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I just read the article (thanks for the link) and I must say that the article's title is misleading, as its basic thesis is not that the wealthy are somehow getting a free ride vis à vis the poor and middle class, but rather that the reduced amount of income taxes from the wealthy is because the recent recession has resulted in "a sharp decline in income at the high end.." In other words, its claim is that the wealthy are also experiencing the ill effects of the economic meltdown. And they still bear the lion's share: "...in 2008, the top 1% of tax returns paid 38% of all federal individual income taxes and earned 20% of adjusted gross income." I have neither the knowledge nor the information to judge the article's accuracy, but I have read elsewhere that nearly half of Americans are now paying no income tax at all. It seems to me both ends of the spectrum have a beef; the lower end is unemployed and struggling horribly, while the upper end is supporting them financially (to the rather meager extent that they are supported). It also seems to me that the upper end should be happy to do so - can you imagine the rage that would be let loose if the safety nets that we do have were not there? That scenario would not be to the good of the wealthy in the long term; after all, look what happened to the Russian aristocracy in 1917!
"Yes, the wealthy still have a huge share of income and taxes. The report states that the top 5% of tax-payers earn 34.7% of income and pay 58.7% of taxes" WSJ.
So the rich are paying a larger portion then their share? Wow that's a real shocker. And that is before Obama ups their taxes by another 5%. I'm so sick of hearing this discussion on CNN without them mentioning TAX BRACKETS. Some people might take that information for granted but when i argue with young democrats, they dont realize that the rich pay a larger percentage. And that when liberals say "tax cut for the rich" what they really mean is that they just arent getting screwed as bad. When i mentioned this to my liberal college roommate he said "i didnt know the rich had to pay a larger percentage, thats not really fair."
if you look at the actual breakdown from the irs most of the taxes in this country are paid by very few....
The wealthiest 1 percent of the population earn 19% of the income but pay 37 percent of the income tax. The top 10 percent pay 68 percent of the tab. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent—those below the median income level—now earn 13 percent of the income but pay just 3 percent of the taxes.
When I see these type threads I always wonder what I'm doing wrong.
As the wife and I have risen in income from low (and we're talking really low, me working low-wage job and her in law school, we shared crappy apartment with two other roommates etc.) to doing pretty well now we have consistently paid more taxes, both in total and percentage of income.
Anyone who has managed to pay less taxes as their income has risen I'd love to see the numbers just to know how it is done.
if you look at the actual breakdown from the irs most of the taxes in this country are paid by very few....
The wealthiest 1 percent of the population earn 19% of the income but pay 37 percent of the income tax. The top 10 percent pay 68 percent of the tab. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent—those below the median income level—now earn 13 percent of the income but pay just 3 percent of the taxes.
increase taxes from the poor...thats what we should do, that way its all fair for the well-to-do suffering high-class rich folk and our children wont have to pick up the tab later.
btw: isn't it a weird thing that those top 1% REMAIN the top 1% after paying taxes? quit imagining heartache. you are not rich, do not know about their "suffering", and do not need to act like they are some needy minority that is being oppressed. so quit yer whining.
are you people seletively blind? i mean i've heard of selective hearing but did you miss this:
Quote:
"[the statistics] show the rich are indeed paying a lower share of the nation’s tax burden"
i mean seriously, the fact that as they lose money they pay more taxes is STILL BAD!!! it still means the poorer you are the more burdened you are by the regresive tax system.
Quote:
That marked a big drop from 2007 — the peak of the boom — when the wealthy earned 40.4% of income and paid 22.8% of taxes. In fact, the share of income held by the top 1% was the lower in 2008 than it was in 2000.
Quote:
The top 1% paid an average income tax rate of 23.27%[not 37%...38 refers to the "tax returns"], up from 22.45% in 2007 — the first increase since 2000.
its like i have to smack you with a print out of the article for you regresives to actually read it, instead of just skimming for the quotes that you like.
Quote:
5% of tax-payers[not income earners] earn 34.7% of income and pay 58.7% of taxes
Last edited by LuminousTruth; 10-08-2010 at 09:17 AM..
Sheesh luminous that is quite a straw man you're beating on there. I've not noticed Mathjak107 saying most of the things you are attributing to him to argue with.
if you look at the actual breakdown from the irs most of the taxes in this country are paid by very few....
The wealthiest 1 percent of the population earn 19% of the income but pay 37 percent of the income tax. The top 10 percent pay 68 percent of the tab. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent—those below the median income level—now earn 13 percent of the income but pay just 3 percent of the taxes.
its the old method of liberals that they can let the rich pay for everyhting and still have a viable economy. The first falacy of that is if you don't ahve skin in the game then you make bad decisons.It ends up with the income gap widing as now because it broadens the lowest class in wealth.
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