‘Member of the 1%’ shocks Reddit: ‘I’m voting for Bernie Sanders. Here’s why’

[Proserpina]

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/member-of-the-1-shocks-reddit-im-voting-for-bernie-sanders-heres-why/

A self-described member of the 1 percent shocked the Reddit community on Wednesday with an explanation of why he was voting for the presidential candidate who has made higher taxes for the wealthy a tenet of his campaign.

In a wildly popular Reddit post, a user named thunderd11 announced: “I’m a member of the 1% and I’m voting for Bernie Sanders.”

The user who described himself as a “white male in my 30s” said that he grew up “fairly poor,” and then started a successful consulting firm after nearly a decade in the military, earning him “membership in the 1% by pretty much any definition of the phrase.”

He argued that Sanders’ plan to raise taxes on the wealthy was the right way to address income inequality.

“After all the write offs, business expenses, mortgage interest deductions etc… My Taxable Income is less than half of my Gross Income,” the 1 percenter noted. “Add in my capital gains earnings at their super low tax rate even though my gross income is well over the top tax bracket my effective tax rate is usually around 17-18% every year and could actually be quite a bit lower if I put actual effort into (legal) tax avoidance strategies.”

“This gives me a slightly lower effective tax rate than my housekeeper.”

And according to the business owner, returning to the higher a 90 percent rate would take his effective tax rate to “33% instead of an effective 18%.”

“So please don’t let the ‘91% top tax bracket’ fool you. The rich will still be PLENTY rich. My standard of living will change exactly 0%,” he insisted. “I’ll still drive an expensive car and go on nice vacations and pay my employees and buy the same things I always bought.”

Agreeing with Sanders on the issue of income inequality, he predicted that doubling the minimum wage would be “wonderful for business.”

“Feel free to look up all the studies of how very little product prices would have to increase to support doubling the minimum wage and still maintain profit margins. It’s laughable,” he wrote. “I pay every one of my employees above market rates cutting into my own profit margins and here’s the result. I have a cult following.”

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[stillwaiting]

1. This is exactly why I don't understand detractors who say that the wealthy won't pay...

... and NEVER DID pay 91% tax because of deductions and loopholes. And, they say it to try and get others to agree that it's pointless to raise it to levels we have historically had in this country.

OF COURSE they didn't pay 91% of their income in taxes! But they don't pay 40% now! And, they will pay much more than they do now (and that they SHOULD be contributing to our society) if we raise the income tax rates back to higher levels. At these higher levels, they won't be paying LOWER effective tax rates than their housekeepers and secretaries. This is the only fair and just thing to do in our society, and it's time we demand it.

[mountain grammy]

2. He is correct.

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. KnR

[beac]

4. Part of the 1% of the 1%ers who get it.

K&R!

[TBF]

5. I know how he feels

and concur. I was blue collar growing up and buried myself in student loans trudging through school. Now doing very well. But when you start from behind (not with a million dollars from your dad like Donald Trump) you are always playing catch up. I'm not in the 1%. Subtract debts from assets, maybe top 5% like much of the professional class in the same position. Many of us know exactly what has happened in this country - the very wealthy folks that we work for (who are 1% - and top echelon of the 1%) have robbed this country blind vis a vis wall street.

[fasttense]

6. This is a very rare man

A very, rich person who pulled himself up by his boot straps. No inheritance there like Trump. He didn't do it stealing and attempting to finagle it by hook and crook. He doesn't tare down businesses and send them off to China while pocketing the savings like Mitt. He even pays his people above the going rate even though capitalism encourages slave wages.

And he knows how lucky he has been, he even understands he didn't get there on his own and wants to pay his fair share to support the country that made it possible for him. A truely rare man.

[Overseas]

7. K&R. Another benefit of higher tax rates is impetus to reinvest in the business and employees.

When tax rates were higher, executives who didn't want to give so much to the government had more incentive to invest in their businesses and raise their workers' pay.

And everyone knows that when wages go up, the middle class spends more, which revives the economy, so it bothers me when media pundits ignore those facts and just talk about Americans not liking tax increases. The pundits just promote the anti-tax narrative of the top 1%, instead of stating the facts that support raising taxes on the top 5%.

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. They save more too, which is good for Wall Street n/t