I would first like to start off by saying that this question really doesn’t make sense as the rich already pay higher taxes and the candidates aren’t trying to make it so everyone pays the same amount, just that the rich will either pay more taxes or get a tax break. According to usatoday. com “The 10% of households with the highest incomes pay more than half of all federal taxes. They pay more than 70% of federal income taxes, according to the Congressional Budget Office. With that being said my paper will be on whether the rich should have their taxes raised while those making under $200,000 a year $250,000 joint filing have their taxes stay the same or if everyone should have a tax break and whether or not one is more ethical than the other.
According to bankrate. com “the current tax brackets are at 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, and 35%. Obama’s tax plan has them at 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 36%, and 39. 6% and Romney’s tax plan at 8%, 12%, 20%, 22. 4%, 26. 4%, and 28%. There are other tax issues with capital gains, estate tax, AMT, corporate tax, and international tax but for the sake of this essay I will stick to income tax. In an online article poll done by cbsnews. com it found “many Americans believe rich people to be intelligent and hardworking but also greedy and less honest than the average American.
Nearly six in 10, or 58 percent, say the rich don’t pay enough in taxes, while 26 percent believe the rich pay their fair share and 8 percent say they pay too much. My personal thoughts on the situation are that the rich shouldn’t have their taxes raised just because they decided to work harder in life and get a better education such as a masters or doctorate degree and decided to be lawyers and doctors instead of social workers. It is unethical to tax someone based on the life path they decided to take and because they were willing to put forth the effort to get there. I personally come from both walks of life having separated parents. My mother is middle class and my father is rather wealthy.
My mother has no college degree and works very hard at what she does and when interviewed had this to say “I made the choice to have a family and not go to college and because of that I will middle class until the day I die unless I decide to better myself and go after something bigger and better. I don’t feel the wealthy should be punished for their successes in life and having the ambition or talents to make the kind of money they do. We are all capable of reaching such success and wealth, some of us may have an easier path to get their because of wealthy parents, better schools, etc. ut we all write our own stories so to say someone who is wealthy should have to pay higher taxes is like saying someone who is wealthy is better than me because they have more money and I refuse to believe that. ” My father a wealthy business owner had this to say when interviewed “Can I afford more taxes, yes! Do I think it’s fair to tax me based off my success in life, no! ” Maybe this is why I have the view point I do that people choose their own paths in life and you can choose to be rich or you can choose to be middle class.
If you don’t like your circumstances or situation then change them into something you do like. The rich don’t deserve to be taxed based off of choosing the path to more money. According to Obama the tax raise is to help out with the national debt when according to www. american. com there just aren’t enough wealthy people to actually make a difference and he is doing this to make it seem like he has a plan for the debt and appeal to the voters. Furthermore according to qctimes. com “While some agree with taxing the rich, history reveals it ends badly for the middle class each time it is attempted.
In the 1970s, Great Britain taxed the rich. British tax revenues were 46 million pounds. After the hike, tax revenue fell to 35 million pounds. Economic growth dropped from 5. 2 percent to minus 2. 6 percent. The rich left England for friendlier nations in large numbers. Unemployment doubled. Other nations lure our rich whenever they are attacked here. Our wealthy pay the highest taxes in the world. If they leave, then we will lose 58 percent share of taxes, 80 percent of charitable contributions and the majority of jobs.
They are leaving. The Census Bureau reported that departures of top earners, used as scapegoats for the failings of government, doubled this year to 154 a week (74 in 2011). As Obama’s attack escalates, departures escalate. Soon, tax burdens must fall on the middle class. Europe’s decline began the same way. ” The minimal amount of good raising the taxes of the wealthy would do doesn’t seem worth the risk of them moving to places with a lower tax rate. There are many arguments to be had on both sides of this debate.
The poor and middle class aren’t given the chances the rich are because the schools are better in rich neighborhoods then in poor neighborhoods, poor and middle class can’t afford college (which is false because financial aid makes it possible for everyone now), and the rich have the money so why not tax them more? The rich say they earned their money so why should they be responsible for bailing out America and not all Americans including the ones who make less, and why is success a measure of how much you should be taxed? Neither side is right and neither side is wrong and it comes down to a personal preference.
This is where Obama was smart because most of America who are middle class won’t think like me and my mom and do believe the rich should pay more, so by him saying this will help us get out of debt even if it won’t, makes him look good and gets him the votes of the majority. Obama is trying to make America believe that this is for the greater good America and Romney doesn’t have America’s best interest in mind. To me this makes Obama unethical because even though it may help out a little it will be far from getting us out of debt.
Romney on the other hand wanted to lower taxes for all and was accused of protecting the rich by wanting to lower their taxes when really he wanted to lower everyone’s. From an economic stand point lowering everyone’s taxes could help the economy by putting more money in the pocket of the middle class and the wealthy which could create more jobs and thus more cash flow commonly called the trickle down affect. My take on this might be that the rich don’t deserve to be taxed more on what they make but I do believe however they should have to pay extra tax on things of luxury.
If you are willing to go out and buy a yacht, private jet, or even a $100,000 car you should be willing to fork over some extra cash to do so. These luxury items are something that could have higher taxes placed on them and would only add to the luxury of them because they would only cost more then. The people who can afford them and decide to buy them can afford the tax on them and are choosing to but a Ferrari over a Honda Civic. I think Obama should start looking at other alternatives instead of his current tax rate plan.
One of the best things in my opinion would be to tax everyone at the same rate and get rid of exemptions because that’s where ethics really comes into play. You can make $250,000 dollars a year but write off enough to be taxed at the lowest tax bracket. If everyone was taxed and the same rate it could be better for the economy. In conclusion I feel the wealthy should not have to pay more taxes then everyone else just because they decided to put forth more effort, were born into the right family, invented something amazing, or just got plain lucky.
They worked for their money just as hard if not harder than the middle class folk did. There is plenty of evidence to show that the tax raise could actually do more harm to America than good and this to me is very unethical. Obama did in my opinion what he had to, to win and not care about the long term affects this could have after his next four years in office. There are many other alternative solutions that could help the nation’s debt, the economy and the job market that have yet to be explored instead of just taking the easy way out.
We as a nation owe it to ourselves to get more informed about the issues rather than listening to commercials we see on television. 80% of the people I spoke to about the issue had no clue there were even take brackets and thought we paid the same rate as the rich and this is why they thought we should tax the rich more. To me the most unethical thing you can do, vote without educating yourself properly about every prop and about what each candidate is actually trying to do. It might be voting for the lesser of two evils but you should still be informed so you can make an educated decision.
Determining whether or not one is more ethical or unethical is truly a matter of opinion shaped most likely by your social status, upbringing and where you plan on being in life. If you’re middle class now but are working hard to become wealthy you are more likely to find taxing the rich more unethical than someone planning on staying middle class. I personally believe it is unethical to tax the rich harder and that we should explore other options to dig America out of the hole it is in.
