- Wed Sep 01, 2010 6:44 pm
#320985
You can look at this at every angle; upside down or right side up. The end result is the same. The top 25% of wage earners in this country pay about 85% of all income taxes collected. The bottom 50% only pay about 3%. The top 1% pay 40% of all income taxes collected. The numbers are what they are.
There is a very specific reason I brought this up. The specific context was to answer Jason747. His/her entire premise is flawed. In fact, a flat out lie. The premise of Jason747 is that the wealthy are getting a free tax ride in this country while the poor are getting screwed. The fact is, the wealthy are paying most of the tax bill. The poor benefit from the taxes paid by the wealthy. This demonization of the wealthy is an old social warefare tactic that has been used by Socialist/Communist/Progressives since their inception.
I have a personal aquaintance who is worth over 1 million+, local to our area. I don't know exactly how much he is worth, but I know he is well off. Good guy, self made, and successful in his business. He told me he pays $60,000/year in property taxes alone.
I am so sick and tired of hearing the same old whine about the rich not paying their fair share. The rich pay plenty! Most of the tab to be truthful! This is one of the biggest lies spread by the Progressive Left. Also, being rich is only bad if you are a Republican. John Kerry, John Edwards, Michael Moore, the Kennedys, the Clintons, Hollywood Celebrities, even now the Obamas get to have and earn as much as they want while telling the rest of us to sacrifice, and dig deeper. I'm so sick of hearing it!
coincollector wrote:Phaedrus wrote:In determing the total distribution of income and tax burden, I think you need to consider a few other aspects.
1. The tax charts presented is for earned income. The wealthiest may have no earned income, or only a small percentage of their total income is derived from earnings. Much of their earnings may come from investment income which is taxed at a lower rate.
2. While the earned income tax system is progressive, the sales tax and social security payments are regressive in that lower income individuals pay a larger proportion of their income.
3. Higher income earners also have RSPs, healthcare payments and mortgage interest payments that are sheltered from tax. At the lower end are people without savings, healthcare or owned homes.
All interesting points. Perhaps AGI vs income tax paid is step in the right direction but not yet the best quantities to use for comparison.
What measures of income and taxation can be considered such that, if their percentage distributions align, we can say "yep, that's fair"? Gross income versus total tax paid (federal + state + local + FICA + sales + ...)? Assembling that data would be a nightmare...
You can look at this at every angle; upside down or right side up. The end result is the same. The top 25% of wage earners in this country pay about 85% of all income taxes collected. The bottom 50% only pay about 3%. The top 1% pay 40% of all income taxes collected. The numbers are what they are.
There is a very specific reason I brought this up. The specific context was to answer Jason747. His/her entire premise is flawed. In fact, a flat out lie. The premise of Jason747 is that the wealthy are getting a free tax ride in this country while the poor are getting screwed. The fact is, the wealthy are paying most of the tax bill. The poor benefit from the taxes paid by the wealthy. This demonization of the wealthy is an old social warefare tactic that has been used by Socialist/Communist/Progressives since their inception.
I have a personal aquaintance who is worth over 1 million+, local to our area. I don't know exactly how much he is worth, but I know he is well off. Good guy, self made, and successful in his business. He told me he pays $60,000/year in property taxes alone.
I am so sick and tired of hearing the same old whine about the rich not paying their fair share. The rich pay plenty! Most of the tab to be truthful! This is one of the biggest lies spread by the Progressive Left. Also, being rich is only bad if you are a Republican. John Kerry, John Edwards, Michael Moore, the Kennedys, the Clintons, Hollywood Celebrities, even now the Obamas get to have and earn as much as they want while telling the rest of us to sacrifice, and dig deeper. I'm so sick of hearing it!
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