Posted on 09/25/2011 6:52:23 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
This past week, President Obama tried to sell his new “millionaires’ tax” to the Rust Belt. “What’s great about this country is our belief that anyone can make it,” he said in Cincinnati on Thursday, praising “the idea that any one of us can open a business or have an idea that could make us millionaires.” But who are the millionaires Obama is talking about? And will a tax on them help the economy? Let’s examine a few presumptions about the man with the monocle on the Monopoly board.
1. Millionaires are rich.
Being rich has gotten more expensive. A $1 million fortune was unusual in the early 19th century. The word “millionaire” wasn’t even coined until 1827 by novelist (and future British prime minister) Benjamin Disraeli. In 1845, Moses Y. Beach, editor of the New York Sun, published a small pamphlet called “Wealth and Biography of the Wealthy Citizens of New York City.” The price of admission to Beach’s list, which was wildly popular, was a mere $100,000.
By the time the first Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America was published in 1982, the smallest fortune featured was $75 million. There has been so much wealth creation in the past 30 years — much of it thanks to the microprocessor behind modern-day fortunes such as Dell, Microsoft and Bloomberg — that only billionaires are on the list. Today, $1 million in the bank generates only about $50,000 per year in interest. That isn’t chump change, but it’s roughly equal to the 2010 median household income.
2. Millionaires think they’re rich.
“Rich,” like “poor,” is a relative term. A family living on the American median income of $50,000 a year might think that one living on $500,000 is rich.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Usually, yes, because you don’t understand the concept of ‘process,’ which makes a huge difference in how you view money and how it’s earned.
Ping
Yeah, my bank pays 0.15% on savings accounts, but I think for 1 million I might get the 0.3%. $3000 per year!
My C.U. pays 0.17% and advertizes their home equity loans at 3.40%, 20 times what they pay out on savings accounts.
Most owners of small businesses are taxed on their business income, but need to either to leave the profits in the business to pay their bills or lend it back to the business because of cash flow needs.
So they are not necessarily living on this high income, just taxed on it. Often there is not enough cash flow to pay the profits to the owners due to investment in receivables, inventory and fixed assets.
Dividends and capital gains are subject to double taxation - both at individual and corporate levels. So the 15% tax rate on the indivual is actually 50% on the total taxpayer.
This from the Obama Post?
dogs and cats sleeping together time.
Guess this writer just figured out that he is a millionaire and is about to get hammered. Funny how the press will go along with punitive policies until it affects them.
Maybe he read the book, “The millionaire next door” and couldn’t refute it.
Another myth to add.
From former VP algore. If a person makes 250K per year for 4 years running that makes them a millionaire.
can’t make this stuff up. And he was 2nd in line for the office of the presidency.
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