What are Tax Day Tea Parties protesting?

[^KK^ 3]

INteresting..

[dalegg 143]

Maybe they aren't so much protesting higher taxes as much as they are protesting what their tax dollars are going towards. As far as I know, nobody's federal taxes have gone up at all yet, and I think a lot of these people are protesting from states that haven't raised their taxes yet either.

[aidan80 9]

yup, cigs went up $12 a carton and it's apparently not a big deal - to some.

hello! that's a tax on me as i smoke!

They need to increase the price of smoking to the levels they have in the UK and Ireland.. You'd be well pissed if your paying what $8 or so a pack? I gave up when I moved over here so I'm off the drug lol I hope they do tax the really bad for you stuff and put it into something more productive. Next they need to hit fuel and tax the $hit out of that to the point no one would dare drive an SUV lmao!.. I mean I read the papers back home now and again and someone tell me how the fuk small shitty ford fiesta over there is advertised as 55mph yet the junk we're buying over here is struggling to get about 30 - 35? I know there's a measurement difference but come on!

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Nope, still not upper class

To bad you aint hearin what you be missin! Bat turds? Fvckin lil boy playin in shite! Fvckin amazing what I read here.

Marc's back....

lol, what up Jundy?

[Ban Hammer 13,332]

No income tax increase. You can decide to not smoke, you know

yet that's not what he said, was it? he didn't specify no income tax increase, just no tax increase. even your own link about obama's promises showed that was a fail on his part.

[Texanadian 10]

Sheesh, you guys aren't blending into the USA at all with your let's raise cigarette and gas taxes points of view. The cigarette tax is higher in other countries because other countries have public health care for all. But in the US, raising the taxes on smokers is nothing but a tax grab. Smokers already pay higher costs for health care insurance than non-smokers and tend to collect less Social Security later on. Maybe non-smokers should pay higher FICA taxes out of their paystubs since they tend to live longer. Fair is fair.

The craziness that raising the cigarette tax to pay for SCHIP is what really gets me. An 18 year old who smokes will pay more in cig taxes so that a 55 year old with a 30 year old "child" can get on SCHIP. If you want to add more people to SCHIP, I'm fine with that. But tax people responsible for child raising to do it. Not smokers. This could be done in many ways. An insurance surcharge on all newborns to be then moved to SCHIP. A reduction in the child tax credit (hey, it's to support children's health care. Think about the children ). A daycare tax. An enrollment tax on all new kindergarten students. Whatever. But don't have a majority institute a morality tax on the minority. I complain just as bad when the state government here brought up a tax on people entering strip clubs.

Heck, why not just raise AOS fees to $3,000 and put that money into SCHIP. Immigrants are a minority too. Ahhh but all of a sudden it's you who has to pay the tax. Don't like it now do you? Who would complain about this? The average US citizen who votes? Not likely. They don't care. They're not immigrants. Same with the non smokers who want to tax other people harder.

Sure gas prices are cheaper than in Europe. But who really benefits from high gas taxes? Anybody? We have large spread out land with low density population in the US. They can get away with public transportation in NYC. But NYC has high density like much of Europe. You could put the entire world's population in Texas and it would still have a lower density than NYC.

But if you want to raise the gas tax just because, well be my guest. The poor will hurt. The middle class will hurt. The rich will take it in stride. I remember when gas prices spiked in the mid 2000's. I was putting $50 into my 4 cylinder Sunbird. I thought 4 cylinders were supposed to be cheap? Nevermind that European cars pollute to high hell compared to American cars. Perhaps we should tax imported European cars harder.

The US is (at least in theory) the land of the individual. Where you don't tax everybody hard for the benefit of somebody else. The country that was started to get away from oppressive government.

Obama raised the cigarette tax by 162% and has outspent Bush on deficits in less than half a year. I wasn't a Bush fan at all. But Obama seems to think we can spend our way out of debt.

Does anybody think that 1100 page stimulus (that they were given 1 night to read) was money well spent? Know what our "infrustructure" stimulus spending was for Texas? They're taking millions of dollars so that they can convert HOV lanes to toll lanes. Yeah, that's gonna help alright.

Obama has gone back on his word. What happened to transparency and letting the public view bills before they go up for vote? The stimulus was run through at warp speed before the public had a chance to see what was in it. Heck, the politicians didn't even get to see what was in it.

The tea party protests is simply people who have had enough with taxation and the poor representation they're getting for it. We give them 10-35% in income tax and they run record setting deficits. 10 years ago when Clinton was in office the budget was 1.9 trillion/year. We're close to double that now. And the national debt has doubled at the same time.

As for fuel economy. The US gallon is different from the UK gallon. US gallon is 3.78 litres. A UK gallon is 4.54 litres. So something getting 55 mpg in Europe is the same as something getting 45 mpg in the US.

You guys can vote in higher taxes and more spending. I'll stick with Texas' no state income tax, cheap cigarettes, and cheap property.

[Nasturtium 500]

No income tax increase. You can decide to not smoke, you know

yet that's not what he said, was it? he didn't specify no income tax increase, just no tax increase. even your own link about obama's promises showed that was a fail on his part.

Smoking tax isn't going to ruffle most people (such as myself), but what will are the increased energy taxes. I would totally go gaga over being able to go solar if I could, but does anyone have a clue how much even one panel set-up costs? Let alone the panels you would need to actually function in the same lifestyle... I don't have the 25+k laying around to just install a panel or two and then not worry about the energy taxes. The energy taxes are not going to make one bit of difference to those who make enough money... but to the middle class and below, it is really going to start hurting.

There are a lot of really nice guys from the FDIC staying here and we talk... the tea-party thing came up yesterday. Their issues were more about how the money was being spent and how unstable the system still is, along with the borrowing from one pocket to fill another-- the $1 trillion deal. Some of them voted for Obama and some didn't. All of them are here working on the failed banks and are not happy about what has been happening with the policies put in place. Tip of the day from the FDIC: it's not over, round 2 is coming up, only this time it comes with the trillions spent already...

[Ban Hammer 13,332]

No income tax increase. You can decide to not smoke, you know

yet that's not what he said, was it? he didn't specify no income tax increase, just no tax increase. even your own link about obama's promises showed that was a fail on his part.

Smoking tax isn't going to ruffle most people (such as myself), but what will are the increased energy taxes. I would totally go gaga over being able to go solar if I could, but does anyone have a clue how much even one panel set-up costs? Let alone the panels you would need to actually function in the same lifestyle... I don't have the 25+k laying around to just install a panel or two and then not worry about the energy taxes. The energy taxes are not going to make one bit of difference to those who make enough money... but to the middle class and below, it is really going to start hurting.

There are a lot of really nice guys from the FDIC staying here and we talk... the tea-party thing came up yesterday. Their issues were more about how the money was being spent and how unstable the system still is, along with the borrowing from one pocket to fill another-- the $1 trillion deal. Some of them voted for Obama and some didn't. All of them are here working on the failed banks and are not happy about what has been happening with the policies put in place. Tip of the day from the FDIC: it's not over, round 2 is coming up, only this time it comes with the trillions spent already...

oh yeah, carbon tax......... i wonder how many are wanting to see their electric bills double and triple.

and i've suspected the wealth spread is over yet.

[peejay 327]

Maybe they aren't so much protesting higher taxes as much as they are protesting what their tax dollars are going towards. As far as I know, nobody's federal taxes have gone up at all yet, and I think a lot of these people are protesting from states that haven't raised their taxes yet either.

That is true....for now.

But a lot of what is going on now will have a huge effect later down the road. Anyone that believes these huge deficits and spending sprees are just going to effect the bad ol' rich people are delusional.

And then there is the hidden tax of inflation that will bedevil the middle class and poor for some time to come. It will eat up purchasing power and savings due to these policies and budgets that this administration has implemented.

To say that the American people don't have any basis for protest is absurd. There is plenty to protest.

[sj5 4]

My day care fees is $103/week, now its only $140/week.

Edited April 19, 2009 by sj5

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Steven,

Honor system now. Without looking or thinking about it more than a few seconds, which do you remember? The total number of dollars you paid in Federal income taxes in 2008 or the effective rate?

I hear what you are saying and I suppose some people are that thick...but anyone who even mildly pays attention to their car payments, for example, or their mortgage, should understand the difference.

To bad you aint hearin what you be missin! Bat turds? Fvckin lil boy playin in shite! Fvckin amazing what I read here.

What's amazing is the lack of intelligence that flows from you like a river.