Quote:

I have to pay more taxes than Romney does. I pay 15% self-employment tax and then my income tax on top of that. On the other hand there are deductions.



Umm, no. I'm an Enrolled Agent, a tax pro. Most wealthy people including 99% of all polititians you could name have a lot of money in investments. Investments are made with after tax funds. That is they earned it, paid tax on it then bought the investment. This is why investment income is taxed at a much lower rate than earned income because the funds have already been taxed. Few people understand that.

Investments are not guaranteed, people can and do lose money all the time. Some rich guy could lose a million bucks and how much can he write off that year? $3,000. $3,000?!? Yep that's it. Now, he can use that loss to offset future investment earnings but what if there isn't any? Then he takes 3 grand a year forever or until he dies, whichever comes first. If the government didn't give a tax break for those investments noboby would take the risk and invest in anything, they would just keep their after tax money in the bank at less than 1%.

Not getting into any kind of political discussion at all here, just making a very basic and incomplete (very incomplete) tax comment.

Bob

Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.