Hastert: ‘If You Earn $40,000 a Year and Have a Family of Two Children, You Don’t Pay Any Taxes’
Hastert: ‘If You Earn $40,000 a Year and Have a Family of Two Children, You Don’t Pay Any Taxes’
During a late session last night, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) made a stunning claim on the House floor:
Well, folks, if you earn $40,000 a year and have a family of two children, you don’t pay any taxes. So you probably, if you don’t pay any taxes, you are not going to get a very big tax cut.
While someone with a $40,000 salary and a family of four paid little or no federal income taxes last year, Hastert ignores various other taxes paid by all Americans — payroll taxes, gas taxes, sales taxes, etc.
Consider payroll taxes, which go to paying for Social Security and Medicare. Assuming their entire $40,000 in salary came from wages, this family paid $3,060 (7.65 percent of $40,000) in federal payroll taxes last year. (Note: The employer also contributes this amount, but most economists “believe that the portion of the payroll tax paid by the employer is borne by the worker.”)
Hastert, who earns a hefty $212,010 a year salary, doesn’t seem to understand that families across America are facing higher health care costs, mortgage payments, and gas prices. And yes, they also have to pay their taxes.
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I honestly do not see how a family of four can survive on $40,000 per year, let alone minimum wage.
What happend to the “American dream” of home ownership? How would this family ever have that…and still be able to be fed and clothed?
May 18th, 2006 at 11:59 amLike most of the rethuglicans, they are comfortably “out of touch” with the reality the average American faces.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:00 pmWell, Define what you mean you “Taxes”? It all depends upon the definition of “Taxes”.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:02 pmAre you counting the portion of taxes borne by the employer in the calculation 15.3% of $40,000? If so, you’re being very misleading, and should include that money paid by the employer on behalf of the emoplyee in their salary.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:05 pmThe so-called representatives in the House and Senate have long been out of touch with the man and woman on the street…
…their salaries, pension, and healthcare plans are so far above the pale (and as Duke Cunningham has demonstrated- irrevocable)…
…that they no longer NEED to feel your (the little people’s) pain…
…we’ve created and for far too long coddled “A Monster” that is the United States Congress…
…and if we don’t make a change they’ll destroy us (the middle/working class)…
May 18th, 2006 at 12:05 pmIs it me or are we experiencing echos of the French Aristocracy here? That’s almsot a “Let them eat cake” comment… Soooo out of touch with reality, only concentrating on their own little world of politics….
May 18th, 2006 at 12:06 pmPayroll taxes are currently masking the true size of the Federal Budget deficit.
The money is being collected from us to pay for our Social Security iwhen we retire.
It won’t be there and our friends in govt will tell us that they aren’t legally required to collect more taxes to pay us back.
Don’t forget…we are also currently paying payroll taxes to fund the current retirees.
Wake up…we are being fleeced.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:06 pmI guess my wife and I have to earn MORE money so we don’t have to pay taxes. We earned less than that last year and paid over $3,000 in federal income taxes last year. Send Hastert back to coaching wrestling in Illinois.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:08 pm#4: I explain this in the post:
Consider payroll taxes, which go to paying for Social Security and Medicare. Assuming their entire $40,000 in salary came from wages, this family paid $6,120 (15.3 percent of $40,000) in federal payroll taxes last year. (Note: The employer contributes half of this amount, but most economists “believe that the portion of the payroll tax paid by the employer is borne by the worker.â€)
May 18th, 2006 at 12:09 pmHassert has an expense account doesn’t he? Who pays for his vehicle, gasoline, meals, etc.?
Heck, for the amount they work, I would do the job or half of what he makes!!
May 18th, 2006 at 12:10 pmThis can be a HUGE issue in November if framed correctly.
“Americans are stretched to just pay their bills and taxes, while millionaires are getting fat from the taxes Americans pay”
May 18th, 2006 at 12:10 pmHow can they keep spewing this lie (ok, that’s rhetorical) when they consider every g*danged fee, license, tax a tax?
Will Joe Sixpack look at his return and say “I didn’t pay these taxes I just paid?”
And how can our guys keep letting them get away with it?
May 18th, 2006 at 12:11 pmI would guess that obese Mr. Hastert is taking up far more than his alloted space in the Bush’s Bubbleopolis.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:11 pmDennis, you ignorant slob. I don’t earn anywhere near $40K per year, but I’m pretty sure I pay taxes.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:14 pm#5
I don’t know how anyone could express reality any more clearly than you have.
Let’s see if the middle/working class has enough ambition to take 15 minutes and vote in November.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:15 pmDenny once stepped on one of those talking scales . . . .
May 18th, 2006 at 12:17 pmIt yelled WTF ?
#9: Yes, I know, but that’s misleading.
To use some rounded-off numbers, say they make $40,000, and they directly pay $4000 in payroll taxes with their employer contributing another $2000. A total of $6000 is paid in payroll taxes, but if you then say that they’ve paid 15% of $40,000 in taxes (6000 / 40,000), that implies that they take home 85% of that 40,000, which is $34,000. When in actuality they take home $36,000.
You can’t have it both ways. If you want to include employer-contributed payroll taxes as being effectively contributed by the employee, then you should include that amount in their salary (ie, 14% of 42,000). If you’re going to claim the tax is paid for by the employee, the employee needs to earn it first.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:18 pmI know I’m dreaming here, but if Congress wanted people to trust them, they should have a rule in each House that it is against the rules to lie. Without such a rule, The Coach is allowed to stand up there and lie to support an immoral position. Do they really expect the American people to trust them when they allow themselves to tell lies? And the worst part of it is, that they don’t see a problem with allowing Senators and Representatives to stand up on the floor and lie.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:19 pmBubba Hastert is looking for a way to deflect criticism for more tax giveaways to the rich at the expense of the poor. Let them eat cake said the fat man.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:19 pmIf you eat 40,000 donuts and don’t take a dump, you will turn into Hastert.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:20 pmProperty taxes?
May 18th, 2006 at 12:20 pmDid I just hear him say that he wants everyone making less than 40k a year to not pay takes at all?
Sounds fine to me…
May 18th, 2006 at 12:25 pmYou do not pay 15.3% in payroll taxes. You pay 7.65% for FICA and Medicare, the employer pays the other which amounts to the 15.3% total.
You could conceivably have federal withholding taxes, which may or may not come back at the end of the year. You could also have state income taxes, sales tax, real estate tax (which is a component of rent for non-homeowners). So that a good sized % of your income is taxes.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:28 pmHastert Fat Bastard should have his salary reduced to 40 k a year, immediately. And cut his pension and health care benefits off as well.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:31 pmDennis misses his close personal friend, Tom DeLay.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:35 pmDennis used to go out & eat with his friend Tom.
Now Dennis has to out and eat by himself.
Dennis, here’s a thought…
WHY DON’T YOU GO OUT & EAT YOURSELF!
Here is the DEMOCRATS midterm election commercial right here…………..
Thanks Dennis..
you heartless bastard
May 18th, 2006 at 12:35 pmBy Looking, Mr Hastert has spent alot of his money on fatty foods, and lack of exercise, Gee I sure hope he doesn’t have a heart attack and die before he can enjoy the material he consumed…
May 18th, 2006 at 12:39 pmI’m sure glad Bush took care of that whole social security poblem he promised. I make slightly under 40k a year, I am 24, and I am paying into a program that I will never use. I have a very big problem with this. Most intelligent people will not rely on social security, but those that are in fine physical and mental health that think that social security is going to pay for the rest of their elderly lives are stupid. I agree that social security programs are needed for mentally and physically handicapped, but the program can’t continue to pay for every elderly person. It’s mathematically impossible. Furthermore, with corporations not raising pay slashing pensions and healthcare for their retiring, we are going to continue sliding down this slippery slope.
My Solution:
Get every politician in Washington, and around the country, round em up. Make them work for $5.15 an hour at a shitty fast food place for the rest of their lives. Replace congress, etc.. with people who have a grasp on what a life in the real world is like. Not all Ivy League D-Bags, who got everything handed to them.. No Kennedy’s, Bush’s, Rockafellar’s, Roosevelt’s or any of those elitist families that could give two shits about this country. It’s time for a goverment overhaul in my opinion.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:39 pmObviously Hastert has made certain assumptions that play to make his point, whether true or not, isn’t his point.
I would also add that the Federal Government has paid less to states for things like No Child Left Behind, thus leaving the states to pick up the tab increasing state and local taxes.
Are Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell, considered clergy and religious workers and thus our tax code exempts them from social security and medicare taxes?
I think we should always look at the effective tax rate and not the absolute.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:40 pmI somewhat, and reluctantly, agree with Hastert on this. Between the wife and I, we make 72,000 a year and we have two kids. For tax year 2004 we didn’t pay a penny in income taxes. For last year we paid $600. Granted that is largely because we are both students so we get Lifetime Learning Credits, we both work, so we pay the wife’s aunt to watch them, so we get to deduct that…plus we get the child credits…
So while he is obviously being misleading, I think he is at least not lieing.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:41 pmSo, in a debate about income tax breaks, Hastert says something that is correct, but rather than just admit that, you talk about other things that have nothing to do with what he said. Sheesh. Next Hastert will be talking about feeding cats, and you’ll say that the dogs aren’t being fed enough.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:42 pmEvilCornbread and Mark,
I have updated the post to make it clear the employee PAYS $3,060 each year in payroll taxes, but BEARS $6,120 in tax liability. Thanks for the comments.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:42 pmi busted my ass with overtime, and earned no where near the 40k, and because of the overtime, not enough was taken out for taxes so i got to send a check this year with my forms…so i’ll believe hassart as soon as i believe that our econmy is strong…damn going to college during the clinton years!!!
May 18th, 2006 at 12:42 pmProperty taxes for many making 40,000 per year are higher than payroll taxes, especially if we want our children educated in decent public school system. And they keep going up, while state and federal governments de-fund education.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:43 pmtax on gas cigarettes…
Taxed when you get paid, taxed when you spend what was taxed.
It’s USURY. USURY Self Serving Pigs.
I Can’t, will not support any of these a-holes any longer
Screw the IRS and screw Congress, let’s see what you bastards can do with NO MONEY.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:44 pm#28 - They’d be snivelling and snot-faced within two hours of working minimum wage. We’d do a better and more efficient job, even if we only worked the 93 days they’re working this year.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:46 pmSEIXON Hastert says something that is CORRECT after years and years of lying. This only helps prove what we have been saying all along.
THE GOP are Cronyistic Pigs whom put money before man, enriching their friends is hardly working for the Salus Populi.
But Now Seixon. SInce we SEE these Tax Breaks are pure BULLCRAP, are you gonna admit you were wrong?
Prolly not, your just like them, a professional hypocrite.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:48 pmLawyers should be hung by their nads, on site.
Hastert is a pompous ass. Having said that, my parents forked over $32,000 in income tax this year. Probably straight to him and his oil buddies so they can drive this government over a cliff. Even as stuanch Republicans, they’re pissed at Republican leadership. RNC calls my mom weekly pleading for donations and telling her not to trust the “liberal media” about the allegations of Tom DeLay, culture of corruption, etc, and she responds with a big fat NO to the donation question, and a “if they’re innocent, they’ll be proven so in court — not by any sort of media!” But they still keep calling… They’re unknowingly about to flip her.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:49 pmWhat kills me is regardless of of the federal tax burden for a family making 40,000………..
THE 70 BILLION TAX CUT package passed by the GOP (that basically is a tax cut for the super-wealthy) will affect ALL AMERCIANS (regardless of income) in the very near future…..
Thanks for caring Dennis…..you and your party are a disgrace……
May 18th, 2006 at 12:49 pmHastert is a heartless bastard and yes everyone with wages pays payroll taxes from dollar one and I would count the employer paid portion because if not for the tax it would get paid to the employee–somebody accurately pointed out that you do not subtract 15.3% from $40,000 because the family would make like $43,000 but for the payroll taxes ie because of the taxes the guy gets paid $3000 less than he should and he pays $3000 out of the money he is paid. All that being said, Hastert’s argument is valid for the purpose made. He is responding to critics that point out most of the tax cuts do not go to the middle class, but to the wealthy. If you do not pay much in income taxes, it is hard to give you much of an income tax break. A couple of posters have focused on the real fallacy of the position–the payroll taxes are masking the true size of the deficit. We can not afford to give anybody tax cuts and should be raising taxes. The government has been borrowing those payroll taxes and using it to give tax cuts to the rich with the result that there is no “trust fund” to pay the baby boomers retirement. This means we either start using income taxes in 2017 to fund the payout to retirees or we cut those payments dramatically which apart from making life miserable for middle and lower class retirees, will likely tank the economy. For everything that Dumbya’s administration has done wrong, the tax cuts are the most damaging and will cause the greatest misery to the greatest number of Americans.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:52 pmDennis Hastert is an ignorant hack. In other breaking news, water was today discovered to be wet.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:53 pm#30 - So, you received back from the IRS all that you paid in during the year? I find that awfully difficult to believe that your income tax zeroed out when making $72,000 per year. Child and education credits are not that much, you must have a hell of a lot of itemized deductions.
In any event, you had actual out of pocket taxes of more than $5,500 in social security and medicare taxes.
May 18th, 2006 at 12:54 pm#32: Thanks for the update!
May 18th, 2006 at 12:54 pmWhere are IRI and puny hermaphrodite?
May 18th, 2006 at 12:57 pm#31 - Seixon, do you pay taxes in this country?
May 18th, 2006 at 12:59 pmYou guys are too funny! Under the OLD tax schedules (favored by Donks) that family of four would pay MUCH more in taxes. It’s only becuase they are getting a tax break that you want to parse numbers. And trust me a family of six (my family size) can live confortably on $40k a year. We lived on less than that for many years even with housing factored in. I also manged to attend college and get two degrees while living on that amount. I don’t think we ate steak much, but my kids did not go hungry (without food stamps). As I said before if you don’t like the tax cuts just send the difference back to Congress.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:01 pm#46 retarded repug scum And you has either a housing allowance or governmennt housing on base, and military medixcal care, and other benefits that are not listed on your LES but part of your benefits…QUIT being as dishonest as your brokeback fantisy GWB
May 18th, 2006 at 1:10 pmThis is so-o-o-o hypocritical. Social Security - one of the most regressive tax schemes in history - was concocted by FDR. It was Ponzi scheme from the beginning. The Bush administration has done more than any administration since FDR to try to reform Social Security, but “progressive” Democrats have opposed him at every turn.
This burden on working Americans is entirely the responsibility of the Left. The Left created it; the Left has maintained it; and the Left has opposed any reforms that would make it solvent. And when it fails, the Left will blame everyone but itself.
This shameful hypocrisy is just one of example of why I am no longer a member of the Left.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:13 pmI dont know what planet he lives on. I am single, so I don’t know what deductions a family of four might have to which I am unentitled, but I still have a 3500 dollar tax bill from the year I made $9000 GROSS. I owed upwards of 15% on that , plus, since I’m self-employed, and extra 15 or so percent. So I made $9000 and owe $3500. Hastert can go @#$% himself.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:14 pmI also manged to attend college and get two degrees while living on that amount.
Comment by Retired Republican Soldier #46
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!
…Retarded Republiscum,
…bi*ch!
…degrees in what?
…those AMVET correspondence courses don’t count in REAL academia…
…didn’t they tell you that?
May 18th, 2006 at 1:15 pm#46 - What year did you and your family of six live off 40K? I happen to agree that people can live off 40K/year, many do, but those that do live in poverty.
As for sending our tax cuts back to DC, frankly my tax cut was about $144 this year. If I can exchange that $144 for competent government, I would gladly do so. We would have never seen the likes of the pathetic federal government response to Katrina under a Clinton administration. How anyone can continue to support this administration after seeing how totally and utterly incompetent they are in a disaster situation baffles me.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:19 pmBSR - excuse me a**hole, but if you will take a look back in history you will find that the largest increase in the social security tax rate was imposed by…(drum roll please)…the republicans darling Reagan. Yes, Mr. no tax himself increased the rate of tax on the lowest taxed individuals by reducing the income taxes paid by his buddies, but increasing the SS tax rate so this left the poorer individuals with the brunt of the increase. Oh, and it gets better, both SS and medicare were capped so that only a certain amount of your income was taxed for SS and medicare. Must be nice being wealthy!!!
May 18th, 2006 at 1:21 pmOK bsr - can you tell us that absolutely no one in your clan has ever claimed Social Security?
No, you can’t. That’s cause you’re a dishonest lying bastard.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:21 pmboth SS and medicare were capped so that only a certain amount of your income was taxed for SS and medicare. Must be nice being wealthy!!!
Comment by Jules — May 18, 2006 @ 1:21 pm
are they are taxed up to $100,000. After that, ZILCH.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:23 pmI think the representitive made his thoughts quite clear. If you think you pay too much in taxes, you just need to become one of the working poor and then your problem is solved.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:27 pmSorry madashell - I was referring to the implementation of the plan. Clinton changed medicare in 1993 (I believe that was the year) now ALL earned income is taxed for medicare (that is the 1.45% portion), the repugs went nuts over this.
I have not seen one thing republicans have tried to do, or implemented, to save social security and/or medicare.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:28 pmI am no longer a member of the Left.
Comment by Blue State Red — May 18, 2006 @ 1:13 pm
Good - You don’t sound very smart. I think it’s best you’re on the other team now.
By the way the issue here is that most Americans don’t benefit from these tax cuts. They do however experience a loss in goods and services that use to be provided by tax revenues that are no longer being brought in because our government would rather the wealthiest Americans get even wealthier.
Oh and because these “tax cuts” contribute to our soaring debt - which will have to be paid back by all Americans - they are really more like a tax increase for most people.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:29 pmGreat analogy G. W.—tax cuts are really a tax increase. So I suppose tax increases are really tax cuts. No wonder you’re a liberal—you turn reality on it’s head.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:41 pmNo antagonist, that wuld be your party’s job.
We will have to pay back the large deficits your party is running up at some point. That means we will need to increase taxes to do this.
Why are republicans so thick that you need to spell everything out for them? I guess if you can still trust this administration you must have a pretty low IQ.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:46 pmLet me make sure I understand our tax policy.
Make $40,000 per year, family of four. Pay 15.3% (combined) payroll tax, plus federal income tax.
Make $200,000 per year on investment income. No payroll tax. 15% federal income tax.
Sounds fair to me, but I live in bizarroland.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:50 pmI fit Hasert’s profile to a “T”. According to my pay stub, I’ve already paid $3060 in federal taxes, and it’s only May.
I don’t mind paying taxes - I do mind being lied to.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:51 pmJJ @ 12:41 pm says Hasert wasn’t really lying. Well then, what percentage of the FICA contribution of a $40,000 earner is being used to fund the current discretionary portion of the Federal budget? Because it’s certainly not all going to current Social Security beneficiaries, and it’s not going into Al Gore’s lockbox.
It’s a federal tax, it’s currently being spent on defense, highways, war on terror, etc. and Hastert is a liar.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:51 pmYes, FDR did bring in the social security tax. From my personal experience, the ‘Republicans’ are the first in line to receive their pensions and try to get as much as they can.
Who are the real hypocrites?
I didn’t make anywhere near 40K last year.
It can all be gone in a heart beat if the US gov would be a legal, honest government, but it’s not. It’s the most corrupt government ever.
May 18th, 2006 at 1:52 pmThere are 3 ways out of a deficit
May 18th, 2006 at 1:55 pm1: Dratistically cut “pet” programs. No more tax cuts. No more juicy military contracts, cuts in benefits in New Deal programs, no further spending on many problems. This will happen next Neverday, the 32 of May.
2: Raise taxes: No corporate breaks, bring back the AMT, no overseas tax breaks, a small tax raise for all tax brackets but highest at the top, and a re-taxing/tax raise on dividends and stock market finaggling. This ain’t gonna happen, either, not with Rs running the show.
3: A combo of the two. This will probably happen when the deficits are really, really crushing, say 2 trillion worse than they are now. People will demand reform and demand it long and hard so the ruling class, oops, I mean politicians, will throw a few bones to us plebes.
So Hunter - kind of like when Clinton was president. Yesm those were the days!!
May 18th, 2006 at 2:00 pm#65 - What gets me are the perople who b!%ch, moan and whine about how bad Pres. Clinton was for the economy because he rose the debt as well,
What they leave out is that the rise in debt was MUCH slower and lower than it was inder Pres. Reagan, Pres. Bush Sr., and nothing at all compared to the massive fiscal failure that is the current Bush administration.
Pres. Bush is the epitome of “Neo-Con” = Borrow and Squander = Pres. Bush’s REAL legacy.
May 18th, 2006 at 2:07 pm#42 - Jules,
The way that it worked out, we had more deductions/credits to exceed what we paid in. We also took a loss on selling a house that year. The government of course won’t give you back money that you didn’t pay in, so we got back just what we had paid in.
May 18th, 2006 at 2:10 pmThe question isn’t really whether those making $40K should get tax cuts, it’s whether anybody should get tax cuts, especially those who have already benefited the most, the extremely wealthy. The national debt has doubled in the last 6 years from $4.5 trillion to $10 trillion. Hastert is borrowing money so that rich folks can buy another new BMW. The rest of us get $20, or about half a tank of gas. Ask Fat Boy what the plan is to pay the interest incurred to finance these cuts. There is no plan! Not only that, there’s no reason for the cuts. No one has said why they’re necessary, especially in this time of war with an Al Queada operative behind every phone. They are so beholden to their “base” they don’t even pretend to be responsible anymore. This is just part of the neverending “No millionaire left behind” program that’s been going on for 5 years.
May 18th, 2006 at 2:14 pmGreat analogy G. W.—tax cuts are really a tax increase. So I suppose tax increases are really tax cuts. No wonder you’re a liberal—you turn reality on it’s head.
Comment by Antagonist — May 18, 2006 @ 1:41 pm
Idiot - this is not magic money falling out of the presidents ass… it is real money that is being borrowed and has to be paid back some day!
If it puts $100 in my pockets now but cost me $140 in the future this is not decreasing my financial burden it is increasing it.
If this is to difficult for you to understand maybe you can get a grown up read it to you real slow like.
May 18th, 2006 at 2:15 pm#66
Last week CBS news had a story about a guy (businessman, I think) who had installed a debt clock on the exterior of a building in NYC. He said if things go the way they are now, he’s going to have to replace it because he expects the debt to hit 10 trillion in the next couple of years. The debt clock he has now does not have that many digits on its display.
One thing of note…they said the debt clock was turned off and covered up only once, and that was during Clinton’s time in office.
May 18th, 2006 at 2:21 pm#58
Enjoy your tax cut while you can, buddy. Someone in the future is going to have to make some heavy-duty sacrifices to pay for it…like my 5-year old daughter and her children. This is apparently a fact that you apparently don’t really give a damn about.
May 18th, 2006 at 2:27 pmGreat analogy G. W.—tax cuts are really a tax increase. So I suppose tax increases are really tax cuts. No wonder you’re a liberal—you turn reality on it’s head.
Comment by Antagonist — May 18, 2006 @ 1:41 pm
So antag I ain’t got no brain you think like the neo-con idiots thaty claim borrowing Billions every year with no plan to repay them will never cause a raise in the tax rates because there is no plan to repay the borrowed money…kinda like the people who just keep getting more and more credit cards to borrow off of to keep their illusionary high style of living,,
FLASH moron…someday the 8.4 trillion debt is going to come due, and long before the non-rapture, thus our children or grandchildren are going to gfet one hell of a bill for your ignorance and neglegance, but you do love them RIGHT?
May 18th, 2006 at 2:37 pm#72
Cliff,
They truly do not care. They offer no apologies for it, either. Sad, really. I had a similar discussion (short as it was) with a co-worker in the days leading up to the Iraq invasion. I said that my child and grandchildren will be paying for the increase in the debt brought on by it, and the co-worker basically said “not my problem.”
May 18th, 2006 at 2:51 pmThe Bush administration has done more than any administration since FDR to try to reform Social Security, but “progressive†Democrats have opposed him at every turn.
Comment by Blue State Red — May 18, 2006 @
From one “red” comrade to another: we love his “reforms” - it always means more deficit spending!
May 18th, 2006 at 3:01 pmI understand but I remember one of the reasons Ross Perot ran in 92 was the crushing debt of around 3 trillion and now we have almost triple that….wonder what their answers will be in about 5-10 years when this all comes crashing down either like germany did in the 20’s or we did in the 30’s
May 18th, 2006 at 3:01 pmI honestly do not see how a family of four can survive on $40,000 per year, let alone minimum wage.
What happend to the “American dream†of home ownership? How would this family ever have that…and still be able to be fed and clothed?
Comment by Jules — May 18, 2006 @ 11:59 am
I know the feeling. Truly. I just got home from bankruptcy court. Fortunately (I can’t believe I am saying this) I make so little that I could file chapter 7. It sucks. but I had to get rid of my debt, especially the big one. My foreclosed home. *sigh* *whimper* I lost it in December 2005. Home ownership what is that? something for Rich Republicans and their fellow crook, it is not for those of us working hard day in and day out and coming home with squat.
My “taxes”, med/vision/dental insurance and mandatory retirement contribution take it all. I work an entire week for this. The next week is finally mine. It’s sad that you can be an educated adult and still not be able to make it. These people have no idea what REAL FOLKS have to do in order to survive. NONE.
May 18th, 2006 at 3:03 pmI am so sorry you lot your home Freebird. It must have been a very difficult decision to file bankruptcy.
I taught with a gentleman who had to file last year. He and his wife were caught up in custody battles with exes that had lots and lots of cash. They had to fight because the exes were basicly charging them with doing or condoning horrible things againt the children. They won in court but it cost them everything they owned. It even almost cost them their marriage. I tell you this story to let you know there was a happy ending. Everything started to turn around in a positive direction after that for them. They stayed together and are building a new life. Keep your chin up, this to shall pass.
May 18th, 2006 at 3:17 pm#72
Simple logic is lost on you as well… Stop acting like we’ve never had a deficit until the Bush administration came along. We got one hell of a bill as you put it, when Bush took office. We got one hell of a bill when Clinton took office. How far do you want to go back, and how much have any of us paid to reduce the deficit? We also inherited one hell of a problem with social security, but you progs aren’t interested in any reform there. What the hell is a non-rapture, and what does that have to do with anything?
May 18th, 2006 at 3:18 pm#75
Obvious…they’ll blame President Feingold for not doing enough to prevent the crash!
May 18th, 2006 at 3:19 pmOnce again antagonist - what have the republicans EVER done to help social security?
May 18th, 2006 at 3:20 pmTax Year 2006: Married, 40K Income, 2 Kids:
10,300 in deductions
13,200 in exemptions
Taxable Income: $16,500
Federal Income Taxes owed for year: $1720.
Is Hastert just flat out making this up?
May 18th, 2006 at 3:20 pmSorry missed Eligible Tax Credit: 2
Federal Income tax is zero in this scenario.
May 18th, 2006 at 3:24 pmAnd to be more accurate, the children must be under 17 to get the tax credit. Your federal taxes go up when your kids turn 17!
May 18th, 2006 at 3:31 pmRobert, they ar enot just talking about income taxes. What about social security and medicare? That is another $3,060. Then there are property taxes, which you pay even if you rent because it is included in the rent. Then there are the sales taxes. Thaxes like ss and sales taxes are more difficult on the poorer earners as a larger percentage of their income is paid toward these.
May 18th, 2006 at 3:33 pmAntag it is really simple the national debt is killing the country already because In Fiscal Year 2005, the U. S. Government spent $352 Billion of your money on interest payments to the holders of the National Debt.
And that was JUST the interest, we are spending more on the interest on the debt than the war in Iraq, more on the interest on the debt than anything but Defense. and most of the war is off budget thus the cost of the war is not included in the defense budget.
Another factiod..Over 47% of the personal income tax (but not of total tax revenue) collected in 2003 was spent on paying interest on the debt.
A short history of the debt;
Year to
30th
September U.S. Govt Debt
US$ billions
1910 2.6
1920 25.9
1930 16.2
1940 43.0
1950 257.4
1960 290.2
1970 389.2
1980 930.2
1990 3,233.3
2000 5,674.2
2005 7,932.7
So by 1980 we hadn’t accumulated even 1 trillion but 26 years later we have 8.4 trillion, thus the problem we have too much which countries like China ans Japan hold for us.
And since the chinese defense budget is 35 billion they thank us for our interest payments that help fund their military build up whilde Bush destroys our military in his optional wars for control of oil.
May 18th, 2006 at 3:40 pmClif,
May 18th, 2006 at 3:42 pmI am so glad you quickly replied to retired Republican who, as usual, is talking through his hat.
Jules
May 18th, 2006 at 3:45 pmThanks for putting BSR in place too — these guys are blind and brainwashed.
Hastert would take candy from a baby. Seriously. Fat pig of ignorance and greed.
May 18th, 2006 at 3:51 pmThank you Jules.
Everyone: we can take our country back. The first step is the 06 elections. We got to do this. We have to save our country.
May 18th, 2006 at 3:55 pmThank Marie - nothing you would not have done!!
It is sad really. I have never truly hated anyone in my life until now. Every time I see a car with one of those stupid W stickers on it I just want to flip them off!!!
May 18th, 2006 at 3:56 pmFat Bastard Hastert has lived so long off the public payroll, the lobbyists’ treats and government perks that he is totally out of touch with his constituency much less the average struggling American.
May 18th, 2006 at 3:56 pmWhat further example does anyone need to realize that these fat cats do NOT have an understanding of how the rest of us live? Poppy Bush was mocked when he stupidly didn’t understand a grocery store check out, and people saw how “elite” he really was. His son and his administration are also so accustomed to the “good life” paid for by the rest of us that we are invisible to them.
$40,000/2 kids = very austere lifestyle; certainly not the American dream. Put those kids through college on that income. Hope that no one gets seriously ill on that income.
He makes me sick. John Laesch is running against him in Illinois. An Iraq vet, smart, and thoughtful guy. I met him the other night and donated to his campaign.
Fat Bastard has got to go.
If the quote is “taxes” and not “income taxes”, then Hastert stepped in it. He apparently set out to do a clever little obfuscation, but fogot the significance of the little qualifier. Robert’s calc (#81-82) is correct. JJ (#67), sorry, you are clearly confused or your case is very unique, rarely does a 72K AGI spend enough to ZERO fed tax (never mind you are definitely out the FICA), and BTW, net cap loss (your house sale) is limited to 3K/Yr.
May 18th, 2006 at 3:56 pmClif, major ups.
May 18th, 2006 at 3:58 pmIn less than a century the nation’s debt has went up 40,000 percent! In less than 3 decades, 20 of which were presided over by Republicans, the debt has went up by over a factor of 8! I just can’t believe that Republicans think we can afford to spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on interest on debt and not think that this is going to come back and bite us on our arse. Doesn’t it even bother them that nearly half of all taxes are going to pay interest on this colossal debt?
#1 Jules
Then how do you explain the record number of home ownership. I think roughly 69-70% of Americans own their home. I think you have to admit that the American dream is very much still alive. Go live in Canada or France you F*cking Liberal if you hate it so much here.
May 18th, 2006 at 4:04 pmThe interest oin the debt is fast approaching the defecit, which means we are borrowing money to pay the interest on the money we borrowed, and that is with the lower rates of interest…if the rates of interest go back to 7 % heaven forbid the 21% of 1980-81 we are really in trouble
May 18th, 2006 at 4:05 pm#89
I know you think you need to take the country back. But what besides bashing GW have liberals actually done to grow their base. Sorry, you guys do nothing but critize and offer no solutions. If moderates actually exist, which I doubt, they are not going to vote liberals back into office.
May 18th, 2006 at 4:09 pmGo live in Canada or France you F*cking Liberal if you hate it so much here.
Comment by Randy — May 18, 2006 @ 4:04 pm
Why is that always the first retort of a neo-con? I love my country, I served my country for six years, as did my husband, my sister and my broter, my mother and both of my brother’s - in - law. So, I think I can safely say I am the patriotic one in this conversation.
The constitution does not just ALLOW me to speak my mind freely, it requires me to. Being a citizen of the US means the right and the duty to speak out when you believe the country is turning in the wrong direction.
Now, have you read lately about the record number of foreclosures and of people unable to pay their mortgages and are headed for foreclosure? Probably not - Rush and O’Liely don’t let you sheep hear reality. Now go away you trite boy!!!
May 18th, 2006 at 4:10 pmJules that raising of the prime rate does raise the morgage rates and quite a few “homeowners” which the bank holds the morgage on will find out how high is too high, along with out sourcing and the shut down of the auto plants and the ripple effect that will cause, maybe Randy needs to look at the reality not the oxycodon spin of rush the addict
May 18th, 2006 at 4:13 pmThen how do you explain the record number of home ownership. I think roughly 69-70% of Americans own their home.
Now that is a load of crap. We don’t own our homes until the mortgage is paid. How to explain the record number of home debts? Easy: ARMs and low or no down payments mortgages. As interest rates continue to climb, look for record foreclosures. Look for negative equity.
May 18th, 2006 at 4:15 pmActually with a former coke head in the white house it makes sense that a oxycodone addict would be one of his major cheerleaders since Georgie boy has given it up for pickles…
May 18th, 2006 at 4:16 pmThen how do you explain the record number of home ownership. I think roughly 69-70% of Americans own their home.
Oh, yes, let us not forget to remove second homes from the equation. The real estate bubble has been built on people buying vacation homes - and those folks are definitely making a bit more than 40K/year.
May 18th, 2006 at 4:17 pmDissent is the highest form of patriotism - T. Jefferson
May 18th, 2006 at 4:28 pmThen how do you explain the record number of home ownership. I think roughly 69-70% of Americans own their home.
Absolute, complete, and utter bullshit. I’d be willing to wager that not even 60% of Americans are currently even paying a friggin mortgage.
At least back your bullshit right wing talking points up with some links.
May 18th, 2006 at 4:33 pmBut we forget…the Rethugs always have a convenient darwinist economic “truth” on which to fall back when confronted with contrary facts: “If you don’t own your own home, you must be stupid, lazy, or just plain don’t deserve to!”
The division in the nation is as bad as it was - or worse - than in the VN era.
May 18th, 2006 at 4:44 pmI agree with Jules in that the Constitution allows the right to protest, but patriotism requires it. I love my country and I realize how lucky I am to have been born here. My grandparents came through Ellis Island, my parents were lower-middle class, and depended for a time on the post-Depression programs of FDR. I have vague memories of the Eisenhower era, and acute memories of the 60’s and forward. I want my country to be the best, the most admired and respected, by its citizens and by the world. I am more than upset to realize that my country has made some terrible trade-offs in the past, but the errors, negligence, incompetence and criminality I see occurring today sicken me. My beloved country has changed. It has been overtaken by a gang of criminals who care not for the Constitution nor for Americans - they have placed greed, corruption and cronyism in the stead of true patriotism, honor and integrity. Their supporters believe that pronouncing their allegiance, squelching dissent, and believing in a might means right mentalitym shows their love of country. I strongly object. Blind faith in poor leadership and corruption is not patriotism. To declare allegiance to a nation without considering what it is founded upon is false patriotism.
I believe that those who post here are more patriotic, better citizens, indeed, more compassionate and thoughtful human beings than those who think they are patriotic simply because they support the president.
When the president is wrong you owe it to him, to yourself and to the nation to say so.
#103
Here is your link:
http://www.meyersgroup.com/ analysisobjects/ homeownershiprate.asp?ProductCategory=NHMR
It makes me sick how the mainstream media continues to under-report how good the economy is. Just remember that people vote with their pocketbooks in the fall. We learned that lesson well in ‘92.
May 18th, 2006 at 4:45 pmNow, have you read lately about the record number of foreclosures and of people unable to pay their mortgages and are headed for foreclosure?
Randy should have been sitting with me in court today. Bankruptcy is on the rise. Those of us in there, know. Well no matter–maybe someone else can use the home and everyone elses there. All of us in court today work full time. All of us. That is some American Dream.
As for solutions, yes we have them but they will NEVER be heard by the party in power in all three branches, you know and I know it. Why do Repubs continually bring out that the Dems need ideas? Excuse me, Repubs are running the show and Repubs are tanking the country. IF they’d listen to the Dems and allow some debate every once in a while instead of stomping on our Constitution, our country would not be in the shape it is in. Divided, certainly not united.
May 18th, 2006 at 4:48 pm#28 Ryan Seacrust
May 18th, 2006 at 4:58 pmSo you are stupid for relying on Social Security, huh? Tell that to all those people at Enron that lost everything to the crooked CEO and CFO. Have you ever heard of the Great Depression? People were jumping out of windows and shooting themselves because they lost everything in the stock market. Social Security was created as a direct result of the Great Depression. Social Security is what you are supposed to have, no matter what happens to personal savings or the stock market.
That’s why one of the very few Reps I trust at all is Kucinich, because he has actually *been* homeless…
May 18th, 2006 at 4:58 pmI guess the concept of Ricardian equivalence is lost upon Republicans.
May 18th, 2006 at 5:02 pmFreebird,
Elections are won based on ideas and principles and who the voter believes is best suited to run the country. Contrary to any kooky conspiracy theories, Republicans have shown that they are the ones with the better ideas. Am I completely satisfied with everything the Republican party has done over the last ten years? No. But, am I willing to trust a dem with no agenda or idea on how to protect us, keep the economy humming etc. NO! See, things are not really as bad as liberals think they are. If they were, we would be listening to President Kerry give a speech on immigration. You guys all need a major dose of reality.
May 18th, 2006 at 5:03 pmSorry Randy - no matter how badly you do not want it to be true- there will be a majority of democrats in congress this November!!!
EVERY poll finds that in EVERY area the majority believes that the democrats have the answers. You all have had a majority in all branches for a very long time and have done nothing with it. Americans dying in Iraq for no reason, $3 per gallon of gasoline, republican corruption run rampant, a president who looks like he could care less what is happening to Americans. Great plan yu repugs have….now why are you waiting so long to implement it cause this country is crashing and burning!!
May 18th, 2006 at 5:13 pmDick Cheney’s adj. gross income was $8,819,006, and he only paid $529,636 in income taxes. That is only about 6%.
May 18th, 2006 at 5:24 pmRepublicans have shown that they are the ones with the better ideas.
Comment by Randy — May 18, 2006 @ 5:03 pm
Name one that they actually follow.
Like fuiscal responsibility.
Or actually creating democracy in Saudia arabia the longest Ally we have which is internally more repressive than the Iraqi’s were(tghe saudi’s have relegious police. I know I was there and saw them)..or how about the give aways of nukes to India and promise of a reactoer for Turkey to stop Iran from having one, but NO cry or complaints of the 400 Nukes Israel has….
Maybe the rights they scream for others to have overseas as Katherine Harris illegally disenrolls about 50,000 legal voters to help GWB steal an election..with out her before the election slight of vote Florida would never even been close..so you do not have much to crow about not based on lies and illegalities…like the repug in NH that is going to jail for voter fraud in inhibiting with an senatorial election…or the case in Cleveland where their are 3 election officials indited for illegal vote counting ..and about inditements there is HOW many Repugs in how many states and DC under investigation…inditement or guilty…keep to the kool aid foole and come november it won’t help change reality any more
May 18th, 2006 at 5:27 pmNo. But, am I willing to trust a dem with no agenda or idea on how to protect us, keep the economy humming etc. NO!
So what have the Republicans done good? Name something. This country is in tatters and divided as never before and they are doing a good job? They are worthless. that 70 billion tax cut will NOT trickle down if that is what you are thinking. We are in record debt. I seem to remember a Democrat President that was impeached for a stupid lie, but damn could he lead the country. I bet you were doing better then. Damn that is when I bought the home that I just lost. Dang. Too bad he couldn’t run again, he’d win in a landslide.
Maybe I am just lazy. Should have worked harder, who did I think I was–George Bush? Nobody was going to save me. I have no “daddy’s friends” and neither did anyone with me in bankruptcy court today.
John Murtha and John Kerry and many other Dems. have presented wonderful ideas. Too bad no one is listening.
Bingaman wake up dude. Your state is crying. Domenici retire already. You vendido.
May 18th, 2006 at 5:36 pmKill this bastard, and kill all the other politicians. The State is nothing but a parasite that slowly murders hardworking individuals by means of taxation and corporatism.
May 18th, 2006 at 5:39 pm#105 - Randy, how points has the market lost in the last week? Hmmm?
May 18th, 2006 at 5:42 pmThat fat-ass bastard has no idea what the real world is like. I made barely over the 40K and yes, I paid income taxes into the thousands of $, PLUS SS, PLUS, medicare, PLUS federal excise taxes on EVERY gallon of gasoline(PLUS additional state sales taxes on that same gallon), PLUS state income taxes, PLUS state sales taxes. What a dickhead!!!
May 18th, 2006 at 6:12 pmYur outta here Fat Boy!
Enjoy your phat paycheck now slob, us Illinoisans are kicking you to the curb in November.
May 18th, 2006 at 7:04 pm#28 My Solution:
Get every politician in Washington, and around the country, round em up. Make them work for $5.15 an hour at a shitty fast food place for the rest of their lives. Replace congress, etc.. with people who have a grasp on what a life in the real world is like. Not all Ivy League D-Bags, who got everything handed to them.. No Kennedy’s, Bush’s, Rockafellar’s, Roosevelt’s or any of those elitist families that could give two shits about this country. It’s time for a goverment overhaul in my opinion.
You got my vote.
May 18th, 2006 at 7:09 pmRepublicans have shown that they are the ones with the better ideas.
Comment by Randy — May 18, 2006 @ 5:03 pm
Now there’s a statement not grounded in any reality of which I’ve been a part.
May 18th, 2006 at 7:15 pmDoesn’t he look like he could be related to Michael Moore?
The resemblance is UNCANNY!!!
May 18th, 2006 at 8:00 pmI’m Dennis Hastert, and I Approve of this message.
That’s the only commercial the Dem’s would have to play from now until Election Day, will they?
Let’s HOPE!!
May 18th, 2006 at 8:02 pmCampaign for progressive legislation forum http://tinyurl.com/lyqwm
May 18th, 2006 at 9:22 pmReading the comments here I must say it’s wonderful to finally find liberals who believe taxes are too high. Evidently you all voted for Bush, for no one in the Democratic party shares your view.
May 18th, 2006 at 9:58 pmNo doug we think the borrowing is way too high about 8 trillion dollars to high which is causing about 350 billion in interest payments of tax revenues foir nothing but to pay for money that was borrowed before…that si whatis too high and the taxes will have to be raised someday to pay the debt….
May 18th, 2006 at 10:07 pmMost Americans think taxes are too high but that’s the price you pay to live in a civil society.
May 18th, 2006 at 10:16 pmOnce again, an asinine congress person makes some stupid comment that makes me ashamed to say he is from the state of IL. Thank God for our two Senators who allow we Illinioians a bit of deferred respect.
May 18th, 2006 at 10:38 pmHey Denny, why don’t you have another piece of cake.
May 18th, 2006 at 10:50 pmFreebird,
May 18th, 2006 at 10:57 pmIt makes me sick to hear stories like yours–particularly when I consider that Dickhead Cheney recently bought a new vacation home–close to Rummy Dumbfeld’s– for just under $3 million. It is so disgusting that millionaires get tax rebates of $42,00, when many of the working poor don’t even earn that much in a year. All I can say is that I hope that there will be a turn for the better for you soon.
Look, the only people Republicans think pay any taxes are themselves and their rich buddies and that everyone else is a leach. Hastert’s comment goes to show how out of touch, selfish and self-centered they are. They are the epitiomy of the ME! ME! ME! crowd. Everyone had better enjoy the tax rates now because the day is coming when China, Japan and the other countries holding our debt are going to demand payment.
May 18th, 2006 at 11:54 pmI realize that I failed to type in the last 0 in what should have been “42,000″ in my comment #130. Sorry about that.
May 19th, 2006 at 12:28 amCampaign for progressive legislation http://www.zazzle.com/maximus7
May 19th, 2006 at 2:32 amThe RepubliKKKlan party decided to use this frame of “”Since the wealthy pay most of the taxes, that they get most of the tax cuts”
We should not give any tax cuts to the wealthy one percent. Once someone says this they lie and say but you’re going to raise taxes on people. Of course that means that they include the middle class voter to rile them up, but the RepubliKKKlans just said they don’t pay a large percentage of the taxes. RepubliKKKlans want it both ways. Rile up the middle classes when people tell them we need to raise taxes on the wealthy to take care of the poor, elderly, disabled, unemployed, etc.
RepubliKKKlans lie to reward the wealthy one percent.
GOP means Going Out of Power in 2006.
and Greedy One Percent and Gang of Pirates and Grand Old Pococurantes.
Campaign for progressive legislation http://www.zazzle.com/maximus7
May 19th, 2006 at 2:37 amCorrection to #117; Should read that I made little more than half of 40K.
May 19th, 2006 at 6:40 amOf course if your a gay woman and can not get married and make fourty thousand we pay big taxes instead of those heteros who say i can not have my rights us single people with no children pay for your children to go to school and your children pick on our children…..thats the truth about it!!!!!
May 19th, 2006 at 8:15 amThe U.S. Congress has existed for some time now, (speeded up since the fall of communism) as a vehicle of wealth transference from the poor and working middle classes to the wealthy and superwealthy. The largest transference of wealth in the history of the world has been under way for the past 25 years in the good ole United States of Amnesia, (land of the dumbest, most frightened, most cowed people on earth) from the poor, the working poor and middle classes to ensure that the super rich continue to amass ever greater fortunes and to enjoy the material priviledges to which they are entitled, all under the rubric of “national security” and “investment.” They have been able to accomplish this by hiring the best ad men that money can by, by hiring the best academic shills and toadies in the world and by using the wealth stolen from the working poor to buy off the federal government. (They already owned state governments). The President? Doesn’t matter. This one’s a real stinker, but without the collusion of the U.S. Congress, he’s a nobody. This Congress declared outright war on the poor and working classes (went into overdrive with Gingrich) a while ago. Everybody been paying attention to the rules these criminals have been laying down? The ever clever and well advised wealthy interests (thanks Karl!) in the last “election” cycle got the churches involved big time (not an entirely new tactic) to rouse the the poor and working middle classes (forever full fears and jealousies and wounded pride. What else do they have?) from their apathy and torpor to fight each other over the same old tired American bullshit: loose women, homos, prayer, flags, race, blah, blah, blah. While the rich have made off, again, with the baby, the bathwater, the tub, the house the tub is setting in, the land the house is on, the subdivision the land is comprised of and the river that runs through it.
Never in the history of the human race have so many people been so well-informed about the robbery to which they are victim, to not only be robbed blind right out in the open but to AGREE to it! Amazing country America. Utterly amazing.
May 19th, 2006 at 8:36 amThank you Lora for your words of support. It will get better. I have been in worse places. Thank goodness I have a job.
May 19th, 2006 at 8:52 amJust in case nobody has figured it out yet… Repubs want there to be a massive national debt. that way they can make the arguement that we HAVE to do away with any social/entitlement/HUMANE programs. So they can have their cake and eat it to! Aristocracy and serfs. Wake up, vote them out, or get used to it. It will only get worse until we stop it!
May 19th, 2006 at 8:58 am[…] Read entire story from Think Progress here. […]
May 19th, 2006 at 9:03 amOk, hmm nice IF you have children… Mine are grown.. my wife doesnt work Im only 48.. i earned 51k last year, My INCOME tax alone was 6950.00 and believe me we do NOT live high on the hog.. add the other taxes and im barely heads up
May 19th, 2006 at 9:11 am[…] Think Progress » Hastert: ‘If You Earn $40,000 a Year and Have a Family of Two Children, You Don’t Pay Any Taxes’ During a late session last night, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) made a stunning claim on the House floor: Well, folks, if you earn $40,000 a year and have a family of two children, you don’t pay any taxes. So you probably, if you don’t pay any taxes, you are not going to get a very big tax cut. […]
May 19th, 2006 at 9:14 am[…] From Think Progress: During a late session last night, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) made a stunning claim on the House floor: Well, folks, if you earn $40,000 a year and have a family of two children, you don’t pay any taxes. So you probably, if you don’t pay any taxes, you are not going to get a very big tax cut. […]
May 19th, 2006 at 10:07 amHastert is blowing off almost half the families in the country. According to the Census bureau, the median household income in 2002-2004 was $44,473. http://www.census.gov/ hhes/ www/ income/ income04/ statemhi.html
May 19th, 2006 at 10:12 amI live in Hastert’s District and am appalled by his comments - Please help out with anything you can to the person running against him this fall - John Laesch - http://www.john06.com -
I really believe Hastert is ripe for the picking!
May 19th, 2006 at 10:12 am[…] Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was blasted for saying that a family of four earning $40,000 a year pays “no taxes.” Think Progress points out that such a family does pay taxes: gas taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, self-employment taxes (or the FICA equivalent taken from their paycheck). But Representative Hastert is clearly speaking of the income tax and explaining why a family of four wouldn’t be getting a tax break, while a family making a million a year would get back about $40,000. Now liberals might think that Hastert was using code words, given the way the tax break and the family’s income were the same amount, so the family making a million could afford to keep the disadvantaged family as pets. […]
May 19th, 2006 at 10:42 amDon’t forget about those who are self employed who pay the entire 15.3% plus fund their own health insurance if they can afford it. Most have deductibles of $5,000+.
May 19th, 2006 at 10:52 amRandy,
May 19th, 2006 at 10:54 amYou should spend some time with your statistics before you claim victory. Homeownership rates have always been above 62% and the distribution of ownership is always skewed by age. That is, older people tend to own there homes more often than younger people. So today’s rate of 68% is only 6% above the minimum ever recorded yet the distribution of the population is more skewed than it ever has been.
Demographics explain the home ownerships rates NOT the tax cuts.
Freebird,
May 19th, 2006 at 11:02 amI’m glad to hear you have a job as well as hopes to pull through your current situation. Today my husband and I just paid off the mortgage on our house, some four years ahead of schedule, However, I am very aware that things aren’t so easy for everyone, and in fact it wasn’t easy for us to pay ahead of schedule; I just wanted to be free of such dealings with the bank.
One of my good friends who is financially secure, not only on her own but with a husband who has a well-paying professorship at a prestigious university, told me that her brother is seriously ill and without health insurance–a member of the increasingly numerous working poor. I think she is trying to help him, but he is still somewhat reluctant to take it.
Anyway, my best wishes are with you and your family.
The souless Republicans who are so worried about millionaires getting a $50,000 tax cut during a time of war that they feel the need to disparage the $40,000 a year wage earner to justify it.
There’s a baseline to the cost of living in this country. People are “flat” taxed all along the way to earning the minimum necessary to stay off the street.
There’s the flat “sales” tax on clothing and other necessities of life.
Of course, you can’t omit the payroll, or self-employment tax. That’s not really a flat tax because the rich get a pass on it past a nominal threshold. So as a percentage of income the rich pay is far less than the working poor.
Of course the working poor pay the same gas tax as Hastert’s millionaires, and likely use about the same amount of gasoline assuming they don’t own a Citation or yacht.
The working poor are taxed a much larger percentage of income than the rich. In this analysis, Marx was right. “All that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.â€
Here’s for making Hastert and his ilk pay for those words come November.
May 19th, 2006 at 11:35 am.
[…] Just in case you didn’t know, Dennis Hastert will tell you… Think Progress » Hastert: ‘If You Earn $40,000 a Year and Have a Family of Two Children, You Don’t Pay Any Taxes’ Well, folks, if you earn $40,000 a year and have a family of two children, you don’t pay any taxes. So you probably, if you don’t pay any taxes, you are not going to get a very big tax cut. […]
May 19th, 2006 at 12:53 pmLet caring Americans, across the country, agree on a week and when we go to sleep each night of that designated week, we will all dream, laughing, of stepping on and squashing the slimy vermin in the halls of Congress, that we call our Senators, and Representitives, who ‘think so highly of themselves’.
May 19th, 2006 at 12:54 pmBeyond the class and apparent obesity issues that Hastert seems to have, he’s also saying that you should breed to avoid paying taxes, which is in reality not-so-subtle Christian doctrine built into our tax system. The more you breed, the less tax you pay. You want to pay less tax, qualify for more welfare and government assistance? Squirt out another brat! While I understand that Christians may have had a good reason for this policy in, say, 500 AD, I think we’ve now got more than enough of the stupid human race on the earth, and it’s time to stop giving out monetary rewards for failing to use birth control. The Church finally admitted the earth is round, so why can’t they get over this whole breeding thing? Is it because being homosexual wouldn’t be such a big deal if it wasn’t all about reproducing? I’m sick of Christian doctrine masquerading as government policy!
May 19th, 2006 at 4:12 pmRegarding Comment #28 - ‘RyanSeacrust’ asserts that Social Security cannot possibly provide benefits for all the elderly and disabled who will be due them; various other commenters have weighed in with supporting variations on the theme.
It is simply a damnable falsehood that there isn’t enough money to provide for Social Security, much less universal health care, decent, affordable housing, and all the other basic human needs. The money is there, in the vast war/”defense”/”security” budget. Literally trillions of dollars spent in an obscene three-card-monte scheme that siphons off incredible wealth for the benefit of a tiny fraction of the population. These wasted, stolen trillions of dollars don’t include the additional billions vanishing into the illegal war and ocupation in Iraq. And it’s no mere coincedence that the Duke Cunningham tip-of-the-iceberg corruption scandal is centered in the heart of “defence” contracting.