James Edwards
From Logn Heights (Entrepreneur)
No. I think that’s stupid. The government is the one who let it get that way. It’s not fair to the person who is successful; they got rich themselves. Other people can do that too. If you came up from nothing and did something to get rich, that’s good on you; you did something. And I think a lot of those people do contribute because they know what’s going on. People that aren’t married into money or just grew up with money, people that have made money on their own understand what’s going on and they seem to put more back into the system than other people.
Merrily Cretton
From North Park (Writer/Student)
I think that in today’s society that’s a really complicated question. There are so many laws that help the wealthy in certain ways because the rich have the power to create laws, whereas the poor don’t. There are a lot of loopholes for big corporations. So in that sense maybe there is a responsibility for people who have that kind of power, which the poor don’t, to kind of balance things out a little more.
John Whittington
From Ocean Beach (Construction Manager)
Absolutely. I think the obnoxiously rich, the higher class, like people who are making ten times more than you and I, absolutely have an obligation. I don’t know what I consider rich. My wife and I do well, but we’re not rich. I don’t drive a Bentley. I drive a Toyota, and I have a decent little house. We’re absolutely not rich. To say that you’re rich, you’d have to move into multimillion-dollar income. So, in my opinion, sure. If you’re making that kind of money, then what Barack Obama is asking for is fine, sure. I say yes.
Mike Krump
From Chula Vista (Surface Combatant Coordinator)
If anything there should be a flat tax across the board. Everybody deserves health care. Everybody also deserves to get off their lazy ass and find a job and be able to provide for themselves too. I think people choose to sit back and wait for someone to take care of them rather than take care of themselves. That’s a multilayered question because it depends on where you’re at geographically. I’m originally from Illinois, and someone who is rich there compared to someone who is rich here is different. Individually, here anything over $200k is certainly rich. Back where I’m from, if you’re making that kind of money per year, you’re the shit.
Dominique Ceccon
From Clairemont (Hair and Makeup Artist)
I don’t believe they have an obligation because poor is a very broad term. Some people choose to be poor, and I say screw ’em. If you choose to be lazy and you choose to be poor, then have fun with it. I think there are certain people who are poor because it’s our country’s karma for not doing stuff right. If you’ve got a lot of money, and there’s people like that who are suffering from humanity’s karma — like somebody who was brought into this world by people who didn’t know better — it’s not their fault. It would be awesome if they chose to do nice things with their money, but as far as an obligation? I don’t think it’s fair that they get taxed extra just because we have a lot of lazy people.
Laura Clark
From Rancho Peñasquitos (Skin Care Manufacturer)
Yes, they should. I believe in charity. If you have more than you need, then you should give to others. If you can buy a Learjet, you can afford to buy somebody clothes or food. As a Christian, I believe it’s your duty to help those that aren’t as blessed as you. The more you make, the more you should give in taxes. I think that’s just how it is. If you make $5, you shouldn’t give anything back. If you make $5 million, you should give some of it back because you don’t need all of it. As a human you should have the compassion to say, “I wanna help you.” I think if we all gave a little more, we’d all be so much happier and there’d be so much more peace and, not riches, but wealth in the world.