dagblog - Comments for "Red Planet to the rescue"

I'm too young to have paid

Flavius — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 01:27:01 +0000

In reply to Happy to be of assistance,

I'm too young to have paid 92% (only thing for which I'm too young ) but I certainly paid 70%. I won't say it never occurred to me to complain, just that I never did. Since I believe in a government that does things and if I want it to do things I have to expect it to collect the money to pay for them

Lest the above makes me seem tiresomely patriotic, I'll point out that like, e.g. GE, I have also sheltered money off shore. Not that I moved off shore, that I made there and left there. Because

Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: Taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant."

- Learned Hand

You might wonder why I made that money off shore. Because it required regulatory approval to do it here, which I couldn't get. So I went someplace where I could.

Thank you to the both of you.

Verified Atheist — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 11:52:03 +0000

In reply to Happy to be of assistance,

Thank you to the both of you.

Happy to be of assistance,

Red Planet — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:41:59 +0000

In reply to Red Planet to the rescue

Happy to be of assistance, Flavius.

Your argument has wings, may it fly straight to the ears that need to hear it.

It's also interesting to look at the mid-range of the income scale. When my father was building his Main Street furniture business in the 50s, he could look forward to paying 40%—50%—60% of his taxable income if the store did well.

Guess what? That didn't slow him down a bit. I never met a more enthusiastic young business man. He co-founded the local Chamber of Commerce, too. And paid his taxes proudly.

Those were the days.