Do we need a doggy tax break? Michigan Rep Thaddeus McCotter thinks so

Fair enough, i can see how that would have sounded high strung...and yes i do care and for that i apologize...I can be a lil passionate in my expression sometimes and that was a generalized high horse concept but as my reply was to you specifically i should have been careful in putting the sentences together and broken up the paragraph aimed at your point, and my generalization. entirely my fault and i admit it.

Can we still be friends? lol anyone who dreams of owning a porsche cant be that bad....after all it is a marvel of engineering.

Edit: and ok maybe i was a bit jealous that you owned my dream car, presumptuous on my part lol

There is such a resentment against the rich in this country. A reverse-discrimination, me thinks.

The very rich DO spend money. Our customers support 7 landscape crews, and about 10 other people at our nursery. Those 6,000 sq. ft mansions require staff to keep them running.

When they stop spending, EVERYONE feels it.

So spend it, babycakes.

You sound surprised that rich people get to buy more stuff than poor people. More toys, bigger houses, better healthcare. That's why people get out of bed in the morning and go to work.

No problems bcw; and yes, the Porsche is a great machine (well, the 911 anyway).

Regarding your point about classes of people who can buy puppies; I do think that children, puppies, and everything should be restricted to people who can afford these responsibilities.

I don't think it's MY repsponsibility to pay for it, do you?

I agree the rich need to spend in order for us make a living its economics 101, but my reservation isnt against the rich, its against the idea that the poor dont deserve breaks. Our system is lopsided and doesnt promote equal distribution atleast not like it was originally intended..while some minority of government trys to bring some form of equilibrium by promoting tax breaks for low income households, the other major form of government takes care of only the rich investors. Hey Capitalism is flawed who knew lol but it works to a decent extent. It just seems so weird that after so many years of progression we still havent come up with a better system that ensures that the common man can excel.

I went to college that i couldnt afford, slogged my ass off to get a degree, worked nights and weekends..and presto got a high paying job and was on my way to the american dream?
No.

Good firms wanted experience and a proven track record so after years of working for flybynight shell (empty) corporations that made a killing in the market in six months and filled bankruptcy and disappeared faster than david copperfiled, i finally got a job that paid me less than 50k a year....only to be laid off due to a recession. Now where is the justice in that?? i am not alone millions of people are in my boat...and its sinking fast.

i have no aversion towards the rich, hell i want to be one of them, but what i do resent is the idea that the rich dont want to contribute to the well being of the working class.

Normally in this country the government tends to look after the wealthy, there is no socialized medical help, the number of non insured patients is appalling, and if you are poor the general consensus of the rich is ...."well thats not my bloody problem" but when the government does someting charitable and necessary as say a tax break for children all of a sudden there is a huge uproar bout spending "hard earned tax payer dollars on people with kids when i the richer man dont have children, why should i have to pay for others that do?"

This is very disturbing. If you make good money, dont have children and pay taxes, all you are doing is helping the rest of your fellow neighbors that dont have the means to provide for their kids....if you dont make enough money, have children and get a tax break all you are doing is getting some form of compensation and help for your more fortunate neighbors. I see this as a good thing

no i sound surprised at the fact that people in general believe that toys are reserved for the rich. saying that dont give them money they will just spend it on an xbox or something demonstrates a point of view that borders on an aristocratic lineage. Its discrimination, like saying to a poor man that you dont belong in a fancy restaurant, who cares if its your wifes birthday and that you have been married for 30 years! cant you read the sign.....no dogs, Indians, or poor people allowed!

The problem though is that you're asking ME and other tax payers to PAY for your dinner with your wife.

I have no problem with poor people buying an Xbox or going to dinner and buying $60 steaks and lobster and washing it down with a $200 bottle of wine. Please, enduldge.

Just don't FORCE me to PAY for it.

yes i watch topgear all the time and the 911 and the 911gt are my dream cars...ill settle for a boxster because well its the only porsche that i might be able to afford someday lol

No while i must admit that the dog thing is a little out of hand, but from my understanding its a deduction you can/could claim....the government isnt paying me YOUR money to keep the dog, its Letting me keep some of MY money that i spent on my dog as a tax deduction. And besides the same applies for the child. When i file my taxes i get one break for my child that's it. I dont have to pay income tax and i get a refund based on my contributions.

let me aks you this. Do you try to claim as much deduction as possible to save on your taxes, do you claim mileage? do you try to maximise your return or lower your taxes as much as possible or are you one of those people that just pays taxes no matter what? just a question not trying to piss you off

I get that it's letting you keep your own money (in some cases; the child tax credit allows people to get money back from the government in EXCESS of what they put in. For example, if you have 3 kids and no job and pay zero taxes and are on welfare, you'll get a tax 'return' of roughly $13000 for your kids).

BUT, if you get to keep more of your money, the government needs to take more of MY money to pay for things the government provides. The government gives you more of your money back, and reaches a little deeper into my pocket because of it.

So in fact, I AM paying for it.

And yes, I like every other American, try to pay as little in taxes as I can. I'm not going to pay more if no one else is; I believe in fairness above all else.

Don't be fooled into believing that I think we should lower taxes; in fact I believe the exact opposite; we need to raise them and eliminate our deficit and national debt.

Ok maybe i dont understand this but how is me buying an xbox with money that the government reimburses me forcing you to pay for it.

When you pay your taxes to the government, your taxation obilgation ends. You are in a higher income bracket so you pay taxes, i am in a lower income bracket, not by choice but by virtue of situations beyond my control so i get a refund....if i spend it on an xbox to put a smile on my kids face its my prerogative right? besides isnt the point of a refund to stimulate the lower income bracket? i spend on a commodity it goes right back into the economy.

Your point is, if you have to pay taxes, and i am the one getting back a refund then you should dictate how i spend it?

Ok i get it, some people take advantage of the child credit thing....i am not one of them i work i am not on welfare, i get a minimal 700 to a thousand back from my taxes, i work 3 jobs so i dont have to be on welfare so i dont think your beef is with me or my kind of a person....its with the degenerate that lives off welfare even when he has the ability to provide. I am NOT one of those people. Now i see your point. but clearly the system was not designed to be taken advantage of and clrealy some people are and that is a problem that we need to address with our government

And let me just say that i find this discussion very enlightening, it gives me a better understanding of why some people feel the way they do. Its life from your perspective and it broadens my view point. please do not be offended in anyway, i like debates and when i am wrong or i realize that that my view is skewed i will be the first to admit. But i am fierce in backing up my point of view with facts. and stand by my opinions which stem from my personal experiances not hear say

Junior high Debate champion lol

I'm not too concerned with those that take advantage; I think that those people are pretty rare and I believe that they'll get what's coming to them.

I am 100% against people getting more money back than they put in though. This should be a simple fix in our system, and needs to be done. Like I said before, I can see people paying $0 taxes in some cases, and given that we have surpluses in our federal budget; but people getting back MORE in 'refunds' than they ever put in is WRONG.

And I know you're not those people; and I respect your work effort, it sounds similar to my own (which is why I took such offense at the 'you're not a hard worker' reference in your initial post).

I grew up in a family with 6 kids and my family was on welfare. I busted my ass in school, have been working since I was 15. I've spent several years with multiple jobs, and only in the last 2 years has my income reached a level where I feel comfortable.


I just want people to realize that every 'refund' or 'credit' that is offered to anybody is paid for by people who don't qualify for that refund or credit. I'm not saying that it means I should dictate how your spend your money, but it should give me some 'say' in whether or not you should get the money in the first place (since it's 'mine' in a sense). And I will write and vote for people who agree with me.

yes your story is very similar to mine, and yes i agree getting more back than you put in is wrong. My story is very similar and i was at a point in my life that finally things were working out but that is no longer the case so i have decided to go back to school, this time i am going to trade school to pick a career that i always wanted. I am tired of selling stuff for a living and cant stand it anymore, i am good with my hands and can fix a lot of things in various different fields to am going to get my electrician/heating/cooling associates from a trade school and do what i have always wanted to do. Wish me luck!

Good luck!

I sometimes entertain the idea of getting a job that requires working with my hands (auto mechanic being the current 'dream'). Unfortunately/Fortunately I make too much at my current job, and my benefits/vacation time are too good right now that going to be an auto mechanic would be a significant step down. So, I'm stuck in my desk, in my cubical-hell, running queries, segmenting customer data, and generating ways to save my company many millions of dollars (which I won't see a whole lot of).