Not Joe the Plumber, but SAHM
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| Thu, 10-16-2008 - 10:49am |
My Open Letter:
Dear Senator Obama,
I am a stay-at-home mom living in the over $250k tax bracket. I want to ask you why you feel my family is not doing it's part to share the wealth in this country. Our family does well but we also pay taxes at the highest marginal rate. We do not have millions or the kind of lifestyle that would get us access to tax loopholes. We only get deductions for home mortgage interests, state taxes paid and charitable contributions. Last year those three deductions were capped because the government limits the deductions at our income level. In the past we have been stuck in AMT which ensures we do not underpay our fair share of taxes.
Because of our family's income level, our children will not qualify for student loans or other aid. Therefore we must save entirely for their college. We save as much as we can. In recent weeks lost 30% of those savings as well as a decent amount of our retirement savings and the few mutual fund investments we have are under water. The only other asset we have is our family home. We only have one. It would be really tough to sell it in this market, we've lost a large chunk of our equity.
We have never received a stimulus check, yet we do our part to donate to charities we believe in, invest in the market and spend to keep the economy going. And we pay our taxes. There is no question that the opportunities in this great country have allowed us to achieve the American Dream. For that I am grateful.
Your proposals will take an additional 12% out of our annual family budget by increasing the marginal tax rate and increasing payroll taxes. We aren't struggling yet but we will be if your tax proposals pass. We will have to stop or severely limit college savings, with one child only 3.5 years from college and the savings down 30%. Last year we paid enough in Federal Taxes to supply 240 individuals with a Bush stimulus check, similar to the stimulus plan you propose if you are elected (I guess that continuation of the same Bush economic polices is good). I have no doubt that some of what we paid went to wasteful government projects and earmark spending that did not help any struggling families. You say $18 billion in earmarks is not a lot of money to you but 12% of my family budget is a lot to me and my children. I do not begrudge what we already give the government, but I will argue that we are doing our share. I argue we are patriotic and we are neighborly.
We are upper middle class, we are not like your friends, Oprah and Warren Buffet. Our priorities are saving for our retirement, our kids college and paying off our house. We can comfortably do those three things now, though we are worried about the economy like everyone else.
I am a registered Democrat and have always believed in social programs for those who need them. I still believe in them. But I do not understand why when you speak that it sounds as though my family is getting something over on this country. That we aren't doing our part. That we don't pay enough tax. That we don't do enough to lift others up. I say we are doing a lot by not asking anything from the government. I say it is the government that is letting the American people down, not us.
If this economy gets worse my husbands job will be at risk. We could lose our home along with the remainder of our savings. The only good news I see coming from the Democrats is that maybe then we can have the government contribute to our children's college education, we'll get a tax cut and might finally see one of those stimulus checks. Then you'd finally get your chance to lift my family up.
Pennsylvania Mom
http://openlettertobarack.blogspot.com/

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Chrissy
mom to Aidan 8/21/03
Grayson Blaine 12/30/07
One thing we are trying to get across to our teens is that if you want things YOU MUST EARN THEM. To earn them, YOU MUST WORK FOR MONEY.
i see the anology that you are trying to make, but being a good waiter does not always get you great tips, and being a horrible waitress does not always get you bad tips.
i aslo find it interesting that the WAITER was GOOD and WAITRESS was HORRIBLE. am i reading too much into this? yes. but i just didnt see the need to change genders.
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"However, I don't believe you can state with any certainty that these young people were raised by "liberals." This is a problem that comes from bad parenting, no matter what the parents' political ideology."
Wow, I really agree with that. I wrote a post earlier in this thread about the kind of work ethic I was raised with. My dad is a teacher at a very posh private school that I was very fortunate to attend on substantial financial aid. My dad worked his butt off to come up with money for the tuition that we were required to pay. I worked my butt off to make good grades so that I could earn a scholarship to college. There were other kids I went to school with who worked very hard and whose parents instilled a good work ethic, but I also saw plenty of examples of kids raised by wealthy parents who had no idea how to work hard for what they had. They were given fancy cars, clothes, and full tuition to whatever college they could manage to get into, and some had parents pulling strings to get them into schools they didn't earn the right to attend. It was incredibly frustrating. Laziness is not limited to any one party or ideology, and I don't think anyone is arguing that lazy people should be rewarded.
"There is a big difference between volunteering to do something good and doing it for the money. After there is no more money for them.....will they really become more involved in their community. Studies say no as volunteerism is on the decrease. "
I agree with you that we shouldn't have to pay people to do good things, and I think its wonderful that you do volunteer work out of the goodness of your heart. But if there is a need in the community and we can fulfill that need while making college more available to kids who can't afford it, then I see that as killing two birds with one stone.
What studies are you referring to? We haven't tried this plan before, so I don't know how we can know what its long-term effect on volunteerism will be.
>>I am not saying yeah Obama by anymeans.
Acorn - they're
"It's time to put the election behind us and the country in front of us. Barack Obama wasn't my choice, but come January 20th, he will be MY President.... I will not seek to see all
He was speaking from PERSONAL experience from back in his college days. He got excellent tips while the waitresses sat around doing nothing and were rude to their customers when they WERE working.
It's all good. I just wanted to clarify. It's still petty.
"It's time to put the election behind us and the country in front of us. Barack Obama wasn't my choice, but come January 20th, he will be MY President.... I will not seek to see all
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