Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Astro14
Why do you respect the labor of a McDonald's worker but so disrespect the work of a doctor, or other professional, that you're OK confiscating that result of that more industrious, more valuable, labor?
There's a large rift between what the top paid people make and the bottom, and the issue at had is trying to get the bottom paid people a little further higher up, without really touching the top people. History has shown such rifts aren't healthy for societies. Instead of taxing doctors and others not proven to use McDonalds (like presently happens with EITC, food stamps etc to subsidize the workers) any increases would be directly borne by people who walk through the doors of the restaurant.
So I don't follow how you think a higher minimum wage is confiscating money from a doctor.
What you suggest: "trying to get the bottom paid people a little further higher up, without really touching the top people." hasn't ever worked. Each step towards it has been borne by those, not at the tip top, the 0.1%, but by the upper middle class. Look at our income tax rates now, at AMT, that limits the upper middle class tax deductions, at the Obamacare tax, that hits the upper middle class and middle class. They bear the brunt of the cost every single time.
The truly rich don't have an income like you and I, so they don't really pay income taxes like you and I. Think of the criticisms levied at Mitt Romney, or of Warren Buffet's advocacy...
But every time there is a program proposed that has a cost, and make no mistake about it, raising the minimum wage has a cost, our politicians promise that "the rich" will pay for it...except that they don't, and the middle class, and particularly the upper middle class, is left holding the bag.
Folks in the lower middle class think they pay taxes...and they do, principally sales tax, and Medicare/Social Security, but they don't really pay income taxes, because they also get EIC, which means that they get more back from the government than they had withheld over the year, so they get net cash from the government every year. That's not paying taxes, that's an entitlement hand out. And entitlements are 65% of the Federal budget now. 65% of Federal spending is now money given to constituents...and that money comes, for the most part, from the middle class and upper middle class.
So, your social engineering programs, in this case of raising the minimum wage, will have to be paid for, and it will be paid for by those who have worked hard and achieved some modest success.
That 1% guy I referred to a few pages ago? His income went up by $21,000 in tax year 2014...sounds great, right? Keep in mind that he's in his 50's at the peak of his career...
But because tax cuts expired, and Obamacare taxes kicked in, his Federal income taxes went up by $15,000, and his state income taxes went up by $1,500...all that extra work, all that extra labor on his part, working hard, moving up in his job: went to other people, not to the guy that earned it. He got to keep very little of it...after he earned it.
And that's both unfair, and frankly, unsustainable. Adding more to that guy's burden won't help this country, or this economy...he's not likely to bust his @#$ next year, not if he doesn't get to keep any of it...so, he's not going to spend anything...and he's not going to buy anything...his net income didn't really go up...
But he'll be vilified in the next political discussion as "not paying his fair share"...and he'll be blamed for the rift between top and bottom...and he'll be asked to pay to fix it...and given the tax rates now, it will amount to confiscation...