Seattle to impose income tax on "rich"

[CharlesDavenport]

The libs never learn. Seattle headed down..

The Seattle City Council unanimously approved an income tax on wealthy residents Monday, a move widely expected to draw a quick legal challenge.

The measure applies a 2.25 percent tax on total income above $250,000 for individuals and above $500,000 for married couples filing their taxes together.

One snowflake's reaction -

“Seattle should serve everyone, not just rich folks,” software developer Carissa Knipe told the council before the 9-0 vote, saying she makes more than $170,000 per year.

What the **** does that mean? Here is how they are thinking of using this tax money -

Under the legislation sponsored by Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Kshama Sawant, money from the tax could be used by the city to lower property taxes and other regressive taxes; address homelessness; provide affordable housing, education and transit; replace federal funding lost through budget cuts; create green jobs and meet carbon-reduction goals; and administer the tax.

You know, just expanding all the ways Seattle is serving rich folks.

She continues -

“I would love to be taxed,” the 24-year-old from Ballard testified, drawing applause from a room packed with supporters of the tax.

Go ahead and pay some additional tax, you idiot - or are you just looking for affirmation and applause?

These ******* idiots..

From - http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...l-to-vote-today-on-income-tax-on-the-wealthy/

 

[Sarge]

Love to be taxed??????

It amazes me that people wish to punish success, out of jealousy and spite. It is stupid, and it is frightening that our country is headed in a direction where governments are telling people they have made too much money and should be taxed extra.

Eventually, there will be no incentive to succeed, and we'll be left with our very own idiocracy.

 

[Steelr4evr]

What a lost cause that side of the country has become.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Seattle is full of Libs. Now pay up and don't be a hypocrite and move to Idaho.

 

[SteelChip]

What a lost cause that side of the country has become.

Well, as long as they keep it convoluted enough, most won't be able to make sense of it and go along.

That's how you get legacy's like this.

 

[Yinzerlyn]

Love to be taxed??????

It amazes me that people wish to punish success, out of jealousy and spite. It is stupid, and it is frightening that our country is headed in a direction where governments are telling people they have made too much money and should be taxed extra.

Eventually, there will be no incentive to succeed, and we'll be left with our very own idiocracy.

We are already there.

 

[Steelr4evr]

Well, as long as they keep it convoluted enough, most won't be able to make sense of it and go along.

That's how you get legacy's like this.

That's the absolute sum of them and socialism. They use class warfare ,race and sex to divide the masses. They're doing a bang up job.

 

[TDX27]

$250k and above. They are taxing the heart of the Seattle middle class and small businesses. What a bunch of idiots libtards are.

 

[oneforthebus]

Whoosh. That's the sound of rich people moving out of Seattle.

I would love to know if our little 24 year old snowflake still thinks $170,000 is "rich" after she has to buy a house in a decent school district and put her kids through college.

 

[Troglodyte]

Whoosh. That's the sound of rich people moving out of Seattle.

I would love to know if our little 24 year old snowflake still thinks $170,000 is "rich" after she has to buy a house in a decent school district and put her kids through college.

So if your local government proposed a plan to lower your taxes (property. etc.) by imposing a 2.5% tax on incomes over $500k, you'd be vehemently against it?

They already pay more in taxes, would you favor paying more in taxes so they could pay less?

 

[IndySteel]

I thought the people in Seattle were grungy hippies who sat around in their lice-ridden filthy apartments, vaping pot and softly weeping while listening to Nirvana Unplugged and contemplating suicide because of depression caused by all the rain there. At least that's what I think. **** Seattle.

 

[deljzc]

Actually, for all my conservative values, I'm fine with this. Local taxes should be higher. And federal taxes should be lower. I'm been a proponent of that forever. I really don't feel "overtaxed". I just don't like how my taxes are divided between local, state and federal government.

And I do think taxes should be simpler with less loopholes, deductions, etc. And I think small-medium family owned businesses need a tax break.

If this is the course of action Seattle wants to take, by all means go right ahead. Maybe it will work. I mean, these are city citizens paying for stuff in THEIR city. Let them. If the tax ends up so high that people leave, it will be lesson about local taxation policy. We'll see.

Edit... Note I also like this idea better than continued "sin taxes". For all the rhetoric about how democrats don't want to overtax the poor and middle classes, they LOVE sin taxes which ALWAYS tax poor/middle classes much more proportionally than middle/upper classes. Philadelphia now has a sugary drink tax which as much as I agree sugary drinks are just terrible for you, we all know the only people this is going to gouge is (disproportionately) poor black families that have to buy their groceries in the city and (stupidly) buy tons of Orange and Grape soda (yes that is stereotyping but it's also true).

 

[Tim Steelersfan]

I thought the people in Seattle were grungy hippies who sat around in their lice-ridden filthy apartments, vaping pot and softly weeping while listening to Nirvana Unplugged and contemplating suicide because of depression caused by all the rain there. At least that's what I think. **** Seattle.

I've been, countless times. Portland too. It's just different there. I get a very weird vibe there for lots of reasons. I'm from just outside DC. In 3 hours, I'm at the beach, 2 hours to the mountains, 2.5 hours to Philly, 5 hours to NYC, 10 hours to Niagara Falls, 10 hours to Florida. Pittsburgh, Richmond, Raleigh, Durham, Atlanta are all within a reasonable drive. Living in an area like this, I feel "connected."

Every time I'm in Seattle or Portland, I feel like I've flown into another world and unconnected. Seattle and Portland are 3 hours drive apart. The next closest true City is Sacramento, over 11 hours away. I feel literally isolated and separated when I get there.

The people are odd. Weird. Walking the streets of Portland is like bizarro world. Homeless and beggars everywhere, tents up in the parks downtown, and everyone looks like this

The weather sucks, it's gray and wet, you feel utterly isolated, and traffic is like **** in Seattle.

No thanks. I hate having to go out there. Though coeur d'alene is fantastic, just across the WA border.

 

[Troglodyte]

If the tax ends up so high that people leave, it will be lesson about local taxation policy. We'll see.

Why are those highly paid people in Seattle in the first place and where are they going to go?

It reminds me of when, after the housing crisis, people said nobody would want to be a hedge fund manager anymore if you imposed new regulations, they would choose another profession (that paid 100's of millions).

 

[Steeltime]

So if your local government proposed a plan to lower your taxes (property. etc.) by imposing a 2.5% tax on incomes over $500k, you'd be vehemently against it?

The rich need to pay their fair share.

The following represents 2012 income tax data recently released by the Internal Revenue Service, compiled by the Tax Foundation (http://tinyurl.com/j5yr8cd). The top 1 percent, 1.37 million taxpayers earning $434,682 and more, paid 38 percent of all federal income taxes. The top 5 percent, those earning $175,817 and more, paid 59 percent. The top 10 percent of income earners, those earning $125,195 and up, paid 70 percent of all federal income taxes. The top 25 percent, those earning $73,354 and up, paid 86 percent. The bottom 50 percent, people earning $36,055 and less, paid a little less than 3 percent of federal income taxes. According to estimates by the Tax Policy Center, slightly over 45 percent of American households have no federal income tax liability.

https://www.creators.com/read/walter-williams/03/16/what-is-the-fair-share-of-taxes

Uhhhhh .... yeah, about the actual tax data. SQUIRREL!!

And as to the stupid twit who says she "wants to pay more taxes" - don't claim any ******* deductions then. ****, send your entire income to the government. Nobody is stopping you.

If you want to send your entire earnings into the equivalent of a blender (government), go right ahead. But don't make me party to your idiocy. I, like basically every American, have better ******* things to do with my money than pay even more in taxes than I presently do.

 

[Steeltime]

Actually, for all my conservative values, I'm fine with this. Local taxes should be higher. And federal taxes should be lower.

The undeniable problem with this approach, del, is that governments (Federal, state, local, whatever) NEVER want to reduce their revenues. EVER. The lamentations in California from Proposition 13 in 1978 were unbelievable. "Oh, the children! We will have to fire government workers. Waaaaah."

So if you increase local taxes, you simply have more taxes - not redistributed taxes. Taxes are a government's crack. Government is addicted, and like all crack ******, blows the money foolishly.

 

[Tim Steelersfan]

where are they going to go?

What...the...

Seattle...Boeing...airplanes. Trains. Cars. Hell ships sail out of Seattle. Where are they gonna go? Any state in the union? Any city in the country? Anywhere they'd damn well please?

Just as businesses leave areas that are over-taxed and move to more favorable locations, so too do individuals. They aren't bound to Seattle.

 

[CharlesDavenport]

Actually, for all my conservative values, I'm fine with this. Local taxes should be higher. And federal taxes should be lower. I'm been a proponent of that forever. I really don't feel "overtaxed". I just don't like how my taxes are divided between local, state and federal government.

And I do think taxes should be simpler with less loopholes, deductions, etc. And I think small-medium family owned businesses need a tax break.

If this is the course of action Seattle wants to take, by all means go right ahead. Maybe it will work. I mean, these are city citizens paying for stuff in THEIR city. Let them. If the tax ends up so high that people leave, it will be lesson about local taxation policy. We'll see.

Edit... Note I also like this idea better than continued "sin taxes". For all the rhetoric about how democrats don't want to overtax the poor and middle classes, they LOVE sin taxes which ALWAYS tax poor/middle classes much more proportionally than middle/upper classes. Philadelphia now has a sugary drink tax which as much as I agree sugary drinks are just terrible for you, we all know the only people this is going to gouge is (disproportionately) poor black families that have to buy their groceries in the city and (stupidly) buy tons of Orange and Grape soda (yes that is stereotyping but it's also true).

Seattle also taxes sugary drinks.

 

[deljzc]

The undeniable problem with this approach, del, is that governments (Federal, state, local, whatever) NEVER want to reduce their revenues. EVER. The lamentations in California from Proposition 13 in 1978 were unbelievable. "Oh, the children! We will have to fire government workers. Waaaaah."

So if you increase local taxes, you simply have more taxes - not redistributed taxes. Taxes are a government's crack. Government is addicted, and like all crack ******, blows the money foolishly.

I'm talking theoretical. And Trump (and Congress) are talking about less federal taxes, so I hope that happens. So maybe the citizens of Seattle will get a tax break from Washington (even though they didn't vote for him) while getting a tax increase from their City and it all works out for them. Next time the federal government comes knocking for more money, maybe the people of Seattle will complain (doubt it but who knows) because local taxes are higher.

You have to have SOME taxes. I'm just of the opinion federal taxes should go down and state/local should go up. That many of the social engineering programs should be done on a state level and not a federal level. Not saying everything. Maybe in a perfect world we could have universal health care, a strong military and social security for seniors at a federal level and pretty much leave everything else to the States. I mean, I'd like to see the federal government out of education all together. No arts investment. Very few social programs other than the big stuff. The only regulation is really to ensure the capitalism process is working (which to me means watching out for monopolies and unfair practices that prevent startups and competition). Try to regulate away from companies "too big to fail". But after that most regulation should come from states trying to compete with each other to draw businesses and employment. I'm not even sure infrastructure needs to come from federal funding. States should improve their own roads and bridges really. The idea of more hands in the pot when federal money just gets sent to states to do things (like roads and bridges) just creates more opportunity for waste.

Just sort of my 2 cents.

 

[Troglodyte]

What...the...

Seattle...Boeing...airplanes. Trains. Cars. Hell ships sail out of Seattle. Where are they gonna go? Any state in the union? Any city in the country? Anywhere they'd damn well please?

Just as businesses leave areas that are over-taxed and move to more favorable locations, so too do individuals. They aren't bound to Seattle.

No, not anywhere. They are bound by areas where they can find high paying jobs in their profession. Do you seriously think an executive making $750k is going to pack up and leave because of a $6k tax increase? My last three bosses were from New York, Dallas and Houston. None of them moved for a tax break. The one from Dallas didn't move at all. He rented an apartment and flew home on the weekends. The cost of the apartment was probably $40k/year.

You guys seriously overestimate the plight of the wealthy.

 

[oneforthebus]

So if your local government proposed a plan to lower your taxes (property. etc.) by imposing a 2.5% tax on incomes over $500k, you'd be vehemently against it?

They already pay more in taxes, would you favor paying more in taxes so they could pay less?

I am vehemently against any government taking more of people's money than it already does. But it's cute that you think this extra tax money would go back into the pockets of other people. Here are the plans for the money, only one tiny part of which would go towards reducing anyone's taxes. The rest goes to, you guessed it, more bureaucracy and government spending. A big chunk of it goes to "administer the tax" for God's sake.

"money from the tax could be used by the city to lower property taxes and other regressive taxes; address homelessness; provide affordable housing, education and transit; replace federal funding lost through budget cuts; create green jobs and meet carbon-reduction goals; and administer the tax."

"the tax would raise about $140 million a year and cost $10 million to $13 million to set up, plus $5 million to $6 million per year to manage and enforce"

 

[CharlesDavenport]

No, not anywhere. They are bound by areas where they can find high paying jobs in their profession. Do you seriously think an executive making $750k is going to pack up and leave because of a $6k tax increase? My last three bosses were from New York, Dallas and Houston. None of them moved for a tax break. The one from Dallas didn't move at all. He rented an apartment and flew home on the weekends. The cost of the apartment was probably $40k/year.

You guys seriously overestimate the plight of the wealthy.

It's almost $17K, not $6K, and of course some will leave.

 

[Sarge]

Philadelphia imposed a 1.5 cent per ounce tax on soda. It was supposed to raise revenue for education programs, primarily pre-k. Well, 49% is going to education programs. The rest? To social engineering programs and bonuses and raises for state employees. Who knew you couldn't trust government.

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/commentary/philly-moves-the-goalposts-on-soda-tax-20170810.html

 

[oneforthebus]

No, not anywhere. They are bound by areas where they can find high paying jobs in their profession. Do you seriously think an executive making $750k is going to pack up and leave because of a $6k tax increase? My last three bosses were from New York, Dallas and Houston. None of them moved for a tax break. The one from Dallas didn't move at all. He rented an apartment and flew home on the weekends. The cost of the apartment was probably $40k/year.

You guys seriously overestimate the plight of the wealthy.

He doesn't have to move to Ohio, he can just move a half mile outside the city limits. You wouldn't do that to save 2.5% of your income? Higher taxed areas lose population (and businesses) to lower taxed areas all the time. It's just basic economics.

 

[oneforthebus]

Philadelphia imposed a 1.5 cent per ounce tax on soda. It was supposed to raise revenue for education programs, primarily pre-k. Well, 49% is going to education programs. The rest? To social engineering programs and bonuses and raises for state employees. Who knew you couldn't trust government.

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/commentary/philly-moves-the-goalposts-on-soda-tax-20170810.html

And then there's this...people just doing their shopping elsewhere.

http://politicalcalculations.blogsp...cidence-and-deadweight-loss.html#.WYyMFfl97IU