What is a "fair share"?

2009-05-26T22:43:00.006-04:00

While perusing the internet recently I came across the site http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/taxes/. So, this is where the conservative and ring-wing bloggers get the numbers for President Obama's boastings about tax cuts? It's an easy to read page, with simple information... and no reference links. It simply makes a statement without any proof. Typically political talk.

The one part that stuck out was the line "closing loopholes that prevent wealthy companies and individuals from paying a fair share." Um... what? Just how much is a "fair share"? What exactly is a "wealthy individual"? I guess, based on the 2008 election, a wealthy individual is one who makes more than $250,000/yr. Now, for everyone who makes more than that, how much of the income tax revenues to the federal government should they contribute? Well, according to the National Taxpayer's Union (http://www.ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=6), the top 1% are those making more than $388k/yr (as of 2006) and top 5% is greater than $153k/yr. The percentage they paid in total income tax revenue, for 2006, were 39.89% and 60.14%, respectively.

The Tax Foundation, (http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/250.html) also agreed, basing the data off of http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/article/0,,id=133521,00.html. Hey, it's an irs.gov site, so you know it's gotta be legit. The Tax Foundation is a self-described, "The Tax Foundation is a nonpartisan tax research group based in Washington, D.C".

So, back to my original question: How much is a "fair share"? Good luck getting a politician to give a straight answer on that one. Then again, most of these politicians make more than $250k/yr. So, until they voluntarily pay more taxes themselves, I cannot and will not believe them when they say, "the rich must pay their fair share."

First posting

2009-05-19T22:26:00.005-04:00

So, as anyone who is semi-familiar with blogger.com can see, the layout is a template. It's simple, functional, and uncluttered. That's great! It makes reading whatever it is I decide to post here.

Now, I would go ahead and make my own layout but for two reasons: 1) I don't have the HTML-programming know-how to design a page that's better than the first web pages of the mid-90's, and 2) I hate programming. I'm currently taking a C Programming course for my bachelor's degree and, honestly, I still have programming. Give me a circuit board and indepth instructions and I'll figure out exactly what's wrong with it, fix it, and will have it up and running perfectly. Programming, however... bleh. Screw that.

So, my future posts will likely include pictures and video (I'll be going to Ireland for Christmas this year and will definately be bringing back some sweet, scenic footage), as well as anything I deem pertinent to post... which is just about anything. This is a blog, afterall, not a column in the Time magazine.

Any suggestions by those few (and I mean, probably one per month, if that) visitors who happen upon this site are welcome. If you want to blast me, go for it. Remember though: If you're insult is good, good. If its grammar is so bad I can barely discern who it is that you're trying to insult or whether you're trying to insult me at all then, heh, you're a douchebag. Seriously. Call someone an idiot all you want, but, if you can't get your point across that you're even dumber than your "victim". Plus, you'll give me the satisfaction of knowing of another person that I'm better than (the list is short so I love it whenever that list grows).

And finally, I'll be tweaking the templates a little until I find one that doesn't leave over half of the screen as empty space. Really? Granted, it keeps the site uncluttered, however, that's a lot of unused space. Who made these templates anyway? If they ever took Technical Writing in college then they seriously need to review their old textbooks or something to get a clue.

The O'Donnell Opinion

What is a "fair share"?

First posting