Congress Pay Raise

Stop Coddling the Super-Rich

Our leaders have called for "shared sacrifice." But when they have requested, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn about the pain they expected. They too, were left intact.

While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we are mega-rich continue to get tax breaks from our extraordinary. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions of our daily work, but are allowed to file our income as "carried interest", thus obtaining a 15 percent windfall tax rate.Other specific stock index futures for 10 minutes and 60 percent of their earnings taxed at 15 percent, as if they were long-term investors.

These and other blessings are poured upon us by legislators in Washington who feel obliged to protect owls as much as if we were spotted and other endangered species. It's nice to have friends in high places.

Last year, my federal tax bill - the income tax I paid, and payroll taxes paid by me and myself - was $ 6,938,744. It sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid only 17.4 percent of my taxable income - and it's actually a lower percentage than was paid by one of 20 other people in our office. Their tax burden ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and an average of 36 percent.

If you make money with money, as some of my super rich friends do, your percentage may be a little lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your percentage will surely exceed the mine - most likely by many.

To understand why, you should examine the sources of government revenue. Last year, about 80 percent of these revenues came from income taxes and payroll taxes.The mega-rich income tax paid at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings, but pay almost nothing in payroll taxes. That's another story for the middle class: Generally, they fall within 15 percent and 25 percent brackets income tax, then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot.

Back in the 1980 and 1990 tax rates for the wealthy were much higher and my blood was in the middle of the pack. One theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of high tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

I did not refuse, or other.I worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone - not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 - are loath to a wise investment because the rate of tax on the gain potential. People invest money, and the potential taxes have never frightened. And those who argue that higher rates of job creation wrong, I want to emphasize that net nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what's happened since: the lowest tax rates and job creation much lower.

Congress Pay Raise - News


Stop Coddling the Super-Rich
Stop Coddling the Super-Rich

Most wouldn't mind being told to pay more in taxes as well, particularly when so many of their fellow citizens are truly suffering. Twelve members of Congress will soon take on the crucial job of rearranging our country's finances.



Raising taxes not a bad idea

They pay property, sales, all kinds of taxes. You make yourselves sound riculous saying raise taxes on people at the poverty level, but don't let millionaires get a slight increase and pay their fair share. Again, it's millionaires, not poor schleps



Richest Members Of 112th Congress

Now if you were that rich would you vote to increase your taxes? Like I've said before we have the "best" government money can buy!!! And yet the Republicans on that list are not willing to pay their fair share of taxes, and would deprive a poor sick



Coburn urges shared sacrifice
Coburn urges shared sacrifice

He faces the ridicule of the eastern media and liberal congress everyday, has donated all pay increases received while a Senator to charity and returns 15 -18 percent of his budget to the government each year, according to Coburn.



Did health law bring economic doldrums?
Did health law bring economic doldrums?

The fact that job growth slowed after Congress passed the Affordable Care Act does not prove that the legislation is at fault. There are, however, good reasons to believe that the law applied the brakes to hiring. The act will significantly raise




Articles 20VN | Losing The 3.5% Raise | military pay | congress ...

A new report released Friday by the Congressional Budget Office said there was no difference in pay between the civilian and military. In fact, the report states that due to our pension, we have actually paid more than the civilian sector. This could greatly affect the possibility of salary increase 3.5% this January.

The main source of discrepancy comes from the value of the service such as ours for a service in the civilian sector. Another error in the report is the value of civilian health care with respect to military health care.

I acknowledge that his retirement from the army at age 20 is probably one of the best retirement plans in the world. However, the value of military retirement as if it were a retirement preparedness is a big mistake. There are thousands of unique situations that soldiers earn not calculated. Mainly because Congress does not know what it is to paint rocks to visit a general, but only for the General to cancel.

I've never seen a civilian job description to say: You can serve for long periods of time away from your family in hostile conditions or you can not just leave because of the contractual obligation.These two warnings are not calculated in the report.

I am sick and tired of the army was directly compared to the civilian sector. According to the report, since 1986, regular military compensation was higher compared to the price index of civilians (the index that annual wage increases are based on.)

Anyway, if you're interested in your salary, you should read the source document.


Twitter

Carla Cashion RT @: I say to #congress not only don't raise the debt ceiling.........LOWER IT!!!! Pay priority bills & learn to budget with what's left


Brian Coplin I say to #congress not only don't raise the debt ceiling.........LOWER IT!!!! Pay priority bills & learn to budget with what's left


The One True Medusa Did #Congress vote itself a pay raise? Apparently not, depending on who you believe: (cont)


Ellen W.Sellers you know who freekin benefits??obamas freeky laberate vacations,congress n government get pay raise,n low class,middle class get SCREWED!!!


Brian Coplin I say to #congress not only don't raise the debt ceiling.........LOWER IT!!!! Pay priority bills & learn to budget with what's left


Congress Pay Raise - Bookshelf

Congressional Record

Congressional Record

All that is necessary for Congress to get a pay raise is that nothing be done to stop ... This makes getting a vote on the annual congressional pay raise a ...

Automatic government, the politics of indexation

Automatic government, the politics of indexation

43 The president, in signing the measure, agreed.44 Congress received the salary increase for 1987. Whether the "backdoor" congressional pay raise of 1987 ...

Congressional record, proceedings and debates of the ... Congress

Congressional record, proceedings and debates of the ... Congress

Every suggestion of pay Increase has been received coldly. ... fiscal year 1918 really belongs in the sundry civil bill, which has not yet passed Congress. ...

Congressional pay and perquisites, history, facts, and controversy

Congressional pay and perquisites, history, facts, and controversy

Fear of criticism from the voters made members of Congress skittish about voting to increase their own pay, even when their salaries failed to keep up with ...

The dysfunctional Congress?, the individual roots of an institutional dilemma

The dysfunctional Congress?, the individual roots of an institutional dilemma

The bill passed on a narrow vote that no doubt reflected fears that the public would react badly to the notion of a congressional pay raise. ...

Check Information Directory


Congress Votes Itself a Pay Raise
For the fifth year in a row, lawmakers voted not to reject their automatic "cost of living" raise that will increase the annual salary of Congress Members by $3,400 ...

House approves measure blocking congressional pay raise
Congress " Senators | Representatives | Latest Votes | Today in Congress | Capitol Briefing | Polls | RSS. House approves measure blocking congressional pay raise ...

Pay Raises For Members Of Congress Unlikely This Year
WASHINGTON — Yielding to election year reality, the Senate passed a bill Thursday to deny members of Congress a built-in pay raise next year. Russ Feingold, ...

Congress Did Not Raise Its Pay, Deny Seniors Increase ...
Chris Cates, a Republican congressional candidate in Georgia's May 11 special election, says in a new TV ad that Congress voted to give itself a pay

Congress Getting a Pay Raise – How About You?
Some say they work hard for the money, and unless they pass a bill rejecting it, members of the U.S. Congress will get $4,700 cost-of-living (COLA) raise