[citation][nom]xerroz[/nom]It's not hating on the rich, nor is it whining, nor is it jealousy. It's the fact that every day people pay more % of their income than these crooks who manipulate the field do. $1.5B is a lot, yes, but not a sum that would affect anyone who has so many billions. To give an example, if a person who earns 50k is taxed 15k, it would make a HUGE difference. Most of these corporations/crooks pay way less (in terms of % of earnings) than the average family does which is despicable.[/citation]
Quite simply, it's the way the tax code works. Someone earning 50K likely earns an INCOME, so they pay INCOME tax. Lots of wealthy people who are worth and/or earn hundreds of thousands or millions/billions per year are often making that money from investments, retained earnings from owned businesses, dividends, etc, which have different tax rates. Anyone can try and find creative ways to avoid paying huge sums of money in taxes, but when you're wealthy, it's probably a lot more to your advantage to do so when there are millions on the line, vs saving a few hundred bucks when you're in the 50K income range. The U.S. gov't wastes ridiculous amounts of money as it is, and all they want to do is raise the debt ceiling and go further in debt. I wouldn't give them one thin dime if I had my way. No, I'm not wealthy, I'm one of those 50K income range guys, so I spend $9.95 to do my own taxes online b/c I don't want to pay an accountant a couple hundred bucks just to maybe save three hundred bucks, but if I were worth millions and I earned it myself, damn right I wanna keep it and not throw it away to the worthless gov't. I give what I choose to give to charities such as the V.A., Kidney Foundation, United Way and others, and that makes me feel better to help someone, not being forced to give away hard earned money to the gov't. As long as Zuckerberg or any other wealthy person isn't breaking the law and others suffer because of it, I could care less what he or anyone else pays in taxes or how they take advantage of the tax laws to reduce their tax debt. Good for them for beating a broken system.