You made the assertion, "the middle class ends up paying the highest percentage of their income as taxes." Therefore, the burden of truth lies with you. Also, no ad hominems allowed.
A percentage is, by definition, a proportion. Please give me an example where a "poor" person buying necessities pays a greater proportion of sales tax (let's assume 6%) than a "rich" person buying necessities and/or luxury goods.
IAWTP. Being poor has much to do with one's mindset. Continuing to do things the way the poor do keeps one poor. If no poor person ever became wealthier, I would agree with the progressives, but the freedoms we have here make class mobility possible-- although not easy.
Sales tax is a regressive tax, meaning poor people pay more than rich people.
I'm going to grovel before the progressive modgods by suggesting that PERHAPS this is a matter of debate. Sales tax is a proportional tax by definition, since it is a percentage. A flat fee tax, like $1 per sale of any amount, would be regressive. Even a flat fee tax wouldn't cause poor people to "pay more", obviously-- they would pay the exact same amount per sale. Claims of regression rest on the hypothesis that somehow the tax has a greater impact on a person with less money to spend. The solution indeed, is to waive the tax on essentials like clothing and food. This is already the case in most states. In addition, I believe that in all of them it is already not allowed to tax rent.
Per your "hump" tax, I'd like to see one example where a wealthier person pays a lower percentage of tax than a poorer person. You made the assertion, you back it up.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
I get the first one, but do lots of people really run linux without sharing media or connecting to the internet? Because, you know, Linux boxes can be owned too.
No, but you've hit the problem on the head. The RC church needs to maintain its "lock in". Instead of having a personal relationship with the Father through the Son, we have various middlemen. Catholics are trained to confess their sins to a priest, who then instructs them to mostly repeat canned prayers to Mary. I'm actually not that opposed to having priest continue the use of the confessional: if some people need to confide their wrongdoing with a trusted role model, that's excellent. But redemption still comes from God, and repentance comes from real works and change, not from repeating canned prayers or praying to deceased humans.
FOSS is a hammer. Does government look like another nail? Direct democracy will still be mob rule, despite all efforts to exact psychological change through software. Making every issue available through collaborative democracy will have the same result as in most representative democracies: widespread apathy to minor issues, and great interest in major ones. This is evidenced by the low voter turnout for local elections, because local issues appear inconsequential to the average voter (until tax time rolls around). This will not change; in fact, it becomes worsened as the information overload will probably cause even more people to withdraw even their occasional participation. The resulting chaos would probably result in a pendulum swing of authoritarian government to the first faction or individual promising they will restore order.
DEC did eventually make a business PC-compatible line (DECpc) and PC server line. The PC servers used the same SBB disks as the Alphas and VAXen. They also made a Starion line for home use.
To clarify, Windows 98 couldn't use more than 512 MB because of a bug in the disk cache. All you had to do was lock the cache to 512 MB max and you could use 2 GB of RAM. If you didn't, the system would (ironically) throw up out-of-memory errors immediately. I won't rule out that some idiot at a mom'n'pop shop built Windows 98 boxes with faulty RAM figuring it would never be used by the average Joe, but they weren't taking advantage of any Windows quirk.
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Looks like you got modded down. I'm afraid that the progressives are the "man" now, and they don't like being told the truth.
Again, the burden of truth lies with you. Please look up the definition of a logical debate and understand it before commenting again.
You made the assertion, "the middle class ends up paying the highest percentage of their income as taxes." Therefore, the burden of truth lies with you. Also, no ad hominems allowed.
A percentage is, by definition, a proportion. Please give me an example where a "poor" person buying necessities pays a greater proportion of sales tax (let's assume 6%) than a "rich" person buying necessities and/or luxury goods.
IAWTP. Being poor has much to do with one's mindset. Continuing to do things the way the poor do keeps one poor. If no poor person ever became wealthier, I would agree with the progressives, but the freedoms we have here make class mobility possible-- although not easy.
I'm going to grovel before the progressive modgods by suggesting that PERHAPS this is a matter of debate. Sales tax is a proportional tax by definition, since it is a percentage. A flat fee tax, like $1 per sale of any amount, would be regressive. Even a flat fee tax wouldn't cause poor people to "pay more", obviously-- they would pay the exact same amount per sale. Claims of regression rest on the hypothesis that somehow the tax has a greater impact on a person with less money to spend. The solution indeed, is to waive the tax on essentials like clothing and food. This is already the case in most states. In addition, I believe that in all of them it is already not allowed to tax rent.
Per your "hump" tax, I'd like to see one example where a wealthier person pays a lower percentage of tax than a poorer person. You made the assertion, you back it up.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Not to mention being modded down (overrated I presume, since it's invisible) for actually responding to the troll.
Pope Leo XIII declared Mary as "mediatrix" and "co-Redemptress".
Mine is under the name "Robert'),DROP TABLE customers;".
Tell them you want the QB cut that Tom Brady has.
If you don't want to be quite so cheeky, 10001 is easy to remember. It's in Manhattan by the Lincoln tunnel.
The EPA has implemented a cap-and-trade system. Every time you blow something up, you have to send a check to Al Gore.
She got fired? I didn't know that there were any non-union teachers.
Progressivism's existence rests on a sufficiently large portion of the population not knowing-- or not caring-- what the 9th amendment is.
I get the first one, but do lots of people really run linux without sharing media or connecting to the internet? Because, you know, Linux boxes can be owned too.
I developed "Theremin Hero", but when Sousaphone Hero and Pump Organ Hero both flopped I reworked it into a Tai Chi app for the Wii instead.
No, but you've hit the problem on the head. The RC church needs to maintain its "lock in". Instead of having a personal relationship with the Father through the Son, we have various middlemen. Catholics are trained to confess their sins to a priest, who then instructs them to mostly repeat canned prayers to Mary. I'm actually not that opposed to having priest continue the use of the confessional: if some people need to confide their wrongdoing with a trusted role model, that's excellent. But redemption still comes from God, and repentance comes from real works and change, not from repeating canned prayers or praying to deceased humans.
FOSS is a hammer. Does government look like another nail? Direct democracy will still be mob rule, despite all efforts to exact psychological change through software. Making every issue available through collaborative democracy will have the same result as in most representative democracies: widespread apathy to minor issues, and great interest in major ones. This is evidenced by the low voter turnout for local elections, because local issues appear inconsequential to the average voter (until tax time rolls around). This will not change; in fact, it becomes worsened as the information overload will probably cause even more people to withdraw even their occasional participation. The resulting chaos would probably result in a pendulum swing of authoritarian government to the first faction or individual promising they will restore order.
People have been telling them for years that the American flag icon is missing a red stripe at the top, but they don't care about that. Good luck!
If things go down the tubes, I'll bet Steve opens a BallMart. It will specialize in sturdy chairs and sweat-resistant dress shirts.
That Escort wagon must be the one he lost in the parking lot (see comment near the top of the page)!
You must be one of those crazy, racist tea partiers!
DEC did eventually make a business PC-compatible line (DECpc) and PC server line. The PC servers used the same SBB disks as the Alphas and VAXen. They also made a Starion line for home use.
To clarify, Windows 98 couldn't use more than 512 MB because of a bug in the disk cache. All you had to do was lock the cache to 512 MB max and you could use 2 GB of RAM. If you didn't, the system would (ironically) throw up out-of-memory errors immediately. I won't rule out that some idiot at a mom'n'pop shop built Windows 98 boxes with faulty RAM figuring it would never be used by the average Joe, but they weren't taking advantage of any Windows quirk.
That's bogus, based on a chain email and a photoshop job. Irony.