Obama's State of the Union speech - wealthiest seniors
- Thread starter zedd
- Start date
youbet
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Well, someone will have to pay and clearly it shouldn't be me. With youth on your side, it should be no problem to prepare for and pay the piper as necessary.
Just funning ya Zig.........
There's a little rhyme folks toss out about who should be paying more taxes. It has something to do with the "guy behind the tree" paying more. I can't remember it. Maybe someone will chime in and remind me of how it goes.
ziggy29
Moderator Emeritus
I agree, and I think there should be a sliding scale to account for this.
What I don't want to see are "lines in the sand" that say "Age X, no change; Age X-1, full brunt of the change."
I also have a problem with a blanket exemption for folks above a certain age without regards to their means. I don't think that a middle class 30-something or 40-something should get a much worse deal from SS and Medicare reform when a retired CEO doesn't have to share the pain at all just because they are over some "magic number" (they don't *need* to "compensate" for anything, most likely). But that's just me and I suspect that's a lightning rod issue here, so I'll leave it at that.
So would I!
Let's face it, we all need to pay more. From your posts, you and your family seem to be enjoying a nice retirement lifestyle. Certainly you should be paying more. You can afford it. And you would still have a superior lifestyle to most.
My real bottom line in all this Alan is simply that most everyone wants others who have more to pay a higher percentage in taxes. That is, to have a more steeply graduated tax system. That is, of course, as long as the steeper graduations start just above oneself!
We all feel that way. I try not to and I try to pay my own way not counting on the "wealthy" to cover for us. Still, it's a hard part of human nature to overcome and I understand.
Edit: BTW Alan, I think the Medicare surcharges are based on MAGI, not AGI. Not a big deal.
The Medicare premiums are less than a 1/3 of what we pay now, and we still have excellent retiree HI. We have a great retirement lifestyle and our MAGI is nowhere near $170k/year. That is why an extra $84/mo at that income level doesn't seem much to me.
I don't disagree but I don't think there are enough retired CEO's to tax to make much difference.
Original Wally
Recycles dryer sheets
youbet
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Alan, I appreciate the fact you and I can gaze at some lucky guy making an MAGI of $85k (or $170k if MFJ) and hypothesize that paying a Medicare premium surcharge wouldn't be a big deal for them. And I'm sure folks not living the "great retirement lifestyle" that you and your family enjoy because their retirement income is lower (for whatever reason) are looking at guys like you and I thinking we should pay more. And we probably should.
How much more do you think YOU should be paying given the fact that you're living so much better than the typical American retiree?
I would be quite happy to return to the 28% marginal tax rate we were on before. (We are currently in the 25% bracket)
youbet
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Sounds like our income circumstances are somewhat similar and I could agree to your suggestion without cringing.
I wonder if folks with, say, a retirement income of $25k might think 28% isn't enough and you and I should be up in the 33% bracket? To them, it would appear we could easily afford that. It would be no big deal in their eyes. And perhaps they are correct.
The slope of the graduations in taxes (including the elimination of deductions, higher Medicare premiums, SS taxes, etc., etc.) is always an interesting debate. It's frequently punctuated by feelings of wanting to be left alone while folks earning more pay higher percentages. After all, folks with more than me are "rich."
Edit: Replaced "Medicare surcharge" with "higher Medicare premiums" per the SS web site.
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Is the higher premium paid by some a surcharge, or less subsidy? Even the higher rates are far less than equivalent private policies.
ziggy29
Moderator Emeritus
I agree, but at least it's a good faith gesture to younger folks who are going to be asked to sacrifice even more.
I wouldn't touch anyone over 60 and less than about $200K, personally. Again, that's just me, but I'd be a lot more willing to take a whack if I didn't feel like some extremely wealthy people aren't also taking a whack just because they are older.
youbet
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
It seems like folks under 50 should be able to pay more with no effort whatsoever. They have 15 - 20 working years left to adjust their plans and compensate, so no big deal. No sacrifice involved. Yawn.
We geezers, now we need to be taken care of.
Just kiddin' Zig.......
Sarcasm aside, I think you know my real feelings on the subject.
