Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Doesn't "effective tax rate" depend on what the definition of "income" is? (And I'm not sure whether the effective tax rates you cite are based on AGI or on taxable income or on something else.) People at the highest income levels often have considerable discretion in the way they structure and receive income, and in the timing thereof.
If it actually were possible to structure income to avoid taxes as you assert, why then does the top 1% still pay the highest effective tax rate?
This is not spin. We have a PROGRESSIVE income tax. What you are detailing is what happens with a PROGRESSIVE income tax.
Seriously do you not understand what the words PROGRESSIVE income tax means? It means those that earn more will pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes.
This is the design of the tax so pointing it out like it is some failure is very, very strange to me.
So no the top 1% are paying their legal share of the income taxes because we have a PROGRESSIVE income tax.
Americans have not voted in a President who vows to change our PROGRESSIVE income tax, and frankly neither party has run a serious candidate that proposed to change our PROGRESSIVE income tax.
Americans keep electing Congress people and Presidents who don't change our PROGRESSIVE income tax.
If the top 1% or the top 5% or the top 7% or whatever keeps taking nearly all the income gains so much so that their share of the total income keeps increasing, because we have a PROGRESSIVE income tax, they will pay more and more of the income taxes again this is by design because we have a PROGRESSIVE income tax.
If the bottom 60% or 70% share of the total income keeps decreasing, because we have a PROGRESSIVE income tax they will pay less and less of the income taxes and that is by design because we have a PROGRESSIVE income tax.
These results you are see are the results of income inequality(more and more of the income landing in fewer peoples' hands) and the very design of a PROGRESSIVE income tax which is to tax higher income earners a higher percentage then lower income earners.
I don't get why this is difficult for conservatives to grasp, but it really is strange to keep coming back to this topic over and over and over again like this is some great injustice no it is the design of our PROGRESSIVE income tax which has existed unchanged by any President for many decades.
This is not spin. We have a PROGRESSIVE income tax. What you are detailing is what happens with a PROGRESSIVE income tax.
Seriously do you not understand what the words PROGRESSIVE income tax means? It means those that earn more will pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes.
Oh, I'm fully aware of that. What you and many other "soak the rich" advocates don't seem capable of understanding is that it is EXACTLY such a system that creates the incentive for the federal government to KEEP the income gap as WIDE as possible. You all are blindly and foolishly advocating for your own economic oppression.
Cite, please. Prior to Obamacare, I can't think of any federal government benefits childless burger flippers working full time get. While they are theoretically eligible for Section 8, it's so hard to get on the waiting list, plus the waiting list is so long, it's unlikely a burger flipper actually has Section 8.
I thought he was talking about them getting basic government services...like roads. But if he's talking about federal services for the poor, you're right.
Oh, I'm fully aware of that. What you and many other "soak the rich" advocates don't seem capable of understanding is that it is EXACTLY such a system that creates the incentive for the federal government to KEEP the income gap as WIDE as possible. You all are blindly and foolishly advocating for your own economic oppression.
Read it over and over until it finally sinks in...
Soak the rich? What are you getting at? I didn't implement the US tax system. The American people allowed Congress to charge them income taxes. And from the start the earliest advocates of an income tax did so with the express purpose of taxing those with higher incomes more.
So this is the tax policy that every American President and Congress duly elected by the American people has supported.
Your part about the how progressive income tax creates the incentive for the federal government to keep the income gap as wide as possible is utter nonsense.
I have not advocated for anything.
I am merely pointing out reality. One of the revenue sources for the federal government is income taxes. We have a PROGRESSIVE income tax. The whole purpose of a PROGRESSIVE income tax is that those with more income pay more of the income taxes this is by design, it is not some error.
What you have had in this nation in the last 40 or so years is that the income gains are going much more to high earners, this increases their share of the nation's total income and decreases the share of the total income of lower earners.
These developments combined with our PROGRESSIVE income tax means that those with high incomes who are increasingly taking more and more of the nation's total income are going to pay an increasing share of the income taxes.
It is always quite baffling when conservatives point this out as if this is some error or some injustice of our tax system.
Your part about the how progressive income tax creates the incentive for the federal government to keep the income gap as wide as possible is utter nonsense.
Um... no. It's reality. Look at what's been happening. Given ALL these years of progressive taxes, what has happened to incomes? Are they becoming more equal? Or not? Is the income gap narrowing? Or not?
And think very carefully what happens to federal income tax revenue when those who pay the highest effective tax rate LOSE income share. More on that, here: http://www.city-data.com/forum/28408475-post977.html
Um... no. It's reality. Look at what's been happening. Given ALL these years of progressive taxes, what has happened to incomes? Are they becoming more equal? Or not? Is the income gap narrowing? Or not?
And think very carefully what happens to federal income tax revenue when those who pay the highest effective tax rate LOSE income share. More on that, here: http://www.city-data.com/forum/28408475-post977.html
Income inequality was not measured in the distant past. Since we had the income tax, income inequality has been up then decreased for a while then went up again, then decreased slightly for a short period of time and now it's going back up.
Income inequality was not measured in the distant past. Since we had the income tax, income inequality has been up then decreased for a while then went up again, then decreased slightly for a short period of time and now it's going back up.
Overall increasing more than decreasing...
Source: "Table F-1. Income Limits for Each Fifth and Top 5 Percent of Families (All Races): 1947 to 2007", U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplements, as found at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/f01AR.htm
I've posted the info. It's your choice if you wish to remain trapped in a delusion.
You can lead a horse to water, and all that...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
don't seem capable of understanding is that it is EXACTLY such a system that creates the incentive for the federal government to KEEP the income gap as WIDE as possible. You all are blindly and foolishly advocating for your own economic oppression. 
