The Progressive Income Tax: A Tale of Three Brothers

1. i dont have a problem with a true flat tax. the problem i have is with a flat tax with an asterisk* like the joke of a flat tax that lobbyists try to pass as a flat tax. it sais nothing of regressive sales tax, overtime tax, doubletime tax, yaht tax, subsidiries, charity tax writeoffs from customer donations by bullish marketing, offshore shell corporations leaching billions, and many more. what we need is a macroeconomic flat tax. not the microeconomic flat tax*
2. Tom the lazy underachieving leach persuades his fence setting brother Dick to dump his conscience for a few bucks so they can performance punish their brother Harry. And Harry is the selfish one. Welcome to American social class. aka reverse survival of the strongest.
3. This is an extremely biased representation of a possible situation, and not the standart one should be able to expect from a university.
4. But see the wierd thing is, in society not everyone goes an equal path and just ends up working less from choice. Take my family of three brothers, one went to the military, one went to uni but dropped out and now works unskilled labour the third is still at uni finish his Master's and working at the same time.
   
   The one in the military gave large portions of his income to help those parents pay off their house faster. When that one left and started working and wanted to buy property the one finishing their Masters gave all his savings 15k and the parents did too for a deposit. The one who dropped out of Uni provides a large chunk of his wages to his parents and lives with them, although has a growing debt to the brother at uni, which he constantly gets made fun of for but no one actually expects him to pay it back when he doesn't make as much. Thier parents have put the brother who is on his Masters in charge of the whole estate, even though the military brother paid most of it, but everyone thinks it's a good idea because he's the smartest and we trust each other.
   
   Not all three brothers earn the same for various reasons, but they know that when they need it the other brothers will be there for them as will thier family. Because that's how families work... Together.
5. But see the wierd thing is, in society not everyone goes an equal path and just ends up working less from choice. Take my family of three brothers, one went to the military, one went to uni but dropped out and now works unskilled labour the third is still at uni finish his Master's and working at the same time.
   
   The one in the military gave large portions of his income to help those parents pay off their house faster. When that one left and started working and wanted to buy property the one finishing their Masters gave all his savings 15k and the parents did too for a deposit. The one who dropped out of Uni provides a large chunk of his wages to his parents and lives with them, although has a growing debt to the brother at uni, which he constantly gets made fun of for but no one actually expects him to pay it back when he doesn't make as much. Thier parents have put the brother who is on his Masters in charge of the whole estate, even though the military brother paid most of it, but everyone thinks it's a good idea because he's the smartest and we trust each other.
   
   Not all three brothers earn the same for various reasons, but they know that when they need it the other brothers will be there for them as will thier family. Because that's how families work... Together.
6. That video is a waste of money and my time.
   It is SO fallacios.
7. tom is such a knob
8. This doesn't really work in real life though because money is passed down from generations before. The rich do not necessarily work harder. There is also a difference in real life in jobs when it comes to define working. Most higher paying jobs are much easier physically on the body then lower paying and therefore is easier to work more hours in an office then saying lifting 60-80 pound bags all day. It is also easier and jobs can be fun in higher positions. Also big difference. Not all 3 brothers would move in the same neighbourhood in real life.
9. um. the country is a big family? lol If I'm Tom, I don't have the money for a car, lawnmower, flowers and nothing really to steal in my house, so the paved cul-de-sac and security gate doesn't actually benefit me equally.
10. This is definitely a simplified explanation. However there're a lot of truth in it. I have encountered people in my day to day living, where they play the guilt trip of how I can afford more things in life (because I work 3 jobs at one period of time and savvy with my money). And these so called friends, make minimum wage, only work 40 hours a week, which most likely already too much for them. But they love to eat out and go skiing, and somewhat hoping for me to cover the bills. And yes I live in a liberal state, after moving from Oklahoma. I guess it's matter of perspective.
11. this explained a lot, but it is a little biased, since the wealthy work less than anyone else.
12. Tom is a POS.
13. This premise is extremely flawed. It assumes all Americans are born with the same opportunities and start at the same level.
    And besides, the progressive income tax is necessary when you actually apply it to the real world. A family in poverty can't survive with, say, 20% of its income taken away; while a wealthy family absolutely can.
14. all three system are not perfect or acceptable.
15. dick was dick
16. No wonder people are lazy. There's no incentive to be rich. You can have a small income because you decided to and still able to enjoy a pretty good standard of live.
    
    People are getting taxed more because they work harder and smarter. Doesn't make sense at all.
    
    And most disgusting fact is the middle income that is not really struggling went along with it because it saves them more money.
    
    You don't get more money by forcing people to pay for your needs. You get it by working harder.
    
    And what is wrong inheritance money? Don't you want your kids to have financial guarantee? Is it wrong to give money to your kid?
    
    Rich kids deserve the money because their parents work hard for it.
    
    Why should I be forced to give my money to some strangers that I don't even know instead of my own children?
17. Can't stand so many people miss the point of the video
18. Except that, the fence decreases the risk of getting robed any given year significantly, and so to Harry, who has all his money and bearer bonds stalked in his bedroom, the fence is worth 20,000$, the exact same amount his once in a lifetime robbery insurance policy cut him after he told them about the fence. However, his brothers who have no money inside their houses, have taken no money robbery insurance policy and are completely indifferent to the existence of the fence. Harry also projects that he would save 10,000$ on the maintenance of his expensive cars in the next 10 years, the life span of the new road, Dick projects to save 4,000$, and Tom, who has no car at all, isn't interested by the road.
    Take any government expense, and ask people how much is it worth to them, or equivalently, how much are they willing to receive in cash to part with it. I don't think that the anti-piracy laws enforcement are worth the same to a poor carpenter, a middle-class software corporation employee, and the main shareholder of said corporation.
19. good story but let's be more realistic: income earned are almost impossibly equal.
20. We need to start with the underlying assumptions from the beginning of the video. I'll go along with a flat tax if the Government set a uniform wage for everyone. Don't boo, watch the video again.