology was the birth of my children. I wanted them to go to the best schools, have opportunities for travel and lessons and to be surrounded by books.
Then build a society that gives everyone those things, and your children will have them too. Some parents want [...]
Posted in seeker, tagged leveler, median way, taxes on October 10, 2007 | 33 Comments »
Who are the rich?
From here: The top .7% of the world’s households own a third of the world’s wealth, the top 1% own 40%, the top 2% own 50%, the top 10% own 85%.
New Scientist refers to “the super-wealthy - about 3 per cent of the population.” If you want to think in Marxist terms, [...]
