Kerry's tax rate lower than middle class Americans?

[Guest JMT]

Middle Class Said To Pay Higher Tax Rate Than Heinz Kerry And Kerry

Mon Oct 11 2004 10:22:17 ET

Stephen Moore, president of the 'Club for Growth', writes in the WALL STREET JOURNAL on Monday: "According to the Kerrys' own tax records, and they have not released all of them, the couple had a combined income of $6.8 million in income last year and paid $725,000 in income taxes. That means their effective tax rate was a whopping 12.8%.... "Under the current tax system the middle class pays far more than the Kerry tax rate. In fact, the average federal tax rate -- combined payroll and income tax -- for a middle-class family is closer to 20% or more. George W. and Laura Bush, who had an income one- tenth of the Kerrys', paid a tax rate of 30%. ...

"Here is the man who finds clever ways to reduce his own tax liability while voting for higher taxes on the middle class dozens of times in his Senate career. He even voted against the Bush tax cut that saves each middle-class family about $1,000." The Kerrys "have unwittingly made the case for what George W. Bush says he wants to do: radically simplify and flatten out the tax code. ... So before John Kerry is given the opportunity to raise taxes again on American workers, shouldn't he and Teresa at least pay their fair share?"

(drudge report)

[Guest web_norah]

[Guest bcnjunkie]

LOL

[Guest endymion]

Don't vote for him because he has a good CPA? Weaker and weaker every day. Let's take a look at a metric that actually does matter:

Take the revenue each candidate will generate per year from the proceeds of Iraq through business connections like Halliburton and the Carlyle Group. Divide by the number of violent deaths during the conflict. That's a dollars-earned-per-violent-death indicator for each candidate that I suggest linearly relates to the innate evil level of each candidate. The candidate's DEpVD ratio.

Bush and Cheney have MUCH higher DEpVD ratio than the average middle class person. Also much, much higher than Kerry's DEpVD.

[Guest JMT]

Don't vote for him because he has a good CPA? Weaker and weaker every day. Let's take a look at a metric that actually does matter:

Take the revenue each candidate will generate per year from the proceeds of Iraq through business connections like Halliburton and the Carlyle Group. Divide by the number of violent deaths during the conflict. That's a dollars-earned-per-violent-death indicator for each candidate that I suggest linearly relates to the innate evil level of each candidate. The candidate's DEpVD ratio.

Bush and Cheney have MUCH higher DEpVD ratio than the average middle class person. Also much, much higher than Kerry's DEpVD.

yeah, tell me what they will make on iraq, since you seem to know and no one else on the planet does.

heres something just as ignorant as what you said....

'the following is a comparison of the probabilities for another 9/11 style terrorist attack as a result of being elected:

Bush 5%

Kerry 75%'

[Guest klit]

Don't vote for kerry. His only reason for running is to make heinz ketchup sell more. This is gonna be worse then halliburton

All these posts about who the better guy and smarter guy are pointless. Vote for the guy who best represents your interests and what your looking for in the country. My views are mainly similar to the republicans so I'd be on their side, but thats that. These threats trying to make bush look like a liar in iraq are not gonna change my view or anybody's that has republican values.

Only thing with kerry is if he wins, he better not try sending aristide back into haiti or support the lavalas movement.

[Guest DJ MartyR]

Some perspective from a keen financial advisor I know from the web...enjoy and ponder...

"....small business growth is the answer. Unfortunately John Kerrys tax roll backs are going to hit them hard. Kerry said the rollbacks of tax cuts will only be for those with income over $200k per year. When he says that, and refers to it only effecting in that room Himself, Bush & the moderator, what he is trying to paint a picture of is the Mainline lawyer earning $500k in salary, with the trophy wife who wont be able to buy a new beachhouse. And that may be true, but it is effecting many more then that, specifically the small business owner. How ? Bush mention it last night, that most small business (small business is usually referring to those with less than $50 Mil a year in sales & 25 to 1000 employees) are Pass through entities (either LLC or S Corps), and he is absolutely right. What does this mean ? It means that if an individual or couple own a business, and that business has net income of $300,000, that income is not taxed on a Corporate tax return, it is directly added to the income on your own personal return, even if the money stays in the business and you never receive it. How do these rollbacks hurt the small business owner ? It is stunting their growth, because they have to pay themselves a dividend to pay Kerrys higher taxes on that money. These aren't rich people, these are people who keep their money in their business to grow it, they drive Hondas and live in split-level houses. You are going to slow the growth process by rolling back these taxes, because these business owners are going to have less money each year to reinvest in expansion of their business.

Kerrys rollbacks ONLY (as he says) effect those earning (not receiving) over $200k per year, well that's the small business owner !! I don't think either candidate when they refer to small business were referring to the record shop owner or corner store owner who employee 3 people. That isn't growing the economy. Some liberals will argue that if you are a small business owner, and your company earns $200k or more, that you are wealthy, and deserve higher taxes. Well, when was the last time any of you worked for a poor man ?

Why doesn't Kerry want you to know all this about how S-Corps & LLCs work ? Because then it would be completely obvious that business growth (translating into job growth) would be hurt by it. Rather then giving people social programs and lower taxes for the poor, create a job for them by helping the small businesses create them through expansion.

To give some of you an example most of you can relate to. The city of Philadelphia has the absolute worst taxing authority in the entire US. How many of the companies you work for were once located in City ? probably alot. What is the main reason they leave ? It's not Septa, parking, office space costs, its the fucked up Tax structure in the City. The city is the only place around that i know of that taxes you on a percentage of your Sales, even if you have a net loss. Why would you tax a business when they had a tough year and lost money ? Why would you tax a business that is struggling to keep people employeed in a branch office in philly ? To justify it, you know what the tax is called "The Business Privledge Tax" . I guess because they look at it as a privledge to be in the city in the first place. Office Space in KOP, Cherry HIll, Conshy is actually more expensive now per Sq Ft....

....after dealing with this for 10 years as a career, it's something I know alot about, alot that John Kerry doesn't want you to know, and something Bush doesn't have the time to explain in a debate.

What Kerry should have done is made the earnings threshold for the rollback much higher, but he couldn't, because then he'd really be unable to pay for all his social programs.

[Guest DJ MartyR]

Some more perspective from the same person, I'm a small business owner myself and Kerry would dent me considerably...

'as far as' "....the 'horrible' economy we slipped into after 9/11 attacks, yea, and how did Bush respond to that, to get businesses to invest in new equipment, he instituted a tax incentive for business to add new equipment by giving them a 50% depreciation bonus deduction in the first year to ease their tax burden, and use that money to buy the equipment. This has also added to our fiscal deficit, but it is merely a timing difference. Instead of having to spread the depreciation deduction over 5 or 7 years, those business owners are getting 50% of it up front. Later down the road, they won't have any depreciation to deduct, thus raising their tax liability. On top of that, Greenspan brought Interest rates down to the lowest levels in history. All of that helped bring about the quickest turn around in a recession most of us will ever see.

Kerry and Bush's tax rates & incentives for the lower/middle class will remain the same, no matter who is in office, neither want a rollback for the people earning under $200k. The difference is that Kerry thinks that the rollbacks he is suggesting will help fund his healthcare & other social programs.

I live in So. Jersey, and I can not believe how many medical campuses are popping up here, way too many to be supported by NJ residents. Many are doctors moving their offices from the Philadelphia metro area in PA, to NJ, because the malpractice insurance premiums in NJ are much lower. Kerry will tell you that bogus lawsuits are not the cause of high healthcare costs. Well, then why the hell are doctors moving their practices across state lines if it isn't that significant ? Truth is, Kerry & Edwards are protecting the trial lawyers, many of whom are congressmen or friends of congressmen, and have not voted for legislation to curb it.