That is a simple way of looking at it. There are many other factors though and credits that affect it as well. Many people can have an above $0 AGI and get back not only everything they paid in, but even more. Some common credits that result in this are the Earned Income Credit and whatever they name the credits for college kids.

Sorry if I didn't see you asking why I asked about free market. I asked because most people think that Scandinavia is a socialist paradise with government control, when it actually have a lot of free market but heavy taxes. Last I remember also, most of the Scandinavia have very healthy balance of trade with much of that money also supporting their social programs (and some criticism that their finances is eroding through time).

Tax decreasing in absolute also doesn't account for different taxes and its weight on different classes. And as I said since there are other variables, you can't assure that if tax reduced then inequality should as well (because you would also have to prove that true on the opposite for every other country... Brazil per example had tax raising and inequality raising in the last couple years). The use of that tax for the powerful (which was already mentioned in my previous posts) is much more impactful.

In Brazil it is somewhat true, but that is because our tax system is very complex and there is a lot of tax into products, so even though most of the country doesn't pay income tax, they pay a lot on others.

Socialism is just like that... if money is badly managed and results in bad situation, as you exposed on education, their solution is throw more money on the problem and pray it will suddenly work out.

The problem is the education system in the US.
In the US the education system is a industry whose goal is to not to "break" even, but be profitable.

Most of the rest of the world it works differntly.... and its apparently ALOT more effective.

True, I guess I should say if AGI minus deductions is greater zero and the percentage owed in taxes is more than your tax credits then you are paying taxes.

That happened with the nationalizing of debt. Once you have the blank check of the biggest economy in the world behind you, suddenly the cost of text books and tuition goes up. It's predictable stuff. You used to be able to go to Harvard for 20 thousand. Government involvement doesn't always work out for the best especially in America which the system is stacked against it, the limitations lead to secret abuses.

If only we can see all the presidential sponsors like how they have them labeled all over a NASCAR.

Yeah it's pretty terrible when you think you got such a massive amount of people going into debt to try and buy an education, ending up in severe debt because they suffered in an accident and have no way to pay for healthcare to stop from losing a limb or so... while on the other side of the table you have people with billions looking at how they can alter laws regarding internet and TV so that they can make even more money from the population as a whole.

Sad times when what was once referred to as the 1% is more close to the 0.001% as you have millions of people bordering on poverty for a boardroom of people who don't understand what it means to be poor, never have in their life time as they're born into money and never will know it in their whole existence on the planet.

Good, for a country that started out pretty shitty its fitting that it ends up shitty. The bad guys won this time guys, not even this great country, in concept, could stand against the powers of greed and corruption, thoes 2 forces are just too op.

Perhaps getting rid of the dept of education isn't all that terrible idea. Seems like we were doing better when it was left up to states. 

When people say raise the tax on the rich, when you are talking personal tax on companies you are talking about CEO, owner, shareholders, etc. So when let's say you tax bill gates more for the money he makes in US, he can either make investments in other countries with lesser taxes, increase the price of the products in current market to keep the same return, or other measures that will in the end be worse for the poor.

This desire to tax people to transfer money is quite dangerous and toxic. Because usually everyone advocating for it is thinking it's other people richer than him that will pay for it.