Smasharoo wrote:
Doesn't change the fact that there's a pretty significant difference between paying less in taxes versus receiving a check from the government far in excess of anything paid in. I think it's kinda pointless to argue over labels while ignoring the large facts of the issue. "Takers" are those who receive more from the government than they pay.
Right, like people that get 30 year mortgages for sh*tty San Diego condos. Such instruments don't exist without Fannie Mae. Takers like that?
I'm reasonably certain that 30 year mortgages with 20% down would exist with or without Fannie Mae. Don't confuse the fact that the government has increasingly stepped into regulating the lending market with the assumption that lending would not exist without the government. It would, and would arguably be far less prone to the kinds of disasters we experienced a few years back.
And having said that, "takers" in this context means getting more from the government than you pay. Regardless of the governments involvement in creating/regulating the loan instrument itself, the person taking out the loan still pays more in taxes than he gets back in deduction. It's a deduction. By definition, it can't pay more money than the person paid in taxes. The best it can do is make you pay zero taxes (income taxes anyway). This is completely different than receiving a welfare check of some kind. That's money paid to you, period. Not a reduction in the amount you pay.
I'm sure that this is the point where you argue that the value of what government does for the people as a whole is so incredibly vast that everyone is a "taker", so let me respond ahead of time with "that's not what we're talking about". It's about direct dollars paid versus taken. Whether we collectively gain more benefits from our public education or transportation or whatever dollars than it costs us is a completely different question. We're talking about an individual, and how much money he pays to the government versus how much money the government directly pays to him. No amount of tax deductions makes someone a taker. A person who pays zero dollars in taxes while receiving tens of thousands of dollars in direct benefits is.
Edited, Jan 15th 2014 4:46pm by gbaji