Where the incentive might be lacking is in putting together mega buck deals that have great risk but great potential. We lowly peons don’t play in that ball park. Some of us also wonder if more thought invested in those schemes might be better for all of us.

And whoops again, so much for the new stuff they would buy and the people they would hire, meaning fewer jobs for those a rung down.

It also means fewer people paying taxes to support all those people who now don’t have jobs, creating more disincentives.

So now explain to me, how is this a good thing?

Moreover, Mankiw’s analysis criticized in your original post, including his calculation of the total marginal rate of 93% on the top end imposed by Obama’s tax hikes through all levels of taxation (including income, payroll, estate, etc.) deserves more than a glib response. I would not underestimate the disincentive caused by that level of taxation. Nor would I assume that those being disincentivized resemble a college professor more than a small business owner or employer.

Raising taxes - income tax on high earners, capital gains, removing the limit on the amount of wages subject to social security taxes, corporate taxes, etc. - in the face of a recession is not wise. “Brains25cents” was right - this will not have the desired effect in efficiently raising money for the government. Raising taxes on production like this will only slow the ability of the economy to recover.

You’re suggesting that Greg will respond to a potential tax increase by working for free.

Yeah. That’s a hobby, not a job. Hobbies are leisure, recreation; you pick them up, put them down, get bored and do something else, walk away from it. You’re not obligated to do it well, or completely, or at all. If I’m doing something for free then I suffer no ill effects from just quitting right in the middle of it.

I mean, hell, if working for free just to benefit society is so great, then why does he need $250,000 a year? Why doesn’t he just go on welfare and do EVERYTHING for free? Indeed, why haven’t YOU done this?

It has come to the point, believe it or not, that yesterday I started doing the calculations to figure out whether or not I would be better off making less money. Yes, people like me are creating spreadsheets trying to figure out if we would be better off making less money. Tommorrow I’ll figure out how much additional financial aid my son can get for college if I drop my income by 50%. Can you imagine that this is what this country has come to; that small business owners have to calculate how much better off they would be with fewer employees?

Who knows, maybe you’re doing me a favor with your desire to tax me into equality with you. Sure, I’ll eat out less (sorry waiters), I’ll take cheaper vacations (sorry taxi drivers and maids), and I’ll do my own lawn mowing (sorry mower guy) but I’ll have more time to spend with my family as I watch the number of people who complain about the lack of any jobs (not just the decent jobs that I failed to create) grow larger and larger.

Everyone I know that makes more than 250K is working 60+ hours a week to do it (mostly families with both adults working in tech)., but for those that I know this becomes 1350 hours a year/ per individual in the house. This becomes 2700 hours of labor the government collects from these families.

Do we really think it fair to take that much time from someone or from a family?

- He is planning to raise the corporate tax rate, at a time when most other countries are lowering theirs. Canada’s corporate tax rate is already lower than the U.S.’s, and by 2012 it will be 15%, vs 50% in the U.S. What effect do you think that will have when corporations think about opening a new facility or people consider creating new corporations? Where are they going to go?

- Obama intends to increase the capital gains and dividend tax. Again, this is already significantly higher than Canada’s, and he wants to move it even higher. Where do you think U.S. investment capital is going to go?

- Obama’s tax credit plan has the effect of putting steep marginal rate increases on low incomes. Accepted rational choice theory says you should keep your taxes flat at the low end to stimulate income mobility. Obama is essentially going to punish you severely for doing better.

- Under Obama’s plan, the top marginal tax rate will be over 50% - again, significantly higher than it is in Canada. What do you think that’s going to do to the decision-making of doctors, engineers, scientists, and other high-paying professions when individuals are faced with taking a job in Canada or staying in the United States?

And Canada is just the closest, easiest country to transfer capital and talent to. The rest of the world is moving along similar lines. The U.S. already has the second-highest corporate tax rates in the world. Obama wants to make them higher.

Obama’s tax plan is a disaster for U.S. competitiveness. It’s a global economy, folks. You no longer have the luxury of setting taxes at whatever level you feel like. Other countries have a say in the matter. A U.S. corporation that loses half its profit to tax is going to have a hell of a time competing against a Canadian corporation that only loses 15%. Basic economics, known to everyone but the intellectuals in the Obama universe.

40% of them are not paying any taxes now. So why would they want to work harder when the government will be giving them money and not requiring them to work for it. I don’t see any incentive there.

2 if you dont have any that is fraud