The telephone repairman who pays 55% in taxes

[undeterred]

Ever get into a conversation with someone and then wish you hadn't? I was just talking to a phone repairman in my neighborhood- we got into talking about the economy and suddenly he was telling me that he pays 55% of his income in taxes. I said, gee you must make an awful lot of money repairing phone lines.

So he got into explaining how, when we pay for food at the grocery store, we are paying the store owner's property taxes. Same thing when you buy a car - you pay tax on the car and you pay for the property taxes of the auto dealer. It adds up to 55% of his income, and he doesn't think he should have to pay any of it. Then he told me that the US is going to end up like those European countries where they pay 80% income taxes and have 40% unemployment.

I asked him if he noticed the tax break in his check during the last month... and that launched him into talking about all the poor people who are getting a free ride. He goes out to fix their phone line and sees that they have a huge television screen that HE has paid for and cable television that HE paid for out of his taxes and they don't work at all because the government pays them to sit around and watch TV....blah, blah blah...

:banghead:

This man has been in a union for 37 years.

[spanone]

1. they're out there.

[DJ13]

2. Im always amazed at how succesful the GOP was in creating...

.....the politics of envy, where they managed to get middle class people to be envious of the poor instead of focusing their anger at the wealthy who really deserve it.

[catzies]

19. It is an eternal headscratcher, isn't it?

I too, wonder and ponder.

But that's a threadjack for another day.

[yawetag]

22. Damn right!

Right on all counts. Politics of envy, indeed! Beautifullly put, DJ!

One quick question for you and other posters, though...

We allll want America to be fair & just (of course!), so my question for you is, what do YOU think the top tax rate should EVENTUALLY be?

Mr. Obama is talking about raising the top rate a couple of points to get it back to where it was under Bill Clinton (which I think was 39%) but don't you think it ought to eventually... not now, of course, but EVENTUALLY... be even higher than 39%?

Look, if we're talking about fairness & justice, shouldn't we be making the top tax rate around 75 or 80%, or even higher?

Just a question.

Thanks, all!

yawetag

[prolesunited]

3. He has a right to be angry

but it isn't the poor people who are screwing him.

[w4rma]

4. The flat taxes that he's paying should be reduced. The payroll tax should be uncapped. (nt)

[gratuitous]

5. Tell him you hear Somalia is nice

The effective tax rate there is pretty much zero, as long as you're the baddest mofo around.

[ColbertWatcher]

6. LOL! I'm going to start doing that if I ever run into GOPers IRL! n/t

[Tempest]

8. And there's no government and you can carry guns openly in the streets

Somalia is a rightwingers wet dream.

[safeinOhio]

9. No welfare or government regulations

it'd be heaven for the phone guy. Hell I'll chip in for his ticket.

[MannyGoldstein]

7. He's Roughly Correct on % Taxes

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day...

As of a few years ago, the median worker spent about 50% of their paycheck on all taxes - and that doesn't include nonsense like the store owner's property tax.

- Federal income tax
- Federal payroll tax (Social Security/Medicare)
- State tax
- Sales tax
- Gas tax
- Sin taxes

etc.

(Of course, the wealthy pay a far lower %)

He's wrong that European countries have 80% taxes and 40% unemployment - they pay a little more than we do, but they also get health care for it. All told, they pay less for taxes+health care than we do. And their unemployment is measured differently - all told, their unemployment is roughly what ours is. And it's concentrated among young workers trying for their first job - older folks don't get dumped at 60, and have to start looking for a new job.

The new tax break is better than nothing, but nothing to brag about.

[Oregone]

13. He is wrong because his conceptual model is ass-backwards

Look, when you buy a TV, you don't pay a surcharge to pay the manufacturer's tax. That is just an incorrect way to look at it.

The sale of a TV generates revenue. Revenue isn't taxed. Profit is. The manufacturer pays taxes on profits generated when costs are subtracted from gross revenue. If the manufacturer created a tax surcharge into the TV, they would generate more profit, and hence, just get taxed more.

The price of the TV is rather set at what the market will bear as dictated by supply vs demand (balanced against what the company can bear to make an acceptable profit). Tacking on a "tax" cost into the TV to cover this will do 2 things: 1) detract from sales or 2) create more taxable profits.

Thinking about it in this manner is clearly erroneous. Taxes are only paid on profits and adding in surcharges only creates more taxes.

The only exceptions is when items are specifically taxed (gas, cars, cigs).

[MannyGoldstein]

21. Yes, How He Gets There Is Nuts

But the 55% figure happens to be in the ballpark. He's totally off on *why* it's that high.

[anigbrowl]

24. Quite...

while he clearly has no idea about Europe, it is worth noting that non-essential items (like food or kid's clothing) is generally subject to a 20% sales tax, which makes things prety expensive. I like the fact that it's lower here. Also, local taxes are sometimes based on the value of services (lighting, water) rather than the value of the property owned (but it varies across Europe).

[drm604]

10. Take that reasoning to the extreme.

I'm sure that the grocery store occasionally needs telephone repair or maintenance services. When they pay for that service they're also paying for his 55% in taxes, some of which are their taxes which they've already paid once. In fact anytime they buy goods or services from someone who shops with them they're paying their own taxes twice, which of course is passed on again to their customers who then include that when they charge the grocery for goods and services and so on and so on... you end up with an infinite loop. Obviously we're not paying an infinite amount of money for our groceries (at least I'm not) so there's something wrong in his reasoning.

Either that or I'm playing fast and loose with my reasoning. :evilgrin: But it's an argument that might make a freeper's head spin, which is always fun.

[valerief]

11. Thinking, um, hard. nt

[ejpoeta]

12. he's awful presumptuous. he doesn't know the first thing about the people

he claims to know so much about. and he doesn't pay 55% in taxes either. I'm sure he doesn't drive around on ROADS or hasn't ever had to use an ambulance or fire department's services. there are so many things that those 'taxes' that others pay it's ridiculous. i have family who talk like that. i just don't think they get it.

[yawetag]

26. You're right -- they DON'T get it!

Socialism works and has ALWAYS worked. No two ways about it.

The dirty little secret is that we are seriously UNDER-taxed in this country! (Not for long, though! LOL! Obama's the MAN!)

[yardwork]

14. I'd like to see him live in a country with no taxes.

There'd be no telephone wires to repair, for starters.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. With someone that dumb, are you sure your phone really works?

:scared:

[MADem]

16. He's a fucking idiot. The radio in his truck should break, he's listening to "crazy radio" too much

I suspect.

[KamaAina]

17. Aaaackkkk! Teh stupid! It burns!!

:dunce:

[hadrons]

18. Ask him if those "poor people" also pay 55% of their income in taxes???

and if not, ask him why he doesn't quit his job and "enjoy" the benefits they have

[guitar man]

20. so does that mean

...that when I pay my phone bill,I'm paying his property taxes? :shrug:

[lpbk2713]

23. And he's probably a union member too.

That's what I find so remarkable. It's hard to believe a
union member could be such a hard core Kool-Aid drinker.

[PA Democrat]

25. He should go live off the land in the wilderness then.

Become a hunter/ gatherer, use no electricity, or roads, any government services. Perfect solution for the perpetually stupid.