Clay, eleven thousand is not below the minimum level. Look at the tax table in the back of the instruction book. Unless a person can make all their income untaxable by claiming a lot of exemptions, even people who have under five thousand in taxable income are paying several hundred dollars in tax. I had to pay more that year because of the self-employment tax. I totally don't get the logic behind that. It's like the government is punishing me for finding work for myself -- and this was in an area where a lot of people just claim unemployment because no one is hiring.
You can have your own opinion about the flat tax thing, but consider my original post.
There is such a thing as dire poverty in this country. Once you get down there it is hard to get back out. I have never worked so hard as the winter I was the poorest. I just can't see how it makes sense to take more money from people who haven't got enough for the very basics in life: health care, food, and shelter. It seems to me that this country is rich enough to help people out of situations like that with dynamic new housing programs, health care for all, and truly affordable, inclusive access to higher education.
