Joe the Plumber, a new spin

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-16-2008
Joe the Plumber, a new spin
38
Fri, 10-17-2008 - 4:21pm

The appeal of Joe the Plumber is that he puts a face to a tax number. Even if he's really not earning that much or isn't even a plumber. I am married to someone who makes that much and let me try to make the same point from a different perspective.

Go ahead, raise my taxes Obama. You are right, I can afford it. But first I'd like you to meet Mike, Steve and Emily. I don't own a business or anything, but I do spend my money (you know, since I'm one of the have's, that's what we do). Obama wanta to spread my wealth around and here's how it will affect 3 people in the middle and lower income brackets.

Mike - Mike is a music school teacher. He does private lessons on the side to make a little extra, in addition to volunteering in a community band. He loves teaching and playing music. He teaches one of our children and we pay him $100/mo.

Steve - Steve works full time doing private music lessons. He has two kids who he pays child support for and he lives on the edge of poverty. Private lessons is his only source of income. We pay for him to instruct three of our children and me every week. We pay him $364/mo.

Emily - Emily works full time but became a mom at age 18 yo, has no education past high school and lives near the poverty level. She is on her own being recently divorced. She helps us out once or twice a week, earning $120-$160/mo.

I recalculated Obama's tax proposals and realized it will only cost my family $1,350/mo on average. I can cover almost half of that by cutting my budget back, not hiring the babysitter and doing away with private music lessons (they are luxury items anyway).

I'm sure Mike, Steve and Emily will be glad to know that instead of earning money from my family, they will get $500 refundable tax credit next year under Obama's plan. And maybe even if $300 stimulus check like they got from Bush in the past.

Make less and pay less in tax, that's Obama's plan for the middle class.

Pennsylvania Mom http://openlettertobarack.blogspot.com/
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-16-2008
Mon, 10-20-2008 - 10:46pm

The only other "luxury item" I could forego would be to cut back on the college savings for the kids, or we could reduce our charitable contributions, I could stop going to school (working on a change in careers for when I re-enter the workforce). I had no idea we were in the top 5% of households until a few weeks ago, when my dh said so. I didn't believe him and had to look it up.

I have been lower middle and middle-middle class my whole life up until I married my dh. I put myself through college. I worked 2 jobs for years to make it by before I was able to go to college (I went in my mid to late 20s). I built a career, I've been divorced, I've been a single working mom. I used to go through my bills every other month and as I looked at each one I'd ask myself the question "can this one be cut or eliminated?" Sometimes the answer was yes, which is how I decided to forego cable tv for 2 years. I called every 6 months to find cheaper car insurance.

My husband comes from a solidly middle class family with very traditional parents (dad always worked, mom always SAH). They helped him with college and he got his masters on his own. He started out in an entry level consulting position and worked his way up over the years. He's not a corporate CEO or anything like that.

I bought more new clothes as a single working mom than I do as a SAHM. We did cut back on many things when I quit working. We do have "extras" but there is no way our taxes can go up significantly without us having to cut back somewhere. Where to cut is a good question, I don't know the answer, we'll have to see what happens. We'll definitely have to cut something though. I'm open to suggestions.

Pennsylvania Mom http://openlettertobarack.blogspot.com/
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-28-2004
Mon, 10-20-2008 - 11:02pm

You better pay attenion to your guy's VP.


iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2008
Mon, 10-20-2008 - 11:05pm

No, we are still in Iraq - we can't "move on" until we "get out."

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-12-2008
Mon, 10-20-2008 - 11:13pm

Well here is one:


http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/06/18/russia.warning/index.html


Now explain to me why Putin would lie?

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-16-2008
Mon, 10-20-2008 - 11:26pm

>>>>For another family, they may value the tutor over the morning cup of Starbucks (which can cost you $150/mo.) Sacrifice means different things to different people.<<<<

Ok, we don't spend like that on coffee, we wouldn't prioritize something the children benefit from over coffee. Or gucci purses. Or designer clothes. Our biggest expense is our house but it's not that the house is so big, we live in a rural area and have a nice size piece of land next to a farm. We could sell but it would be financially a bad move in this market. We try to save a lot for college, and we are paying for me to go to school part-time right now.

>>>I'm sure they realize that you might cut back on your expenditures.<<<

They very well might not realize that the tax increase could impact our expenditures, many on these message boards think we can be taxed more without that being impacted.

Pennsylvania Mom http://openlettertobarack.blogspot.com/
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2008
Mon, 10-20-2008 - 11:32pm
It's too bad that you didn't sock away those big Bush43 tax cuts for a rainy day. How do your taxes look under McCain? I mean Bush43? lol.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-16-2008
Mon, 10-20-2008 - 11:37pm
The taxes would be about the same under McCain. Actually I have a big problem with Obama's education credit since that would also apply to me, apparently he's going to pay for part of my kids education, when we can clearly afford to pay ourselves. So tax me more but then spread the wealth back around to me when my kids go to college - seems pointless. Btw we have 6 kids so his $4,000 credit if my kids go four years would be $96k over time. The kids have to do community service but it works out to be $40/hour for rich kids to get a break on college. How un-Democratic is that!
Pennsylvania Mom http://openlettertobarack.blogspot.com/
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-08-2008
Tue, 10-21-2008 - 12:07am

((((Let us all remember that Bush isn't running in this election. Try to move on.)))))

Since, Bush43 made serious mistakes, that a Pres.Obama will have to deal with as POTUS, Bush43 is indeed running in this election. The choices that Bush43 made seem to set the tone for the elections, so one has to include Bush43, the present POTUS in relation to the two campaigns. If it wasn't for Bush43, we would not be in Iraq. McCain wants us to stay in Iraq, but Obama wants to end this war. Bush43 is actually the socialist POTUS, and McCain, who enjoys the benefits of SSI and medicare as well as thinks that using 300 BILLION dollars of the tax payer's money to buy bad debt is okay. So, why does McCain pretend that he and Bush43 are not socialistic, but thinks it's okay to point his finger at Obama instead of the GOP. lol.Bush43 is right in the middle of this election, whether McCain and his supporters want to admit it or not.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2008
Tue, 10-21-2008 - 6:10am

Maybe I have misunderstood your math.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-16-2008
Tue, 10-21-2008 - 8:33am

I have no idea where you got that number, it's wrong. I'm not posting my entire tax return. Yes we make over $250k but you can't take $16k divided by the salary to see the impact. You have to compare the $1,350 to our take home pay to see how it affects our family. Also our income fluctuates because some if it is bonuses, which of course are down due to the economy and business slowing down. And don't forget, we pay a lot in taxes.

Also not sure where your 3% comes from. Obama is increasing the top marginal rate by 4.6%, but increasing it on the second highest marginal rate too, and increasing it 4% on payroll taxes over $250k.

Pennsylvania Mom http://openlettertobarack.blogspot.com/