I make way less than your bottom of the middle class and always have, and I'd happily pay $1,500 more per year in taxes in exchange for universal no-cost healthcare. It's not about wealthier workers being "them"; it's about people being better able to pay some more for the common good, which is a collective responsibility.
I make way less than your bottom of the middle class and always have, and I'd happily pay $1,500 more per year in taxes in exchange for universal no-cost healthcare. It's not about wealthier workers being "them"; it's about people being better able to pay some more for the common good, which is a collective responsibility.
The collective responsibility should include us seeing that you are paid better, not charging you for the failure of the elite to hold up their end of the stick. We need to tax the rich, but not just tax them, stop their theft from us: raise wages, save money on healthcare while making it universal, etc. The time for broad based taxes to meet societal needs is when income and wealth is broadly shared. For now, soak the rich.
If you want to create an economy in which there are full-time tenured positions for everyone with a Doctorate and all music gigs pay at least $100/hr, with benefits, go for it, but I can easily survive on my current income, as long as I have almost no medical expenses, though other expenses can be challenging and who knows what I'll make next year?
Forgive my presumption, but am I right in thinking you have a long ago rent controlled apartment cushioning the comfort level of your cash income? If you had to pay market rate for housing would you still characterize your income as you do? I think housing should be broadly cheaper than тАЬmarket ratesтАЭ in an artificial supply shortage, but I also think you, and most people, are underpaid.
Rent stabilized. That's correct. If I had to pay $3,000/month, I couldn't make it as a musician. The lack of sufficient housing, and particularly affordable housing, is a huge crisis in this country. That's another reason to tax people more according to their ability to pay: to launch a crash program of public housing nationwide. Providing people with more money doesn't solve a problem of scarcity.
benamery21, did I delete your reply by mistake by deleting a double post? If so, sorry. (I now see that that didn't happen.) But my reply to you is that I don't need to have a guaranteed income of $91K and don't think that only the super-rich should be taxed, though I think it should not be possible for Musk to become a trillionaire, and beyond a certain level of assets, there should be 100% taxation.
I make way less than your bottom of the middle class and always have, and I'd happily pay $1,500 more per year in taxes in exchange for universal no-cost healthcare. It's not about wealthier workers being "them"; it's about people being better able to pay some more for the common good, which is a collective responsibility.
The collective responsibility should include us seeing that you are paid better, not charging you for the failure of the elite to hold up their end of the stick. We need to tax the rich, but not just tax them, stop their theft from us: raise wages, save money on healthcare while making it universal, etc. The time for broad based taxes to meet societal needs is when income and wealth is broadly shared. For now, soak the rich.
If you want to create an economy in which there are full-time tenured positions for everyone with a Doctorate and all music gigs pay at least $100/hr, with benefits, go for it, but I can easily survive on my current income, as long as I have almost no medical expenses, though other expenses can be challenging and who knows what I'll make next year?
Forgive my presumption, but am I right in thinking you have a long ago rent controlled apartment cushioning the comfort level of your cash income? If you had to pay market rate for housing would you still characterize your income as you do? I think housing should be broadly cheaper than тАЬmarket ratesтАЭ in an artificial supply shortage, but I also think you, and most people, are underpaid.
Rent stabilized. That's correct. If I had to pay $3,000/month, I couldn't make it as a musician. The lack of sufficient housing, and particularly affordable housing, is a huge crisis in this country. That's another reason to tax people more according to their ability to pay: to launch a crash program of public housing nationwide. Providing people with more money doesn't solve a problem of scarcity.
benamery21, did I delete your reply by mistake by deleting a double post? If so, sorry. (I now see that that didn't happen.) But my reply to you is that I don't need to have a guaranteed income of $91K and don't think that only the super-rich should be taxed, though I think it should not be possible for Musk to become a trillionaire, and beyond a certain level of assets, there should be 100% taxation.