IIUC, right now the unearned income is not subject to Medicare tax. So this seems to simply make everyone to pay their share, right?

“But if Obama’s proposal makes it into the final bill, wealthy Americans will see their Medicare taxes absolutely skyrocket.”

Oh, give me a break. Check the dictionary or something for the meaning of the word “skyrocket”. Romney paid ~15% on his unearned income, now he’ll (probably) pay 18%. I make enough money to be a subject to 25% marginal tax rate on my *earned* income. So my tax rate has already skyrocketed, right?

They take their business to the Far East because they value wealth above people…they are taxed heavily because they are wealthier than the majority of people.

THEY TAKE THEIR BUSINESS THERE TO BE COMPETITIVE, OTHERWISE THEY WILL BE OUT OF BUSINESS.

Factor “X” is GREED. Only by encouraging people to invest IN PEOPLE, rather than in money do you solve the problem.

THIS MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL.

Americans opposed to universal health care value money, not people.

WHAT HAS THE GOVERNMENT EVER RUN THAT WAS SUCCESSFUL? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT IS IN THE BILL/LAW? WHY DO WE NEED ANOTHER AGENCY, WHY NOT REQUIRE EVERYONE ABOVE A CERTAIN INCOME LEVEL TO PURCHASE INSURANCE AND THEY COVER EVERYONE ELSE BY HAVING THE GOVERNMENT BUY THE POLICIES FOR THEM?

As the only industrialised country that does not have a universal health care system, the USA stands alone. No doubt your taxes would be better spent on another illegal invasion of an oil rich arab nation or yet another prison to add to all your collection.

ONE, CANADIANS COME TO THE US FOR HEATHCARE, NOTE ONE OF THEIR HIGH UP OFFICIALS DID IT JUST A FEW MONTHS AGO, WONDER WHY.

TWO, WITHOUT OIL, OUR COUNTRY COMES TO A HALT.

IT’S REALLY EASY TO UNDERSTAND WHY YOU ARE POOR.

So what if they have many assets. Do they use more of the roads, more of the schools?

You losers don’t get it. You want to whine about their incomes because your’s is so poor.

Health care is nothing but a hidden tax. Healthcare will not improve, it will get worse. Next is BS Cap and Trade, even though we all know Global Warming id BS dreamed up to steal more of your money.

Will you please quit listening to the mass media propaganda and start thinking for yourself. I know that you are poor and stupid, but the internet is your library of knowledge. Learn to use it, maybe your incomes will increase and you will take the other side of the argument. FOOLS!

They take their business to the Far East because they value wealth above people…they are taxed heavily because they are wealthier than the majority of people.

Factor “X” is GREED. Only by encouraging people to invest IN PEOPLE, rather than in money do you solve the problem.

Americans opposed to universal health care value money, not people.

Solution…stop worshipping money & start valuing people. Or is that too “socialist” for you?

As the only industrialised country that does not have a universal health care system, the USA stands alone. No doubt your taxes would be better spent on another illegal invasion of an oil rich arab nation or yet another prison to add to all your collection.

Hey, this bill is a little better than I thought!

By the way, that’s the way a progressive income tax system works. There’s not an in-office politician on this planet willing to put his neck on the line to propose an alternative, either.

And let’s think about “all” taxes for a moment. Did you know that “the poor” pay the most, as a percentage of their incomes, in payroll taxes? Yeah.

So let’s just put things in perspective and take a walk in others’ shoes before we set our views in stone.

None of this stuff is simple. If it were, wouldn’t we have figured it out long ago?

Here’s the thing man, I know you like repeating the republican mantra that the rich pay most of the taxes, but you really need to give that soundbite a rest. People like you who perpetuate the republican/democrat, us against them paradigm, love to quote endless IRS statistics showing who pays what and who doesn’t. Funny though, what you guys never seem to mention is why the rich pay what they do–IT’S BECAUSE THEY OWN EVERY FREAKING THING. According to the Federal Reserve, the richest 1 percent of Americans own or control more financial wealth than the bottom 95 percent combined. Furthermore, wages adjusted for inflation, using the governments own bogus CPI numbers, show wages have not increased substantially since the 1970′s. Unless you’re having tea and crumpets in the Hamptons today with Buffet or Gates, that 1% does not include you. Oh, and just in case you think they earned all that wealth think: 34,750 lobbyists from K street lobbying firms and special interest groups with instant access to all 535 members of congress to bribe, extort, and blackmail favorable legislation. You doubt that, just do a little research and see how mush money these lobbyist are making and spending–trust me, it’s not for the collective good of the American people.

As for healthcare reform, the republicans nor democrats give a crap about giving Americans any king of meaningfful help in making healthcare more affordable for most of us. This whole political circus is about stealing more of our property in order to keep the ponzi economy going until their new system is in place. Why else do thing you think they will start taxing us immediately but will not pay out any benefits for 3 to 4 years? Or are you normally not that inquisitive?

You got posters commenting on taxes paid by this class and that class, throwing around very questionable figures with links to shaky reference websites. Do us a favor by sorting this all out. Its getting a little noisy in here.

http://www.heritage.org/research/taxes/wm2420.cfm

JIMMY IN VEGAS: If you paid all the top executives just $1 instead of the millions they make you would put a dent in the side of a cruise ship. Obama has already said it will be almost a Trillion dollars to do universal health care so the paycheck these guys make doesn’t even scratch the service of the high premiums. I think one study I saw that if they didn’t get paid at all our premiums would drop by 1 penny a year. Your argument has not merit.

And to suggest that this admin is any worse than the last is total hypocrisy. Bush did TARP. Bush let energy prices skyrocket (encouraged them, in fact, by starting wars in the Gulf). Inflation is an implicit, quiet tax that nobody ever bitches about.

I guess it’s because the poor bears most of the burden.

http://www.allegromedia.com/sugi/taxes/

The takeaway is that the top 20% pay something around 85% of all income taxes in the US. Somewhere close to 45%-50% pay no net income taxes. The middle class (broadly defined as the middle 60% pay approx. 15% of taxes.

Jimmy-
If you think the insurance companies are bad (their costs have been increasing because of cost shifting from Medicare/Medicaid as well as the cost of new technology), wait until the government takes over. Then, you’ll have no options, even higher costs, and rationed services. If you think adding the current uninsured to the medical system will lower costs and increase supply then I submit that you will be very unpleasantly surprised.

There are ways to address the current problems with HC that do not require the government to take over another 6th of the economy as well as practically every aspect of your life. HSAs coupled with catastrophic care insurance + a high risk pool for pre-existing conditions (BTW, HC for a pre-existing condition is NOT insurance, it is just a capped-fee unlimited demand entitlement) + interstate insurance competition + tort reform would meaningfully lower costs while maintaining/increasing flexibility and technology improvements.

My 2 cents worth