“Open for Questions” is a new experiment for WhiteHouse.gov, the President’s latest effort to open up the White House and give Americans from around the country a direct line to the Administration.
This first round will deal with a chief concern for all of us: the economy. We’ve created a few categories to better organize the questions, and encourage you to search for a specific question before you submit your own in case it already exists.
This experiment is about encouraging transparency and accountability, so ask the President exactly what it is you want to know – but let others do the same. It is a community-moderated system, but remember that even though you may not like the viewpoint behind someone’s question, everyone has a right to their opinion. Also remember that Americans of all ages will be participating in this event, so be thoughtful about the words you choose. Participants are asked to follow some basic guidelines for submitting their own questions and flagging other questions as inappropriate.
Leave your opinion on how it went.
#18 – You go, JimR!
I was confused by the interchange regarding taxing individuals (wealthy Americans) = taxing business. I guess it depends on the business owner and how they set up their income disbursal.
Let’s take Steve Jobs as an example. I read a while back that he takes a $1 yearly salary from Apple and actually gets paid in stock (ownership). When he needs money I assume that he sells shares, which in turn is taxable income.
I understand that the tax on selling assets is a different animal than taxing income, but an increase in income tax wouldn’t affect a CEO handling their money like this because he’s largely keeping his wealth in the business and is therefore not getting affected by the higher income taxes. Does this make sense?
# 10 JimR said, on March 26th, 2009 at 10:05 am
(”tax on wealthy Americans = tax on business”)
not true.
I’m not wealthy…but my small business raised my income just above 77,000…so I must pay an additional 9,000 to the irs, 3,000 to the state…
If I didn’t have to pay that…I would have used that money + a possible SBA loan loan to buy a foreclosed property, and open another business…
But now I can’t and may have to lay off an employee to pay the 12,000.
All my small business profit ends of as income on my personal tax return…and that happens to anyone who owns a business…
So raising taxes on the rich, and I am NOT rich by any means, results in their having less to employ people.
Give me the 12,000…I open a new buisness that hires people…
Give that 12,000 to ACORN workers…they buy more crack…
Which is better for the economy…you decide.
#22–Whats it all about Alfie?==gosh, this was a good thread until the very last post. You are sounding more like Paddy-O every day. Who knew he had the power to turn a small entrepreneur into an idiot?
“I’m not wealthy…but my small business raised my income just above 77,000…so I must pay an additional 9,000 to the irs, 3,000 to the state…”
What are the specifics? Corp, or partnership? Are you a shareholder, partner, sole proprietor? You say the business raised your salary, but then you say that it’s your business. So in effect, you raised your own salary. Why would you do that knowing that you were going to get hit with a $12,000 penalty?
Is a “(”tax on wealthy Americans = tax on business”) valid?
There are too many variables/undefineds thereby allowing agreement/disagreement as the fancy takes one.
For myself, I don’t see any issue here, but the statement strikes me as the dogma of some group that finds the statement highly important and meaningless to those of us who haven’t drunk the coolaid. It the type of statement made by dirtclods who think that taxation is theft and so forth==real stupid people.
Whats needed for people to survive can intelligently be discussed considering 10 people in a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean. Scale the scenario up to any modern society and dogma controls the perceptions, but we are still in that lifeboat.
Amusing.
#21 Harry, “I understand that the tax on selling assets is a different animal than taxing income, but an increase in income tax wouldn’t affect a CEO handling their money like this because he’s largely keeping his wealth in the business and is therefore not getting affected by the higher income taxes. ”
I don’t know the finer details of American tax law, but in Canada, holding shares would be subject to capital gains or losses and taxed or deducted accordingly. Capital gains tax here is taxed at 1/2 the rate of your personal tax rate at the end of each year, whether realized through sales of shares or not. Sucks.
Jobs keeping his wealth in apple shares doesn’t finance Apple in any way. However the perception of him holding a lot of shares and not selling implies his belief that Apple is strong and his wealth will increase. As long as he doesn’t sell too many at one time, no one will care. So taxation of jobs doesn’t affect Apple… unless of course the Gov wiped him out with personal taxes and he had to sell all his apple shares… then the apple lemmings would all go over the cliff with him… maybe.
#15 JIM R – you are wrong
This is the scenario…
If I make $100k doing my job and I own 20% of the company, which makes $1M then the 20% i.e. $200k is put on my taxes even though I don’t see that money because it is used to try and help the company grow. So my tax return shows a total of 250k
This will puts me at the “Rich” tax rate. The company will pay the tax on the 200K via a dividend check at the higher rate and I pay the tax on 100k at the higher rate. So in the end the small company pays more and can’t hire more people and the 100k wage earner (ME) has less money to spend.
So explain to me how Obama taxing who he considers “wealthy” does not affect businesses?
“Whats needed for people to survive can intelligently be discussed considering 10 people in a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean. Scale the scenario up to any modern society and dogma controls the perceptions, but we are still in that lifeboat.”
yup, that’s it in a nutshell bobbo.
Everyone has a hand on the tiller which is thrashing madly in the water, foreign debt owns the ocean, the corporate exec is shitting and pissing in the boat while wearing a Gucci wet suit and the only life preserver, the union member is trying to cut a large chunk out of said life preserver, Joe media is madly writing notes about the the whole debacle… sending them off in uncorked bottles, and amid in all the complaining, finger pointing and piddle, the oars have disengaged and are floating away.
Bob, I’ll have the appearance of being wrong only if you take my words out of context and shove them where they don’t belong.
You brought up C corporations before and that was what I was referring to… so what type of company are you talking about now? Generalities and vagueness just confuse the issue.
That is how a C corporation works. May be your Canadian equivalent is not so equivilent.
Ok Bob, maybe not. I’ll check it out and post later. Been vegging on the puter way too long for now…
For those who love/hate Obama
http://worth1000.com/emailthis.asp?entry=523128
Lets make this real…
Give your fellow worker $50,000…and he buys things…has a good time…
Give a small businessman %50,000…and he expands his business, which often results in hiring more employees…
Which stimulates the economy…
Obviously, “giving money to the rich” does.
Transparency and accountability…? This grabbing power and stealing freedoms seems to be a full time job. I just hope the real brains behind this new scheme – Omar the teleprompter – is up to such a barrage of deception.
Does anyone get the idea that Obama missed his real calling with books on tape?
Forgotten in all this is the elegant fact…taxes are not Government money…its money the took from the public…
Letting people keep more of their money is NOT giving them anything.
# 35 Alfred1 said, “Letting people keep more of their money is NOT giving them anything.”
For communist the gov’t owns everything. It is an easy way to tell who is really a communist.
#36 Paddy-O-Troll
Communist means the PEOPLE own everything. If the people are the government, then the government would own everything.
Of course we wouldn’t want the people governing themselves, would we? How would the elite maintain their power base?
“If I make $100k doing my job and I own 20% of the company, which makes $1M then the 20% i.e. $200k is put on my taxes even though I don’t see that money because it is used to try and help the company grow. So my tax return shows a total of 250k”
Ok, one last post because it seems I’m dealing with someone who has their bass ackwards.
First, you CHOSE to take the money as dividends, and you CHOSE to reinvest in your company. You could have reinvested anywhere you like. You made $250 K in the example above so that your corporation didn’t have to pay any tax at all. That was a strategic decision to supposedly avoid taxes.
It was a dumb move, and you had a more sensible choice… let the corp pay taxes at 34% or less instead of taking the money as dividends and paying over 39% personally. Either you are an incredibly stupid business man, or you really don’t know what you are talking about.
And Alfred1, “Letting people keep more of their money is NOT giving them anything.”
…So you’re the guy who chips in a dollar to pay for the $100 dollar meal 5 friends enjoyed.
Why does Obama and his press sec think questions on marijuana legalization are a big joke?
I don’t.
Many people don’t.
The real Question to ask Obama is what that Brit asked PM Brown…
How do you borrow your way into being debt free?
Now Bush is dumb…Obama Smart…that’s why Obama can claim to cut the deficit in half by raising it 9 trillion dollars…Bush would never have said that…he is too dumb.
Obama is so smart, unlike dumb Bush, he can post bills on the internet for 5 days before voting on it, yet have congress pass the legislation in two days without reading it…
Bush was too dumb to do such things…Obama is smart…
Obama gained us new respect in the world…he is smart…that’s why China not only lectures us on how to be responsible financially, but warns against us interfering…why N Korea decides now is the time to lauch new missiles…why Europe calls our stimulus the path to hell…
Aren’t we glad our President is so smart…Bush was too dumb to do such things.