Replies to post #132956 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

kozuh, i believe the point of the article was the misrepresentation by Walker, and his cronies, on the
pension question, and the prevalence of misinformation being fed to the public by poor reporting .. etc ..

"Thus, state workers are not being asked to simply "contribute more" to Wisconsin' s retirement system (or as the
argument goes, "pay their fair share" of retirement costs as do employees in Wisconsin' s private sector who still
have pensions and health insurance). They are being asked to accept a cut in their salaries so that the state of
Wisconsin can use the money to fill the hole left by tax cuts and reduced audits of corporations in Wisconsin."
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=60904794

Not on what salaries of teachers should be. Further it was not an article from any teachers view, but rather an expression of fact by a tax man.

About Us .. THEM ..

At Tax.com, we believe that, when it comes to taxes, knowledge is power. The more you know about our tax system, the more power you have to control it.

That’s one reason why we started Tax.com — to create a place for the average taxpayer to find out about the tax system; learn what’s happening behind the scenes; and discover what’s coming next. We believe that those who design and administer our tax system do not get enough scrutiny.

At Tax.com, we provide facts and opinions. But we start with a basic premise or two. As Justice Holmes suggested years ago, taxes are the inevitable price we pay if we want to live in a civilized society. But taxes are more than inevitable. They are actually a good thing if done right and fairly. They finance our common defense, the highways on which we travel, and the retirement and health care that enables our senior citizens to live in dignity. That is, the taxes we pay reflect, or are supposed to reflect, the funding priorities that we set for our nation.

So, whether you think that your government is already spending your money like a brigade of drunken sailors; or you think that your government should spend even more of it by raising taxes to fund health care, education, and energy reform; or you just want to learn more about taxes, we hope you stick around and join the discussion. We think it will be worth your while.

This site is sponsored by Tax Analysts, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that has worked for almost 40 years to improve federal, state, and international tax systems, and to make tax administration more transparent. This site is not an extension of Tax Analysts, but it will tap that organization’s vast tax databases and its wealth of talented writers.
http://tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Pages/About?OpenDocument

[StephanieVanbryce]

But you see Kozuh..Your entire premise is wrong.

If a teacher gets paid
$70,000 per year and is asked to contribute $8000
to his/her pension and health-care fund per year,
the taxpayer sees this as a TOTAL $70,000 expense.

The taxpayer would be wrong.

If the Teacher is paid $70,000 per year and the
School District agrees to pay an additional $8000
into the teacher's pension and health-care fund, the
taxpayer sees this as a TOTAL $78,000 expense.

The state and the unions make a deal .. A Contract. For X amount of dollars. That is it. There is no more money, except what was agreed to in the contract. The Union then decides how much they want withheld from THEIR money for health care, pensions .. etc.. etc.. .. There is NO additional $8000 ..from the state. The state and the Union entered into negotiation and signed a legal Contract..

Now, If the state pissed the money away or invested in bad debts or speculated it away .. well then .......the Courts will decide.

By the way .. This is NOT a Point of View. These are the facts.

[ksuave]

Teachers are taxpayers too. Don't forget to deduct what they pay in taxes (income, property, sales, etc) from their income if you're going to set up this false dichotomy of teachers vs taxpayers.

If all you (and your ilk, as they say) are so concerned about fair pay and taxes and all you can talk about is workers (teachers, firemen, laborers, etc) and you don't EVER talk about corporate taxes, you're not really talking about budgetary concerns,your being the unwitting foot soldiers of the powers that be, little puppets, squawking parrots.[t]

Enough of barefooted, uneducated, untraveled, zenophobic, Mount Dew drinking, Copenhagen chawing, Pinto driving, NASCAR watching, meth shooting, women hating, overweight racist simpletons thinking they're "the people."