I just want to take a quick poll...

[A//// Guy]

5 more dollars here to keep Toms ban train going. Were so fawked.

[At-Least-It's-An-Evo]

Obama won, even in our poll. There's nothing you can do about it. Yay.

[BLaCk_1cE]

Love him or hate him, I think we should all go out and buy every newspaper and save them for generations for this enormously historical election.

[A//// Guy]

Originally Posted by BLaCk_1cE

Love him or hate him, I think we should all go out and buy every newspaper and save them for generations for this enormously historical election.

Or burn them. haha jk

[kittay]

I'm scared.
My husband will lose his engineering job thanks to overtaxing of the rich. Since now his boss won't be able to expand let alone pay him..

I don't like the idea that I'll go work at Burger King and make as much as he was making.. And now welfare is going to have a HUGE increase of people.

The job market scares me. If employers get over taxed and can't afford workers, what is going to happen? We're already in a hiring freeze.

There is a huge potential for lack of motivation to go college now. If everyone makes equal salaries, why bother getting a trade?

[Matt D.]

Originally Posted by kittay

I'm scared.
My husband will lose his engineering job thanks to overtaxing of the rich. Since now his boss won't be able to expand let alone pay him..

My friend who drives truck is as scared as you. His employer makes over $250k. Fuel is already expensive, increase taxes, pay your employees less, and soon enough they won't be able to afford to live.

[john]

Originally Posted by Matt D.

My friend who drives truck is as scared as you. His employer makes over $250k. Fuel is already expensive, increase taxes, pay your employees less, and soon enough they won't be able to afford to live.

How do you know that the TAXABLE income is over $250k? Did you see their tax return? Lets say for example that you have a business with $300k taxable income (Basic definition: that means revenues-expeneses) they will have 300k in their pocket at the end of the year (assumes no payoff of debt or additional investing). Lets say thier tax rate is 35% (I don't know off the top of my head, I am not at work), they will pay 105k in taxes and make 185k after tax. lets say that they increase the tax rate 10% (unlikely) to 45 %, the person will take home 165k, a difference of 20k. If this person cannot afford to pay their bills after taking home 165k in CASH, they are living above their means.

I do not feel sorry for anyone who is living the high life, making a good amount of money, and SPENDING TOO MUCH.

If these people are worried about their business, maybe they will decide to change their priorities and leave some money in the business instead of spend it. It is ignorant to believe that an increase in the tax rate is going to kill a lot of jobs. IF YOU ARE NOT MAKING MONEY, YOU ARE NOT PAYING TAXES, plain and simple.

I had a client come in for a meeting with me and a partner of the firm who makes 200k and was having cashflow problems. I wanted to slap him. He wanted us to solve his cashflow problem, he would be short 10k in the next couple months. His salary of 18k per month was included in his numbers.

Anyone who makes enough to worry about increased taxes through Obama doesn't get any sympathy from me. If they cant pay the taxes, they shouldn't be living above their means.

[slowbubblecar]

Originally Posted by kittay

I'm scared.
My husband will lose his engineering job thanks to overtaxing of the rich. Since now his boss won't be able to expand let alone pay him..

I don't like the idea that I'll go work at Burger King and make as much as he was making.. And now welfare is going to have a HUGE increase of people.

The job market scares me. If employers get over taxed and can't afford workers, what is going to happen? We're already in a hiring freeze.

There is a huge potential for lack of motivation to go college now. If everyone makes equal salaries, why bother getting a trade?

I am sure everyone will make the same salary in a few years now that Obama is going into office...

One of the local TV networks compared the tax policies for the 2 canidates and Obamas tax increase for the wealthy was a only $600 per person making $250k+. Overall, they said McCains policy will put the nation more in debt than Obamas by roughly 40%.

[kittay]

I'm nervous to see how the job situation turns out! I can't even find a job right now. If people are losing their jobs, what then?

[A//// Guy]

Yea, right after I was hired 3 weeks ago, they freezed hiring here, and also are making drastic cost cutting measures. Its scary.. Its all because of the fear of taxes being raised, hurting businesses the most.

[Kracka]

But hey, at least the lazy unemployed losers can still sit and home and watch the big-screens we've all bought for them with our tax dollars! Maybe I'll get a second job so I can support even more of them.

[Matt D.]

My roommate works for Ultimate Electronics corporate, but is part of the field team that manages the stores. The corporate office was cut in half last week, 50% of the people there were let go. He was told he's fortunate to still have a job, but after the holidays he's rather uncertain if he'll still be working there.

[1QUICK4]

My old lady was laid off this Monday due to the dealerships hurting so badly right now. She had been there for 13 years, manager for 8 of them.

Oh well, Obama's going to pay our bills for us

[john]

Originally Posted by Matt D.

My roommate works for Ultimate Electronics corporate, but is part of the field team that manages the stores. The corporate office was cut in half last week, 50% of the people there were let go. He was told he's fortunate to still have a job, but after the holidays he's rather uncertain if he'll still be working there.

Things like this happen when you are in a recession. Back on the comments about "worried about losing jobs" this is not due to increased taxes. It is the economy which is the problem. Crappy economy = less income = less people affected by increased taxes over 250k.

BTW I voted Obama, Franken, and YES.

[asshanson]

You guys are the biggest pessimists in the entire world. It seems like you're already blaming Obama for what has been happening over the past 6 months or year or whatever. I think it's going to keep getting worse for another couple years, no matter who is in office.

He is going to be an easy scapegoat for sure, which I think is dumb. He came into office at the worst time, but I'm hoping he can turn things around. Why can't we wait and see before being so negative?

And if any of you is making more than $200k/year salary after deductions, I think you shouldn't be complaining about having another couple percent income tax, that's a lot of money. Also I'm glad capital gains taxes are going up, that's how the rich make their money anyway, not through regular income.

[Goat Blower]

Originally Posted by slowboy

Also I'm glad capital gains taxes are going up, that's how the rich make their money anyway, not through regular income.

You've obviously didn't own a house more than three years ago as every home owner in the US rode the housing market wave after Clinton forced Fannie and Freddie give everybody a home loan. We all did pretty nicely on that, you wouldn't be so excited about doubling the capital gains tax if you were one of us. And besides that, exactly what do you think the government is going to do for you with that extra money? Show me any government program that is self-sufficient.

[slowbubblecar]

Originally Posted by Goat Blower

You've obviously didn't own a house more than three years ago as every home owner in the US rode the housing market wave after Clinton forced Fannie and Freddie give everybody a home loan. We all did pretty nicely on that, you wouldn't be so excited about doubling the capital gains tax if you were one of us. And besides that, exactly what do you think the government is going to do for you with that extra money? Show me any government program that is self-sufficient.

Um... Clinton did not force fannie and freddie to make loans. They don't even make loans. Loans are made by financial institutions and sold to fannie and freddie. The banks and credit unions who granted the loans are to blame. Housing values were increasing so rapidly that they were granting loans to poor credit borrowers with high debt to income. The financial institutions weren't worried as property values were increasing so rapidly that they wouldn't have to worry about losing money if they were to foreclose of on a property. I work as a bank examiner and work with financial institutions who sell loans to fannie and freddie.

BTW, you don't have to pay capital gains taxes on homes used as a primary residence if you live in it 2 years and don't make make more than a $250k profit for an individual or $500k profit for a couple.

[john]

Originally Posted by Goat Blower

You've obviously didn't own a house more than three years ago as every home owner in the US rode the housing market wave after Clinton forced Fannie and Freddie give everybody a home loan. We all did pretty nicely on that, you wouldn't be so excited about doubling the capital gains tax if you were one of us. And besides that, exactly what do you think the government is going to do for you with that extra money? Show me any government program that is self-sufficient.

First off, the housing market did too well for too long. I knew coming out of HS that it was going to collapse. The price of housing was rising a lot faster than peoples income levels. This is not a sustainable trend.

What happend is that people bought houses when they could hardly afford them banking on the houses gaining in value and being able to make ends meet in the short term as the long term outlook was good. They thought, if I wait a couple years when I can afford this house, it will be another 60k higher and I won't be able to afford it. Everyone was buying a house from an investment standpoint, not for a place to stay for their entire lives.

There is an exemption if someone holds a house as a principal residence (250k and 500k for joint) for 2 years or more. What this did is make is so most homeowners didn't have to pay capital gains tax on the sale of their home. What I am trying to get at is that even if you sold your house now and made $200k, you would most likely not be taxed.

People doing well in the housing market had absolutely nothing to do with the capital gains rates. If you are doing it every couple of years, the exemption applies. If you are flipping houses every few months, it is ordinary income and capital gains rates also don't apply. Only in the 1-2 year mark does the capital gains rate come into play, which is not very often.

If their wasn't demand for the houses, the market wouldn't have soared. The problem was that the demand was triggerred by houses appreciating too fast.

Don't try to get Obama's tax plan tied into the housing crisis as it has not affect on the future of the housing market. The capital gains rates are rare in the housing market.

[asshanson]

This is true, I didn't get to ride the housing wave, but it's the principle of it in my opinion, I think it should be higher than half what other income is taxed at.

I do have a question though, when do you pay the capital gains on a house? If you buy it for $100k, sell for $300k, then buy another $300k house, do you pay capital gains, or only if you buy a new one cheaper than $300k? I thought the only penalties were on buying a cheaper house than what you sold.

[MATCHBX]

You pay capital gains at the end of the tax year on anything higher than your regular income if I remember correctly. My mother had to go out and buy a new car in 2001 with what was left over from when she refinanced her home. If she hadn't, she would've been hit with capital gains on what was left.