re: Tired of paying for idiotic foreign wars,

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We need real leadership and it’s never going to happen.

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Not as long as fewer than 10% of registered voters can be bothered to get off the couch and vote in primaries.

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Tired of paying for illegal aliens, tired of paying for deadbeat welfare recipients, tired of my $$$ being stolen due to inflation, tired of both the Democratic Party, its conglomerate of whining minorities and mentally ill rejects in addition to Trumps blatant ego issues… tired of paying for everything except my responsibilities, none of which are noted above. We need real leadership and it’s never going to happen.

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here's the good news 63% of americans pay no income tax the top 1% of filers (800k plus) pay 40% of all income taxes, the top 10% of filers (215k plus) pay 70% of all income taxes. so most likely you aren't paying for any of those things. i know you think you do because politicians tell you that you are, but in reality you don't.

in hindsight i think it was a bad idea to exempt the middle class from income taxes as you people don't seem to appreciate it.

We’ve owe Iran this more than any other conflict since 1945.

Yea on all that you posted. But discovering oil in the Mideast gave them money & power they never had and ended up giving heartburn to the world

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Tired of paying for illegal aliens, tired of paying for deadbeat welfare recipients, tired of my $$$ being stolen due to inflation, tired of both the Democratic Party, its conglomerate of whining minorities and mentally ill rejects in addition to Trumps blatant ego issues… tired of paying for everything except my responsibilities, none of which are noted above. We need real leadership and it’s never going to happen.

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Be the change, Luke, run for office and get it going.

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Politicians always discover how easy it is to spend other people's money.

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As do voters.

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It's amazing how the "middle class" thinks they pay all of the taxes and are getting screwed by the income tax code. In reality, they are getting on hell of a deal.

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Not really.

The middle class pays the bulk of SS and Medicare, by far the largest portion of the federal budget.

State and local taxes are also regressive, with the middle class paying—in many cases—a higher portion than the upper class.

When you look at all taxes—not just income tax—and consider sales tax, property tax, consumption taxes, state income taxes, etc., and you assume that "middle class" refers to all households between the 20th and 80th percentile of income, it breaks down like this (as a percentage of income):

Top 1% pays 30-35%

Middle Class pays 25-30%

Lower Class pays 20-25%

What people don't understand is that using the percentile range above $150,000 a year in income puts them in the upper class (top 20%), not the middle class. And again, that's household income. So two married teachers each making $76,000 a year in Maine are considered upper class.

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The middle class pays the bulk of SS and Medicare, by far the largest portion of the federal budget.

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You could always read my post.

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getting screwed by the income tax code.

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While I get the point about payroll taxes, everyone gets screwed about the same on those because of the taxable income cap. Elon Musk pays the same payroll taxes as a dude making $185k, and has the same benefit caps.

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When you look at all taxes—not just income tax—and consider sales tax, property tax, consumption taxes, state income taxes, etc., and you assume that "middle class" refers to all households between the 20th and 80th percentile of income, it breaks down like this (as a percentage of income):

Top 1% pays 30-35%

Middle Class pays 25-30%

Lower Class pays 20-25%

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This kind of calculation doesn't work, because of the income cap, and the relative few that pay any significant amount of income taxes. Also, you're aggregating individual payments across different sized populations, and wildly different local tax structures, tax bases, and local government spending/level of services.

It's like comparing crime statistics at a national level. Makes no sense with the variation is widely distributed even zip-code level data is distorted.

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What people don't understand is that using the percentile range above $150,000 a year in income puts them in the upper class (top 20%),

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Yep. And It rises quickly from there. $200k household income puts you in the top 5%. People seem to think you need a private jet and mutliple mansions to be "rich". You simply don't. As always comparison is the thief of joy.