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miscellaneous musings
GarandMarine:
--- Quote from: Detachable Felix on 16 Oct 2014, 05:37 ---Come to 'Straya, GM! The only gun-nuts we have here are crazy/stupid, it'd be nice to have a (moderately) rational one down here :emotrex: :emotrex: :emotrex:
--- End quote ---
A reminder that I'm a moderate if not a bit left of center on about everything BUT guns.
The first thing I'd do is write the head of the current pro gun types and tell him I believe in keeping what I kill and challenge him to a trial of possession for his or her position. My life's work would then be adding a Class M permit to Aussie gun permitting. A Class M would be comparable to a Class C permit requirements wise but be specifically for a list of military surplus firearms, including historically relevant semi-autos (Currently only obtainable under a D permit) such as the M1 Garand, and military sidearms ranging from the 1911 to the Webley Service Revolver. (Why yes, I have actually been investigating moving down under for a long while, how did you know?*)
So that'd piss a lot of people off whether I'm successful or not. :P
I'd also need to find a way to work two jobs. Gunsmithing (Cause, y'know, kinda my trade) and pest control in the outback so I can get my Class D permit.
*Also having looked into moving to several nations, any one bitching about how draconian U.S. Immigration law is needs to be subjected to the fish slapping dance. It's easy as hell to come here in comparison. :psyduck:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCwLirQS2-o
Doesn't Norway have one of the highest tax burdens in the world for EVERYONE?
America's is actually pretty harsh on our top 10%
Sauce: http://statlinks.oecdcode.org/812008051P1T013.XLS
Is it fair for the rich, rich though they might be to pay more in taxes than their percentage of their total share of income, higher than many European nations, where the rich pay a bit fairer amount of their fair share (An amount of taxes equal to their percentage of total income, that is to say the top 10% of country x receive 25% of the country's total income per annum, paying 25% of the country's total taxes is therefore is an equitable and "fair" share. Of course where things usually get crossed up is capital gains tax, which is different from income tax and could probably use some reform
(click to show/hide)Suppose that every day, five men go out for drinks and the bill for all five comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this…
The first man (the poorest) would pay nothing
The second would pay $4
The third would pay $9
The fourth would pay $18
The fifth man (the richest) would pay $69
So, that’s what they decided to do.
The five men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball.
“Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20”. Drinks for the five men would now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first man was unaffected. He would still drink for free. But what about the other four men ? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?
The bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts that each should now pay.
The second now paid $2 instead of $4 (50% saving).
The third now paid $6 instead of $9 (33% saving).
The fourth now paid $13 instead of $18 (28% saving).
The fifth now paid $59 instead of $69 (14% saving).
Each of the four was better off than before. And the first continued to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings.
“I only got $2 out of the $20 saving,” declared the second man. He pointed to the fifth man,”but he got $10!”
“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the third man. “I only saved $3. It’s unfair that he got three times more benefit than me!”
“That’s true!” shouted the fourth man. “Why should he get $10 back, when I got only $5? The wealthy get all the breaks!”
“Wait a minute,” yelled the first man, “I didn’t get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!”
The four men surrounded the fifth and beat him up.
The next night the fifth man didn’t show up for drinks so the other four sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, my friends, is how our tax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most "benefit" from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
H/T Jeff Jckso
Sources for Tax Shares:
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?DocID=458&Topic2id=20&Topic3id=22
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?DocID=558&Topic2id=20&Topic3id=22
Metope:
Yeah we pay a lot of income taxes here, and it works like a charm and almost everyone are happy. The richest people who are not happy all move abroad to avoid it, so whatever. The way they did the reductions in Norway this time was to give everyone the exact same percentage to pay less. So if you have a low income, you pay a couple hundred dollars less in taxes a year, and if you're rich, you pay millions less a year. That hardly seems fair to me, and not to a lot of rich people either. My father is in a high income bracket group, happily paying 40% - 50% of his income every year. A lot of rich people have stated in the media that they'll give what they've "gained" to charities, they want to pay taxes.
Also I don't think the anecdotal description works that well for Norway at least (maybe people really are that selfish in the states, I don't know), I've never met anyone who's actually reacted that way. Seems like it's fairly similar to what just happened in Norway, and no one are mad at the "rich guy", they're all mad at the government... or the bartender, it that story, I guess. It's not about people being mad because rich people are richer, it's about people being mad because where will the money the government needs to support us come from now?Since the government are getting a lot less in taxes from people, what'll happen to the hospitals, roads, libraries and other public institutions? And taking money from people who can't work at all is the icing on the cake, really.
This isn't Discuss though, so that's probably it for now.
GarandMarine:
Yeah probably. I'm a big fan of keeping taxes low, but then I think I know how to spend my money better than other people spending it for me, and hold the radical opinion that you are entitled to the sweat of your brow. I also consider the United States government criminally incompetent at any task other than stealing at gunpoint, than wasting my money. Welcome to your new home Metope.
Metope:
I think people in the states have more reason to be mad about paying taxes than Norwegians too, in Norway at least you can see where the money is going. In America you have to pay for health care, public schools are shit, taxing kind of doesn't really work because it actually looks like the government are just taking money you've worked hard for and putting it in their own pocket. It would work better if you actually noticed in your day to day life that you were getting something back.
...fuck what am I doing with my life :-(
94ssd:
It's fall break at my university. I had the opportunity to work extra hours. But as much as I would like the extra money I decided I desperately needed the relaxation, especially since I've been feeling under the weather since yesterday.
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