Zoinks, go to work and get called out on one’s unsupported statement while one is gone.

Farris, of course it depends on the country. Bruce beat me to most of this point, but his anecodotal evidence more or less correlates with that with which I’m familiar. It’s probably true that the poorest American is materially better off than the average human being on planet earth in 2008 (mostly because of the high population concentration in former colonies), but is “better off than the average human” really good enough when one lives in the world’s richest country?

Really the comparison I was making was the industrialized, liberal republics like Northern and Western Europe, Japan, etc.

We can then remind folks about how Roosevelt extended the Great Depression by at least five years with his overtaxing of the American public to build legacy projects. How he arrested and interned tens of thousands of American citizens on a whim of evidence. How he nearly causes a Constitutional Crisis by attempting to stack the SCOTUS with judges that would agree with his blatantly socialistic programs. How he used his Fireside Chat radio programs to attack and belittle individual American citizens when they publicly disagreed with him. The man who, had he lived, was so power hungry that he would have run for a fourth term in office. Who repeatedly lied to the American public about the state of his health and who used their tax dollars to hide these facts.

Not only will Obama lose the election if the comparison is made, we may actually get a chance to finally put the dirt of his shameful presidency where it belongs and knock FDR down a notch in the public mind.

If paying taxes is so patriotic, why don’t Obama and Biden have a plane to make everyone pay 50% taxes so we can all be hyper-patriotic?

If paying taxes is so patriotic, why don’t liberals volunteer to pay the maximum amount, or even extra taxes, so that they can publicly show their super-patriotism?

You all aren’t all broke. I live and work in hyper-liberal Seattle and see Obama stickers on Beemers and Audis and MB’s all day long. I see Obama yard signs in front of epic sized homes worth, even now, seven figures. Why can’t liberals be more patriotic and just write a check for whatever they have left in their bank account at the end of the month? Why do they not volunteer their excess wealth and instead demand that the government pass a law to force me to do so?

WHy not report the deduction and then use the tax savings to make another donation, or simply pay more in taxes than you are required,

Uh, Dennis? That would be exactly the effect of leaving the donation off his tax return.

Still sounds a bit suspect given the glaringly low number on his charitable deduction line.

What? The “charitable deduction line” only became public because Biden released his tax returns when he was selected to run for Vice President.

Why didn’t Biden know, many years ago, that someday he’d be releasing his tax returns?? Then you could call him “calculating”!

You’re a fucking idiot.

12 years ago, they were.

Putting aside that you have no idea what an average poor American household is like. Scare quotes or otherwise.

Doesn’t make sense, not when you have an abysmally small number like that that sticks out like a sore thumb, especially to a politician. What’s the point of not declaring it, to let the government have the money? WHy not report the deduction and then use the tax savings to make another donation, or simply pay more in taxes than you are required, a novel idea for a Democrat politician who says taxes are too low?

Biden’s financial disclosure returns also show donations of speaking fees to charity that aren’t reported on the tax returns.

Maybe. Still sounds a bit suspect given the glaringly low number on his charitable deduction line. Again, omitting this perfectly allowable deduction shows shows a lack of understanding about taxes or a stupid oversight for a guy who likes to make himself like a regular working man who just happens to dress very well. If he’s that cavalier about his tax return I don’t want him anywhere near the White House.

That was supposed to be Farris, Dennis, et al. Sorry, Parthenon.

When is someone in the Obama camp going pound on the fact that John McCain is going to raise my taxes? McCain’s healthcare plan calls for taxing employer contributions to health insurance. That’s a direct hit at my income. Not to mention the fact that, in order to avoid said taxes more and more people will opt out of employer-based insurance, raising the costs for those left in the pool. Eventually the employer-based system will collapse, and folks like us, with kids who have pre-existing conditions, will be up a shit’s creek.

Obama will cut taxes for 95% of American workers.

McCain will raise taxes on everyone who has employer-based health insurance.

Bring. It. On.

And sorry Parthenon, but I have a hard time believing that the poor in other countries are so much better off. Go to an average “poor” American household and you’ll see 2 cars, a nice sized tv with a wii, a cell phone or 2, a pc with Internet … Most of the world would consider that firmly middle class.

Hell, why doesn’t Cindy McCain donate her nomination address to charity? It’s worth more than most Americans’ houses.

When the undeserving rich such as myself finally get enough dough to pay down the student loans that got me to this point, I will make sure that my wage based income caps at 249,999.99 exactly. Don’t think this can happen ? Think back to what happened when Carter was president, this is exactly what happened. When the taxation rate on the last amount of income that people made got over about 50%, it caused changes in behavior that led to less government revenue.

Oh well, I’ll enjoy the extra off time.

As for taxes Biden is right, pretty much all developed nations have them. The only one that doesn’t I am told requires a dress code and is the United Arab Emirates.