A Quick Lesson On Taxes

The Lie: The Bush Tax cuts gave the rich a big advantage and made them pay even less (some go as far to say they pay less than the poor which of course, is not true) in taxes then they did. The cuts allowed the rich to get richer while the poor took the burdern.

The Truth: This comes from the IRS-

In 1999:
The top 1% of earners (income over $293,415) paid 36.18% of all federal income taxes.
The top 5% (over $120,846) paid 55.45% of all federal income taxes.
The top 10% (over $87,682) paid 66.45% of all federal income taxes.
The top 25% (over $52,965) paid 83.54% of all federal income taxes.
The top 50%, that is, the top HALF of all income earners paid 96% of all federal income taxes collected by the federal government.Here's the kicker...
The bottom 50% of all income earners paid 4% of all federal income taxes.

NOW, onto the year 2005:
The top 1% of income earners (over $364,657) paid 39.38% of all federal income taxes.
The top 5% (over $145,283) paid 59.67% of all federal income taxes.
The top 10% (over $103,912) paid 70.30% of all federal income taxes.
The top 25% (over $62,068) paid 85.99% of all federal income taxes.
The top 50% of income earners paid 96.93% of all federal income taxes.
AND, the bottom 50% of all income earners paid 3.07% of all federal income taxes.
So, under the Bush tax cuts, the top 10% have shouldered more of the overall tax burden than they did in 1999. In fact, when you consider ALL federal taxes, not only individual income taxes, the top 10% of income earners pay over 50% of all federal taxes! The top 5% of income earners make about 30% of the income and pay almost 60% of the taxes AND their share of the tax burden has grown faster than their share of the income under the Bush tax plan. All this while the overall tax burden for the poor has fallen to an all time low.

Tax breaks for the wealthy?

When taxes go down the rich pay the price. not the poor. the rich pay more shares of all federal income taxes.

According to www.taxfoundation.com a married couple making $60,000.00 paid $16800.00 in income taxes under Clinton, the same family pays $9000.00 under President Bush's tax plan. That is a difference of $7800.00 in the TAX payers’ favor. How can anybody with an ounce of common sense say that the tax cuts only favor the rich?

Again, Tax breaks for the wealthy?

If You Can Afford a Cell Phone Plan, You Can Certainly Afford Health-care

The healthcare debate is growing by the day and people are losing faith in the public plan proposed by the Obama administration.

Now the concern is people can't afford healthcare and it's too expensive. Here's something they don't want you to know?

Need healthcare now? Are you looking for a job? Did you just graduate? Waiting for coverage? Here's a novel idea, why not try Insta-care from BlueCross Blue Shield.

The benefits are great. The plan inclueds:

-
Hospital services, prescription drugs, medical supplies, emergency care and more covered at 80 percent (in network)
See the doctors you choose – without a referral
Well-child doctor visits to age 6 covered at 100% (whether or not you’ve met your deductible)
3 deductible and 3 out-of-pocket maximum options to meet your budget
$1 million lifetime maximum
Extras including Stop-Smoking Support and online wellness center, plus Health Guides and
Nurse Guides just a phone call away
No coverage for mental health or any preexisting conditions

All that for just, drum roll please.........................$44.67 per month!

Now get this, Our families verison cell phone plan costs $300 per month.

So now you can get healthcare without making over 50k a year.

The average family of two spends $250.00 on groceries. but you can get healthcare for $44.67.

The average state health premium rate is $200.00 a month. Now healthcare is avalable for less than $50.00 a month!

Crazy! Dear President Obama,
I think i would rather have this for $44 bucks than get your plan for free and wait for a year and have my healthcare rationed.

--Yours Truly,
M

If The Honeymoon Wasn't Already Over, It Is Now--Max Van Dyke

I was browsing through some polls today and i came across the most recent "Gallup POLL"

I was amazed to see that President Obama's Approval rating had dropped to an all time low, for Gallup. Today his rating stands at 53%. That is a 3 point drop this week and overall a 7 point drop this month.

A Rasmussen Report showed that 53% are against Obama's Proposed Healthcare Reform which from earlier this spring (in may) is a 14 point rise.

All this while in states like Arizona, Florida, Michigan, and OHIO his ratings are bombing into the mid and low 40s.

If the honeymoon wasn't over already, it certainly is now.

The Meltdown: Chicago's Year Without A Summer-Max Van Dyke

Today's Meltdown is brought to you from the Windy City of Chicago where they are facing their coldest summer in years. According to the National Weather Service this has been Chicago's coldest summer in 118 years. The average temperature for the week of July 26 is 74 degrees. So far the temperature has been about 67 degrees.

To add to their cold streak this summer the thermometer has not gone over 85 and less than 20 days has it gone over 80 degrees.

The Chicago Tribune reports that throughout the month of July all but three days have been at least 3 degrees below the average temperature and the three biggest were 18, 17 and 15 degrees below the average.

Global Warming?

Government won't be able to run health care--Max Van Dyke

The president and congress want to pass a universal health care bill to cover the 47 million uninsured Americans. Now this sounds very troubling that nearly 50 million Americans don't have health care. This is a very miss leading number. Congress is quick to tell you the number but they aren't giving you the whole story. In 2006 when the Census Bureau reported the statistic they also provided no just how many but who.

The report stated that: of the 46.6 million uninsured Americans, 9.5 million of them were illegal immigrants and were not citizens of the U.S. Another 17 million lived in household with incomes exceeding $50,000 and could presumably by health insurance if they wanted. when you take that away from 46.6 million you end up with only about 20 million uninsured today. That's far different from nearly 50 million.

Now with that said i would like to explore how the system works. The universal health care system puts the government in charge of healthcare. Why would you want that?! My liberal friends and congress seems to believe it can work. I on the other hand do not have as much faith in a Government that can't even run the post office right. About a month and a half ago i ordered a book from a book store that was going to be delivered by the US Post Service. It has been a month and a half and that book has still not come. When i ordered it they said it would take a week. We called about it several times and the most recent report said it was lost in the mail and they don't know where it is and they don't have any other coppies or know how to get one. This is the Government. The Federal Government and they are suppose to save our economy and they can't even run a post office and get an order through?

This has concerned me since the Government now wants to run health care. What if they can't locate your drug. In The UK with the NHS they denie women with advanced breast cancer a drug know to help and cure because it's too expensive. And here in the states, the government cheats us by losing our book orders. These guys are going to be in control of your health? do you want that? I don't.

This government run thing really scares me and i don't see much hope. All i can say is, when you don't get good enough care, have to wait 5 months to get a check up and 3 years for an operation like in Canada, at least i warned you. I have no faith in National health care.

The Government needs to run a post office and figure out how to get a book order right before i put my life in their hands.