Who is your dream President?

[liaerfbv]

i LOVE OBAMA! but if I can't have him anymore I would love to see Elizabeth Warren as President. We need someone who can continue to block Congress from passing tax cuts for the rich.

I'm not interested in tax cuts for the wealthy individuals. I want to see tax breaks for corporations GONE.

"Corporations have escaped paying their fair share as a result of the Bush tax cuts and other tax policies.

Twelve top corporations paid no taxes or actually received money from the IRS between 2008 and 2010. The list includes Boeing, Verizon, Dupont, Yahoo, IBM, Wells Fargo, American Electric Power, Exxon Mobil, FedEx, General Electric, Honeywell International, and United Technologies. $62.4 billion was reaped in subsidies by these twelve companies over the three-year period, even as they paid no taxes on $171 billion in profits."

Link to the full report from 2011: http://www.ctj.org/ctjreports/2011/06/twelve_corporations_pay_effective_tax_rate_of_negative_15_on_171_billion_in_profits_reap_624_billion.php#.VvqfYNIrKCp

ETA: I take that back. I do support a much lower estate tax threshold. $5m indexed for inflation is ridiculous.

 

[missy]

MollyMalone, I would vote Bloomberg for President too. 100% yes. He was an excellent NYC Mayor IMO.

 

[Dancing Fire]

i LOVE OBAMA! but if I can't have him anymore I would love to see Elizabeth Warren as President. We need someone who can continue to block Congress from passing tax cuts for the rich.

I'm not interested in tax cuts for the wealthy individuals. I want to see tax breaks for corporations GONE.

"Corporations have escaped paying their fair share as a result of the Bush tax cuts and other tax policies.

IMO, rich or poor should pay their fair share of taxes including the big corporations,and of course the wealthy should pay a higher %, but where do we draw the line for the top 5% earners?? ... since they are the ones who are already paying most of the taxes in this country.

 

[liaerfbv]

i LOVE OBAMA! but if I can't have him anymore I would love to see Elizabeth Warren as President. We need someone who can continue to block Congress from passing tax cuts for the rich.

I'm not interested in tax cuts for the wealthy individuals. I want to see tax breaks for corporations GONE.

"Corporations have escaped paying their fair share as a result of the Bush tax cuts and other tax policies.

IMO, rich or poor should pay their fair share of taxes including the big corporations,and of course the wealthy should pay a higher %, but where do we draw the line for the top 5% earners?? ... since they are the ones who are already paying most of the taxes in this country.

IMO, it's not about "drawing a line" for the top earners, it's looking at the taxes paid from which bracket have the most affect. For example, there was a study done by the National Bureau of Economic Growth that looked at taxes in different brackets over 50 years and in short, they determined that tax cuts for the bottom 90% of earners actually stimulated economic growth more than tax cuts for the top 10% of earners. Generally, people who make less money spend more of their income.

I want someone much smarter than me to create an algorithm that uses this (and other) research to allocate tax rates and brackets to stimulate economic growth - not based on tax cuts as favors for friends and campaign supporters.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Interesting thread! I am truly happy to see some actual diversity of opinion here! I do vote partly based on character, so people with affairs and bad treatment of spouses is a negative in my book (sad to hear that about Giuliani). I am fiscally conservative in economics, because I think it is a disaster to spend more money than is raised in taxes. I practice that in my own life...we do not spend more than we make, and we always saved consistently. It saddens me on this site to see people selling jewelry because they have unexpected expenses. Likewise, I don't like seeing our government in heavy debt to foreign countries such as China, etc.

I am thinking maybe Abraham Lincoln might be a good choice for someone I'd respect and who probably wouldn't overspend and waste tax money. Yet his heart was right on basic human rights. I admit to not having studied him on a deep level, however.

It was interesting for me to see Nikki Haley mentioned. For a fleeting moment, I thought she and Rubio looked like a good pair in the recent slate of candidates.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

ETA: I take that back. I do support a much lower estate tax threshold. $5m indexed for inflation is ridiculous.

Totally disagree. Money left as inheritance had taxes paid on it as it was earned. Not right to tax it twice.

 

[liaerfbv]

ETA: I take that back. I do support a much lower estate tax threshold. $5m indexed for inflation is ridiculous.

Totally disagree. Money left as inheritance had taxes paid on it as it was earned. Not right to tax it twice.

I am actually a trusts and estates paralegal who specializes in lifetime wealth transfers for high net worth individuals, so believe me when I say there are plenty of advanced tax planning techniques to transfer wealth to your descendants paying minimal tax.

ETA: My computer froze and deleted half my post, but the short summary is whether or not tax has been paid during life, the IRS sees it as a gift at death and tax is due. We are better off lowering the tax rate (currently 40%) and the exemption amount (currently $5.45m) which would increase revenue. Wealthy individuals will always implement creative tax planning until the estate tax is repealed altogether.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I don't think you understood what I meant. If my husband and I earn money throughout our lifetimes and pay taxes on all income and investments as it is earned, and we are smart enough to save and have money left to go to our children at our death, why should they have to pay taxes again on money? I don't expect to have 5 million to leave them, but the principle is the same. Gifts left to family should not be taxed again. I don't agree with any death tax, but I am fine with a 5 million exemption if there has to be one.

 

[liaerfbv]

I don't think you understood what I meant. If my husband and I earn money throughout our lifetimes and pay taxes on all income and investments as it is earned, and we are smart enough to save and have money left to go to our children at our death, why should they have to pay taxes again on money? I don't expect to have 5 million to leave them, but the principle is the same. Gifts left to family should not be taxed again. I don't agree with any death tax, but I am fine with a 5 million exemption if there has to be one.

I understood what you meant. You earned it, you paid tax on it, and then you gave it to someone else at your death. Why should gifts to family be tax free? If I give money to anyone over the annual exclusion amount, I have to pay gift tax on that on top of the income taxes I pay. Are you opposed to any gift tax? Because it's essentially the same concept.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I don't think you understood what I meant. If my husband and I earn money throughout our lifetimes and pay taxes on all income and investments as it is earned, and we are smart enough to save and have money left to go to our children at our death, why should they have to pay taxes again on money? I don't expect to have 5 million to leave them, but the principle is the same. Gifts left to family should not be taxed again. I don't agree with any death tax, but I am fine with a 5 million exemption if there has to be one.

I understood what you meant. You earned it, you paid tax on it, and then you gave it to someone else at your death. Why should gifts to family be tax free? If I give money to anyone over the annual exclusion amount, I have to pay gift tax on that on top of the income taxes I pay. Are you opposed to any gift tax? Because it's essentially the same concept.

I suppose it is the same. If I earn the money and pay taxes on it, I should be able to spend it or gift it anyway I wish to. I do not see why a child should again pay tax on money that has already been taxed. It isn't particularly a problem for me since I haven't had the need to give anyone a gift above the allowed amount. Glad college tuition is excluded or that would be a problem!

But you don't have to pay gift tax over the annual exclusion amount. You can elect to count it toward your lifetime gift tax exclusion instead of paying gift taxes now.

We pay SO much tax as it is. I do not see the fairness in taxing gifts at all.

And without looking back, I have no idea how we got onto this topic on this thread!

 

[Queenie60]

I don't think you understood what I meant. If my husband and I earn money throughout our lifetimes and pay taxes on all income and investments as it is earned, and we are smart enough to save and have money left to go to our children at our death, why should they have to pay taxes again on money? I don't expect to have 5 million to leave them, but the principle is the same. Gifts left to family should not be taxed again. I don't agree with any death tax, but I am fine with a 5 million exemption if there has to be one.

I understood what you meant. You earned it, you paid tax on it, and then you gave it to someone else at your death. Why should gifts to family be tax free? If I give money to anyone over the annual exclusion amount, I have to pay gift tax on that on top of the income taxes I pay. Are you opposed to any gift tax? Because it's essentially the same concept.

I suppose it is the same. If I earn the money and pay taxes on it, I should be able to spend it or gift it anyway I wish to. I do not see why a child should again pay tax on money that has already been taxed. It isn't particularly a problem for me since I haven't had the need to give anyone a gift above the allowed amount. Glad college tuition is excluded or that would be a problem!

But you don't have to pay gift tax over the annual exclusion amount. You can elect to count it toward your lifetime gift tax exclusion instead of paying gift taxes now.

We pay SO much tax as it is. I do not see the fairness in taxing gifts at all.

And without looking back, I have no idea how we got onto this topic on this thread!

Totally agree DS. FYI - the $5 Million exemption is per person. So you would get a 5 million exemption and your husband gets a $5 million exemption. So your estate technically has a $10 million exemption. As for gift tax, you're allowed to give $14,000 per year as a gift - eg. - my husband and myself each give each of our children $14,000 per year from each of us. So, I can give my daughter and my son each $14,000 per year as a gift and my husband can give the same. It's a way of reducing your estate over time to help to reduce death tax. At least, this is the way it works in California according to our estate tax planning attorney. I'm certainly not a know it all but this is the way it has been explained to me and this is what we are currently relying upon.

 

[jordyonbass]

My dream President? That's an easy one:

Kenny

Because I am sure if I asked him for anything he would probably get the secret service to find and give it to me

 

[liaerfbv]

I don't think you understood what I meant. If my husband and I earn money throughout our lifetimes and pay taxes on all income and investments as it is earned, and we are smart enough to save and have money left to go to our children at our death, why should they have to pay taxes again on money? I don't expect to have 5 million to leave them, but the principle is the same. Gifts left to family should not be taxed again. I don't agree with any death tax, but I am fine with a 5 million exemption if there has to be one.

I understood what you meant. You earned it, you paid tax on it, and then you gave it to someone else at your death. Why should gifts to family be tax free? If I give money to anyone over the annual exclusion amount, I have to pay gift tax on that on top of the income taxes I pay. Are you opposed to any gift tax? Because it's essentially the same concept.

I suppose it is the same. If I earn the money and pay taxes on it, I should be able to spend it or gift it anyway I wish to. I do not see why a child should again pay tax on money that has already been taxed. It isn't particularly a problem for me since I haven't had the need to give anyone a gift above the allowed amount. Glad college tuition is excluded or that would be a problem!

But you don't have to pay gift tax over the annual exclusion amount. You can elect to count it toward your lifetime gift tax exclusion instead of paying gift taxes now.

We pay SO much tax as it is. I do not see the fairness in taxing gifts at all.

And without looking back, I have no idea how we got onto this topic on this thread!

Yes, you're absolutely right about the lifetime exemption. I didn't get into the details earlier because I'm a tax nerd, this is what I do for a living - so I'm used to glossing over the details as to not bore everyone in my life!

Truthfully, the exemption amount is such non-issue to me in comparison to the complete overhaul the IRC needs. My dream President would have much bigger fish to fry!