Random Arguments & Strawmen #15

I wonder if his decision was the right one in this case, or maybe there is no black and white here. Sounds like if he wanted real change then he would have stuck to his guns.

Eh, it was a bit of an assumption, but the Democrat politicians as of late seem more interesting in dinging corporations with taxes than figuring out how to save the jobs of the workers. Let's take Obama, for example:

On a side note, I just got this ad:


Just a wee bit late there.

Don't forget circumcisions!

Just a small snippet though.
Get it?
I know I'm not funny...

YOUR PUNS CAN'T SAVE YOU NOW.

that skeleton looks kinda racist.

It is because it's white isn't it?

My body is ready.

I don't think it is.

Not tonight baby. I got a headache.

Abortion should be illegal.

Vaccines cause autism.


Discuss !

Actually FFXIAH causes autism...which leads to abortions...which causes autism...etc !

Let's ask an expert on autism:

How dare you make a reference to Dante's Inferno on a Monday !

I had this playing while Kali's streaming FFXV in another tab. She was paused so half way through McCarthy's rant I started hearing a deep Japanese voice.

You can believe Jenny though she is attractive how could she be wrong !

Hmm...don't know what the point of that article is.

Is it to show how intelligent these businesses are? I mean, if I were in their positions, I would do the exact same thing, which is to keep already taxed (at foreign levels) income in the country they are in instead of bringing it back to the states where they will be taxed again for no other reason but to be taxed.

It's like making a few dollars in one state, paying the state taxes in that state, and going home in your main state and being taxed just because. How again is that fair?

The whole liberal argument against the wealthy is that the rich and businesses "aren't paying their fair share." How can being double taxed be considered fair at any point, where most of the population isn't double taxed (unless you have stock, but that's another story)?

Any update on Pennsylvania? Haven't seen jack diddly squat on the internet regarding the supreme court thing.

All the Trump supporters are doing this to Stein right now:

As they should

I was using it to imply that they currently don't really have a tax "burden" and they certainly don't need a tax "relief"

But to play with your argument a bit there are several arguments about the wealthy and taxing them.

First we can look at Pews research which suggests that taxes are fair based on income and tax returns. I think that is honestly a fair assessment but on the other hand:

Second we can look at Americans for tax fairness

They state that the Top 1% own 35% of the wealth but only pay 24.7% federal income tax rate.


This tells me their their wealth is stored in other assets that allow them to avoid taxes. At least given what limited knowledge I have on the subject.

Further more a progressive tax isn't about necessarily being "fair" % wise but rather fair $$$ wise. The aim is about more income equality and about give more money to the less fortunate. The wealthy have more money and only a certain amount of money is required to live a comfortable lifestyle, therefore they have more money to give. So "fair" in this regards is actually in relation to individuals and flat $$$ amounts.


Going even further the wealthy take advantage of Tax loopholes, which we can't blame them for doing that but that doesn't mean we can't fix the loopholes. Namely the tax havens.


I think the pharmaceutical industry is the worst though because most of their drugs are paid for by tax payers and they then turn around and sell them for a huge profit and avoid tons of taxes through tax havens and other loop holes.

*looks around*

It's still here.

Allegheny County and the Philadelphia region are still the only places that voted for Hillary and I'm sorry, I just don't see that changing on a recount. Trump cleaned the *** up in rural districts.

Maybe. Maaaaaybe if Erie County flips. But I really doubt it. Erie, like a lot of the Great Lakes port cities, has been hemorrhaging industrial jobs for decades. Too many late middle age, high school-educated voters in those areas that need work for Hillary's message to resonate. It's hard to worry about how other people are doing when your own life's lookin' kinda dicey.

They do have a tax burden.

Let's use some of the examples used in the article:

Apple, $19 billion in income taxes.
Microsoft, $19 billion in income taxes.
Pfizer, $2 billion in income taxes.

Mind you, these are direct income taxes. Not property taxes, not payroll taxes, not royalty/capital/other taxes, but pure income taxes. Which would have increased if they repatriated foreign income. Income that, you know, already been taxed at the foreign source.

So, yes, they have a tax burden. A very large one, in fact. Offering these companies tax reliefs in order to keep manufacturing in the US is a smart move, and one that states have been doing for decades. Attributing Trump to this particular one is a little silly, but if he really negotiated it, then kudos for him.

And they are entitled to their opinion. Do you know what their opinion is, and can you describe it in your own words?

Um....no.

What this tells you is what it exactly means. While the top 1% of the US owns 35% of the total US wealth (I heard so many differing values to this, ranging between 25 to 60%), and their average rate is 24.7% rate, that means that most of their income is considered capital in nature, which is taxed at 23.8%. No illegal "tax evasion" done. It also shows that most of the income from the top 1% of the nation in terms of wealth is investment. Investment with money that has already been taxed before, and only the income from the investment is being taxed (and not the principle).

There is nothing wrong with any of that at all.

Define fair.

You just defined income redistribution. How is taking income from people who earned it and giving it to the government, who redistributes said income in various programs, including welfare, considered fair?

Believe it or not, this discussion was already done in a separate thread.

Let's see:

"Most of their drugs are paid for by tax payers..." I'm assuming you mean government grants given to companies for R&D. In which case, you are right.

"avoid tons of taxes through tax havens..." Actually, the pharmaceutical industry is one of the few industries that cannot hold offshore accounts at all by regulation. So, nice try.

"...and other loop holes." Can you name some?

What erks me the most is people claiming a loophole without knowing what a loophole is. Taking advantage of what tax law specifically states is not a loophole. Taking advantage of what tax law (or any law) doesn't intend is.

Section 179 is commonly referred to as a tax loophole, but it's a specific law detailing expending capital investment (mainly machinery and equipment) fully with limitations. That was specifically created to expense specific expenses instead of doing a modified schedule for expending them (aka depreciation). Not a loophole as that is what the law intends to do.

I found where the money FFXIAH makes from ads goes:

Whatever little money leftover after taxes website goes to funding terrorists in Syria.

Scragg blew it all on a Tesla... there is a pic of it somewhere...

scraggs tesla