Skibum -
it's not cheating the system, but instead, using the system. First off, you must understand something; the majority of congress and lawmakers are wealthy, and therefore have designed a system to cater to their own interests. While they do in fact write many laws looking out for the smaller guy, it's a given that they will give themselves tax breaks.
They specifically wrote these laws with full knowledge of the loopholes - and they use them themselves.
It's not seclusive. These tax breaks and loopholes are available to everyone. Yes, even the lower class can take full advantage of these breaks. But do they? No. The reason for this is because the majority of the lower class chooses to be uninformed. They have little interest in taxes, government, and how it operates. There are overwhelming statistics which clearly demonstrate such.
Apathy - one of the dividing factors that seperate those who are successfull and those who are not.
People who have millions at stake make it their business to stay informed. They will read countless articles, they will hire lawyers, they will go to seminars, and they will take advice if only it means learning one new tax break - for that alone could save them hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Regardless, the top few percent of the rich will still pay for the majority of the taxes - there is no way around that. Whether it's property tax, sales tax, income tax, or estate tax, one form or another, they will pay millions more than the rest of us combined. These lawmakers realized this and want to encourage the wealthy to continue business in the United States. So, they designed tax breaks and loopholes as a form of incentive. They will still pay millions, but it's a 'reward' system and it works.
Sure, you could try shunning the rich. You could penalize them even further. Let's ignore the fact that they have mostlikely worked hard for their money. They have done what most people wouldn't. Even if they didn't work hard for their money and had it handed to them, it's still a struggle to hold on to it. For a fool and his money are soon parted. They will lose their money if they are not smart about it. So, let's forget about this for a second and decide that the rich should pay 80% of their money in taxes.. Before, they had 100 million and can now keep 20 of it. They still have 20 million! That sounds like comfortable living to me. Now, let's look at the effects of this move realistically.
Realistically, if someone had just taken 8/10 of the money you had saved up because they felt you had too much money and should share it. How would you feel? Infuriated. Would you want to do business with that person? No. By the way, let's not forget that the rich control the economy. It's true. What they do with their money effects all of us. Realistically, they would be sickened with the governement and would try and protect their money. They would not let this happen again. So, they would move their money to offshore accounts. They would pull their money out of America and invest in foreign markets.
Do you realize what this would do? It's no longer practical for this rich man to run his business in the United States. Simply, he can't afford it. Guess what? This man is your boss, which means you are now out of a job. Say goodbye to your paycheck... and good luck finding a job where you make half of what you did - for the whole economy took a direct hit. The whole nation would only farther plummit into debt, for it has now lossed the sole backbone of the economy. But hey, it sounds like a good idea to me.
Once again, could you please remind me how using the laws that were specifically deisgned to provide tax breaks for EVERYONE (not just the rich) is cheating the system?
Eat. Sleep. Breathe. Ski.
