Get a look at the BIDEN tax returns- he can afford to pay higher taxes because he gives less than $1000 a year to charity every year for the last 10 years- yet makes well over 250 K every year. Think what this means people- he doesn’t feel blessed enough to be giving more away. I do not want the govt to redistribute my hard earned wealth- My husband and I married young and went to college- paid for it ourselves- working 3-4 jobs at a time- We both make quite a bit now- WHY? We work hard and never never wanted a hand out. HAND OUTS are demeaning- handouts say- you can’t make it on your own- BULL. For the past 15 years - my husband and I have given well over 10% to a variety of charities.
With two masters we earn well over 77 K (did that the first year out of school) If you do not earn that- you’re not working that hard or you have a BAD attitude and are hard to employ. I guess the latter- or possibly you just graduated and have little to no experience and need to build up and work hard.
OBAMA - not in my pocket. SOCIALIST- same sruff they feed you in universities- perhaps that is the stuff our little 77k overeducated household buys into. Are you a beggar or what - totally pitiful- When the 18-25 year olds get to 40 - they will be in great pain - because they are shooting their own feet, both of them. So sad. So sad.
Still got money - and I have NO DEBT. Even in this market- and no I am not a plumber

Joe the plumber makes good money because he is skilled labor. He can actually do something, not just talk about it.

A plumber needs training and an apprenticeship before he goes into the field and starts making money. And he must work for himself to make the good money. Did I mention to make good money ($250k) Joe will need to work a lot of hours in a dirty job. Night calls and weekends are golden because the rate goes up.

No one will hand Joe the money, he will work hard for it.

No one will ever spread the wealth to Joe or any other plumber, they will just take and not give back. Amazing how liberal types will throw money at the player or the baby machine, but Joe the plumber is the enemy for working hard.

Want to make good honest money go weld on a rig/platform, thats where the really good money is. If you aren’t much of a man go work on wall street and steal from share holders and investors if you want to make more money. Put those fancy degrees to good use.

College professors and Berkley people don’t make as much because they are a dime a dozen. Funny how white collars like to say that about blue collars, but they are the ones that are a dime a dozen.

If your drain clogs and sewage starts backing up into your house who would you rather call for help?

The college professor who could tell you the theory behind it? Or, the plumber who can fix it?

Joe the plumber is the albatross around Obama’s spread the wealth neck.

Joe the plumber should pay the same % in taxes as the nurse, firefighter, cop, teacher. But if McCain wins good old Joe will get even bigger tax breaks and the middle class nurse will end up bearing a bigger burden than Joe. He takes some risks owning a business and deserves to pay less??? Give me a break. Being a nurse, cop or firefighter sure isn’t risk free. If you make a quarter of a million a year you should pay your fair share of taxes. It’s up to all of us to support the programs we need to get the USA back to it’s former glory. Good schools, great healthcare, renewable energy - why wouldn’t Joe want to pay his fair share????

Let me say….I am not disin’ the business owner! I have been down the road of Business Owner and know all to well the downfalls of the “no business this week” scenerios. My parents owned a small resturant in New Mexico and I waited tables for almost 7 years to help pay my bills throughout college. Being a contract therapist is essentially the same thing as a business owner…I get paid ONLY when I see clients and they actually have the ability to pay or the state reimburses the company for services and contract employees receive 40% of that…black and white..I am a licensed professional who makes around 13.00 dollars an hour in a good week, in a bad week I don’t even clear minimum wage. That was my choice and I am struggling to survive such like the majority of America.

I agree that the American dream does have to live on or we will not have America….

I normally do not even post on these but this post caught my eye over the issue of telling someone to change occupuations. And it is VERY hard to get a college degree. It takes dedication and if you want to get loans you have to keep your GPA to a certain point to qualify.

I just wanted to make it clear that I do agree with the American Dream! AND I DO NOT SUPPORT OBAMA IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM. I have my reasons and opinions about why including the money issues, taxes, and many spiritual reasonings. I just read the post after mine and wanted to clarify that I do believe in the American Dream and I SUPPORT MCCAIN 120%!!

To quote a previous comment:

“If, on the other hand, the net profit after expenses is over $250k, (a/k/a spending money) Joe will have to pay an extra tax of 3%. *** But only on the amount over $250k.*** So if Joe has net profit of say, $280k, he will pay and extra $900 in tax. I don’t think this will cripple his ability to live.”

YES!!! Obama clearly says that in his talk with JoeThePlumber. He’d only be paying $.03 (three pennies) more on the dollar for each dollar netted over $250k.
I can’t believe the amount of people who don’t get that.

Also something else that really needs to be pointed out: Using this example of someone going from $250K to $280K, they’d pay $900 in taxes on that additional $30K, which still leaves them $29,100.00 MORE than they had before, even with the extra tax!
The notion being bandied about that if you make more, you pay more taxes and therefore actually take home less, is BS.
Until there’s a 100% tax, we will always take home more as we make more, regardless of taxes.

Joe would not clear 250K. Joe plumber and his employees would generate 250K of business a year. Owning a business takes risk. The fact that you would want/dream to own a business and take all the risk of payroll, staff, and the liability of it all, is stressful enough. I’ve worked hard at many jobs to collect a paycheck. Also, I would go home and not loose much sleep. The business owner takes all the risks of making a profit and or a loss on every job he/she does. One bad day you could loose your reputation and pride, plus any profit’s needed to pay your employee’s.
I believe that Obama’s tax plan may push a want to be business owner to go find a much easier job. Of course that job’s business owner may not want all the risk/cost associated with ownership also, and he or she may do the same.
If we “Americans” stop dreaming to own our own business, than ultimately we will stop living and start dieing.

I think this is more about Joe “The Small Business Owner” than Joe the Plumber. It is ashamed that Obama/Bidden and alot of people out there do not know the difference!!! I am glad someone finally asked the question, I wanted to ask Obama myself. There are millions of small business owners whose business do fall into this taxable range. We are not rich people!! We work hard, very long hours and scarifice for the American dream. We also employee alot of people who need jobs! When you insult this guy, you are insulting alot of small business owners.

Get real if it’s possible.

Nobody attacked Joe the Plumber for asking a question, which is his right, just like it’s everyone else’s right to question the motives behind the whole Joe the Plumber fraud, in order to expose the fact that the guy was nothing more than a rehearsed plant, used to try and set up the Republican opposition. This is no different than McCain’s phony concern about the bail-out vote, when he said he was suspending his campaign to go and help in Washington, when he had no say in anything involved, but only pulled that stunt to try and make himself look more concerned than his opponent. Even the ditsy Sarah Palin pick was only about trying to get the women voters who were supporting Hillary Clinton, which was only an insult to those women’s intelligence, like they were only supporting Hillary Clinton because she is a woman and it would make them feel all fluffy and historical to vote for a woman, while disuniting everything else important.

We don’t need another phony in the White House pretending to be the President, spending all of his time staging things to make himself appear to be a President.

As an American, I cannot believe we are attacking one of our own for asking a simple question to a running canidate. Isn’t this our right as a voter and an American?? By the way, Joe the plumber does not make $250,000, he asked Obama what would happen “IF” he bought the plumbing business where currently works.

As a business owner I would have asked Obama, what he plans on doing with all the other taxes that small business have to pay today. Payroll taxes, excise taxes on the business, gross receipt taxes, property taxes on the business property, property taxes of office equipment, etc.etc.etc……The tax list is endless when it comes to small business.

It seems no one ever really asks or answers the small detail questions and these are the ones that count in the very end. We get to caught up in the big media and then brain washed.

It makes no difference what Joe the Plumber wants to do, if he has a license to do it or if he owes back taxes. It’s not even the state of the economy, but the deceitful, conniving and manipulative way the McCain camp used\planted the guy that’s the problem. They have wasted too much of our time playing these stupid, juvenile games rather than concentrate on anything of genuine substance, so they fully deserve to be in the position they are in. A party that claims it’s for family values etc., doesn’t get to decide when habitual lying and abuse of the right to run for office is okay, while at the same time scold everyone else for their transgressions. If the Republicans are wondering why they appear to be losing this race all they have to do is stop believing their own superficial lies and get honest with themselves and the people they are trying to convince to vote their way. I abhor people who lie to me, but I abhor people who lie to themselves even more.