Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy Monkey
Everybody pays something, so everyone is invested.
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HM, you and I and several others have reiterated this to Merc over and over, but for him, it simply does not compute.
Here's my theory as to why he refuses to accept the obvious:
(Note: FootFootFoot's Theorem that everything found on the Wikipedia site is a pack of lies has been temporarily suspended in order to bring you the following explanation.)
Merc is not interested in the Social Security component of the FICA tax because it’s regressive. That is, the effective tax rate declines as income rises. The Social Security component of taxes is actually a flat tax for wage levels less than the Social Security Wage Base. In other words, for wage levels above the wage base limit, the absolute dollar amount of tax owed remains constant.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities states that three-quarters of taxpayers pay more in payroll taxes than they do in income taxes. FICA is also not collected on unearned income, including interest on savings deposits, stock dividends, and capital gains such as profits from the sale of stock or real estate. The proportion of total income which is exempt from FICA as "unearned income" tends to rise with higher income brackets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal...utions_Act_tax
Now it would seem that Merc is a pleasingly plump cat. Thus, for the above reasons, he is not “invested” in FICA taxes because in his case, they have leveled off and do not go up with any rise in his income, and in the second place, all his stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. are not subject to tax under FICA.
However, if you are an American in or above a certain income bracket, the Federal Income Tax will take increasingly larger chunks of change out of your bank account. This means Merc is invested in income tax rates, but he can’t imagine anybody caring about FICA. Thus, his continued insistence that the majority of Americans are happy to see Congress fling away tax money because if that FICA payment doesn’t pinch Merc why should it pinch anyone else?