what is a "fair share of taxes"?

I'm one of those "millionaires and billionaires" Obama talks about. We made an AGI of $272,000 last year. I'm self employed. I pay double social security and medicare taxes. Between SS, medicare, federal and state income taxes my effective rate is just under 50%. I can't deduct my daughter's college tuition, my own student loan interest (which I am still paying) and I can't deduct all of my mortgage.

How much MORE do you want me to pay?????

John J,

Where on earth do you live that you have to pay 53% on 30k? Nowhere in the US.

Yes a higher rate. Below a certain range should pay nothing because they are all ready at a huge disadvantage living in a system that needs low wage labor but does not provide for them. We have an unfair justice system that punishes the poor much greater than the rich, unjust healthcare, inequal access to food, water etc.

And corporations are you kidding??? The entire reason we even have this big dog and pony show with Congress and the Federal Reserve and so on, is so that they can exist and operate under a structured framework.

You get what you pay for in life. Saddling the workers with the bill for a framework that does not benefit them is highway robbery.

Furthermore i believe in the tax structure laid out by our forefathers.

Which was exactly like i describe above. A flat tax is a breach of the social contract developed by the founders of this nation.

What those people do not understand that, no matter what is shown on a balance sheet...CORPORATIONS DO NOT PAY TAXES. They pass taxes onto consumers NECESSARILY. In the 6 businesses that I own, my total tax bill is 8 figures. There is no way that I could not pass that one to consumers. (And I still have higher wages AND lower prices than any of my competitors)

Now, CEOs and major shareholders pay a LOT in taxes.

So, what is "fair" is for these people to learn economics before they scream about unfair taxes.

John J...you are either lying or the dumbest man in America. There is NO WAY that you are legitimately paying 53% on 30K. NO WAY! And if you have been, hiring an accountant to amend your taxes over the last 3 years would be the best money that you ever spent.

Everyone should pay a 15% Personal Consumption Tax ! All Businesses should pay a 25% Flat Tax on Profits !

the more you make the more you pay, people who want rich people to pay a fair share are people who want there taxes lower and everyone else to pick up there slack.

so somehow the libs think if your rich you pay less taxes then everyone else,. yes they are tax havens and ways around certain taxes and then they are not. very low income people pay no taxes and they pay there fair share? nobody talks about that they just want people with more to pay more so these tax doggers can pay less

When we have a slightly higher rate pre-Bush, our economy was booming and we had a budget surplus. Over 20 Million jobs were created during the Clinton term. By contrast, once Bush took over, lowered the tax rate, the budget surplus was gone, the national debt was doubled and the economy collapsed.

I paid over 53% of my puny 30k Allison the nice lady should quit whining and pay what I paid.And I didn't have to cover my employer's share of medicare/medicaid which stopped for her at $92k. Corporations like ExxonMobil make record profits and pay NO federal income tax. That's a fair share?

Something above the ZERO that they pay now. Chase Bank hasn't paid any taxes in 10 years - while poor stupid trailer dwellers have been tricked into paying their taxes for them.

This as been the best sales job in the history of the world.

Most of the liberal community believes that they should pay more than they are currently, even though the top 10% already pay 70% of the Federal Income Tax, which is the biggest revenue creator the federal government has. Obama suggests a 3% increase, however, we cannot tax our way out of debt. We didn’t create this huge debt by taxing too little, we created it by spending too much.

A Fair share would be the same percentage paid by everyone.

10%.

Make $50,000, pay $5,000.

Make $500,000, pay $50,000.

The rich pay as much in taxes as the poor make in a year.