$83,500 per household

If your combined family income in a given year is $83,500 or higher, you are in the top 20% of taxpayers in the US and, according to Democrats, are "the rich". CONGRATULATION!!! They of course don't take into account actual accumulated wealth, debt, or cost of living differences. They don't even take into account the concept of the transient nature of individual income. In bad economic time, one year you could be unemployed and listed among the bottom 20% making you "poor" (thus should pitied and held up as needy) while the next year you find an executive level job that moves you to the top 20% making you "rich"(thus should be shamed and held up as greedy). Now if you are in a household that has two fulltime workers and you each make an average $41,750 a year or higher, you'd be considered rich...how insane is that?

Now what about cost of living differences? You know, based on the part of the country and how close to a business center you live in. Math quiz for you:

Assume you have two households both consisting of a two parent family of four living in different parts of the country. Family 1 has a combined household income of $50,000 and are living in a house that cost them $150,000. Family 2 has a combined household income of $100,000 and are living in a house that are the exact same size, shape, year, and type of neighborhood that cost them $300,000. If all other expenses are equal, which Family has more disposable income? Don't forget to take into account progressively higher tax brackets and the $80K cap on social security portion on of the FICA tax.

Well?

Once those number are done, do it again making the following changes to the tax code:

• Giving each partner in a married couple full (instead of the current partial) single person deductibility.
• Expanding the 10 percent tax bracket to the first $7,000 in taxable income from $6,000. (this would apply to the first $14,000 earned by married couples).
• Lower the 27% bracket to 25%, the 30% bracket to 28%, the 35% bracket to 33% and the top 38.6% bracket to 35%.
• Expanding the child tax credit to $1,000 from the current $600

In the above example, under the Bush plan, Family 1 with income of $50,000 and two young children would have a federal tax liability this year would be $1,545 - 42% less than under existing law. My friends, that is a house payment plus.

Don't we pay enough in taxes? Damn right! In a recent poll, 49% of Americans said they believe they pay too much in taxes while 44% say they are taxed "just right." That's okay, the majority of those in the 44% category pay no taxes at all. In fact, a large number of them actually get more money back THEN THEY PUT IN. This isn't about class warfare, it is about fairness in a tax code that, when revenues from all federal, state, and local taxes are added up, amounts to about 29.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product (the nation's total output of goods and services).

Americans don't blame the rich or hate them for their wealth. According to John Zogby of Zogby International, "They want to be like them." James Moran (D) of Virginia says, "Because we have a very affluent society with the largest middle class in the world, when you start saying 'class warfare,' the majority of people think they are on the other side - and that's the last thing a political party wants." James Moran thoughts aside, the Democratic party is doing everything in their power to turn this into a class warfare - us against them -debate which is not centered on the underlying need this packet is attempting to address: stimulate the economy (a la the Reagan Revolution), get people back to work, and bring fairness to our tax code.

Try living off of $83,500 in New York City, LA, or DC. Would you feel "rich"?

Anyway, for them what care...