During seven of the eight George W. Bush years, the IRS report on the top 400 taxpayers was labeled a state secret, a policy that the Obama administration overturned almost instantly after his inauguration. Maybe this is why we're told that he's a "socialist".

who knows where in 2004. What year is it???

I guess Warren Buffett doesn't agree.

Don't you dare inject reality into Willy's fantasy world! Its the only thing he has to cling to while he pushes papers pointlessly around a desk and pretends that whatever pointless job he does for the gov't is relevant! Just leave him alone!!!!!!

of President Bush's tax cuts, started between 2001 and 2004.

The rich are already paying an HUGE amount of the taxes.

Perhaps its time for the MOOCHERS to get off their ass...

willy, tell you what. Why don't you get a second mortgage on your house, withdraw all your life savings, borrow as much as you can from your friends and relatives, get as much cash as you can from your insurance policies, sell all your recording equipment/musical instruments, firearms, etc., sell your car, and buy a 15 year old clunker, and total up all the money you then would have. Now, put your thinking cap on, make a decision, and start your own business venture. Doesn't matter what it is. Could be a fast food franchise, a string of korean dry cleaner shops, Midas Muffler business, whatever. Now for many years to come, work 7 days/week, 12-14 hours/day, take no vacations, abandon all your friends and social outlets, no more hobbying, no healthcare, (can't afford it now, can you), take minimal salary for the first few years, and pour all your profits back into your business. If you have a sound business plan, and execute it accordingly, after 10 plus years of dedication and hard work, you too could be considered 'rich'. Maybe even have more than a few franchises by then. Come back, and tell us how much you enjoy paying the taxes you were extolling on the previous 'rich'.

Good friend of mine's oldest son did all the above. He now owns 7 Burger King's and makes more than a few million/year. Colby Enterprises. I'd like to personally invite you to tell him he should pay more in taxes.

Now, times awastin' son, so get off your dead ass and get started.

-- Modified on 4/18/2011 5:57:04 PM

corporations use to pay 27.3% of GDP in taxes.
today, they only pay 8.9%

It is time to end “The More you make the Less You Pay” world of today, where for the 400 U.S. taxpayers with the highest adjusted gross income, the effective federal income tax rate—what they actually pay—fell from almost 30% in 1995 to just under 17% in 2007, according to the IRS.

and what impact would that have on our current deficit?

another question, when dems and proggies whine about "the Bush taxcuts for the rich" are they oblivious to the fact that "the poor and middle class" got even BIGGER taxes cuts? why don't they mention that?
How is it we could "afford" those but not the upper brackets? Is'nt a dollar by any other name still a dollar?
lastly, why do they harp on tax cuts for "millionaires and billionaires", yet set the income cutoff at $250,000?

Maybe $250,000aires just does'nt work for sound bites....

the blame it on bush crowd continues...have we ever seen a prez blame it on the guy before him for 4 years?  i'd say our second black prez should get off his butt and start to work for the people instead of himself and his friends......

stand a chance in the real world, now would he. LOLOLOLOL

Who knows? Maybe the laugh is on us. Maybe he's really a gov't spy and tallying up all the IP addresses used here and all the viewpoints and so on. When he gets up to whatever magical number it is, he can release all the info to HIS bosses and they'll come get us for - gasp! - revolutionary ideas such as working for ourselves (independent business women) and having fun (after all, pleasure is such a Puritan no-no) and oh yes, having a life!

Nah... sorry, the writer in me got away.

That's much too fantastic even for Willy...

It more like Republican fantasy. You Republican bunch have will fully suspended reality, set aside honest and truthful analysis with pure rubbish and by attacking truth with yelling obscenity. Next you all are going to call the author an idiot while you cannot pull of an analysis or understand the analysis even if your life depends on it.

Any of you even read the article? Carrying on rational and intelligent debate with you like carrying on conversation with cows in cow pasture, no I take that back, cows do understand certain things!

If so, cite your source.

BTW, who gives a crap about what Buffett says. He is free to give his money to the government all he wants. Intesting he has chosen "private charities" instead. Seems like he is aware of one thing, giving money to teh government is just pissing it away.

Just another example of his hypocricy linked below....

It would seem snow did't read your article Willy.........

...then let me state that first I have no problem telling this guy that he should pay more in taxes. Is this Mike Colby of 119 S Pemberton Road Pemberton, NJ 08068? Got an email addy handy? A phone number perhaps?

Secondly, if you think me telling him that he should pay more in taxes is the worse thing I could say to him, then you're mistaken. How hard can it be to make a profit when one week of profits pays the labor cost of your employees for a month?

Thirdly, I gotta ask, what kind of a scumbag do you take me for? What kind of fucking sleeze bag would pay their employees minimum wage selling harmful, if not poisonous "food" to the public, and reap enough awards from this treachery, yes treachery, to make millions? What does this guy do to fun? Step on new born kittens until they bleed?

And lastly, if you think a guy who owns a few Booger Kings count as rich, then you don't know what you're talking about. Make no mistake, this guy is a scumbag. I'm sure he's on the government teet as well, just like any other "for-profit venture" in this country. But I gotta say, it pales in a trillion bucks in profit the oil industry made in the last decade, and yet still get $54 billion in tax payer dollars.  

-- Modified on 4/19/2011 2:48:08 AM

Like I said, not a whole hell of a lot different.

The top 5% paying almost 60% of the taxes.

The bottom 50% paying less than 3%...

Any more questions...

and how the real world operates. Better start saving your pennies, because you GS job is could be in jeopardy when the cuts start coming....and they will. Kiss your pension goodbye , no Social Security to fall back on, and your next boss, more than likely, will not give 2 shits about how 'hard' you worked.

Btw, I'd like to supersize my order kiddo!!! Or maybe you'll be "Working at the Car Wash". LMAO.

Those numbers are from the IRS, what the hell else do you want???

Jersey, I've been saving my pennies for a while, which is a shame because I could be paying a lot of contractors to do a lot of work on my home. But since the GOP can't get a budget together, I guess it's their loss. I'm not old enough yet to have earned much of a pension yet, but getting rid of it would be in breach of contract.

Of course, in times like these, it's smart to develop an economic contingency plan. My plan involves a US passport.

You would do well to worry less about Willy, and make sure that when you're thousands of feet in the air, that the air traffic controller on the ground isn't trying to catch up on sleep.

I love the way you blame the GOP when your party controlled both houses and the Executive branch for two years and couldn't get anything done, not even with a supermajority.

I will agree with your plan involving a US Passport. If your boy fucks things up too badly, I can always head to another country where the dollar goes far and live like a king for the rest of my life. What kind of options do you have?

ATC is the least of my worries. The never ending flow of taxpayers money going out the doors of Congress are my worst fears.

When your position is terminated, so is your pension. You might get a severance payment though.

Speaking off the subject, about air traffic controllers, if you worked their schedule, you'd fall asleep anywhere. They are constantly sleep deprived. They work 5 on, 2 off. First day on, they work 6:00am-2:00pm, then report back in at midnight for a 12:00am-8:00am shift. Then back again at 6:00pm to 2:00am, and so on, for 5 days. Rotating shifts are a killer on your body. Your circadian rhythm doesn't know what the fuck is going on.