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It's amusing to me to hear this usual talk of "the richest 1%" or "the richest 2%." Small businesses are rarely mentioned. It's as if the "wealthy" are just going to carry us all home, and all the poor will just take their money and all will be well again.
Folks, the math doesn't add up even if you can find a way to justify stealing 62% of tax revenue coming from 2% of the population.
Yep, that's right. Even if the federal government confiscated 100% of the income from every family and filer making over $75,000 per year, we'd just barely pay this mess down.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Quote:
Consider the IRS data for 2006, the most recent year that such tax data are available and a good year for the economy and "the wealthiest 2%." Roughly 3.8 million filers had adjusted gross incomes above $200,000 in 2006. (That's about 7% of all returns; the data aren't broken down at the $250,000 point.) These people paid about $522 billion in income taxes, or roughly 62% of all federal individual income receipts. The richest 1% -- about 1.65 million filers making above $388,806 -- paid some $408 billion, or 39.9% of all income tax revenues, while earning about 22% of all reported U.S. income.
...
Note that federal income taxes are already "progressive" with a 35% top marginal rate, and that Mr. Obama is (so far) proposing to raise it only to 39.6%, plus another two percentage points in hidden deduction phase-outs. He'd also raise capital gains and dividend rates, but those both yield far less revenue than the income tax. These combined increases won't come close to raising the hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue that Mr. Obama is going to need.
But let's not stop at a 42% top rate; as a thought experiment, let's go all the way. A tax policy that confiscated 100% of the taxable income of everyone in America earning over $500,000 in 2006 would only have given Congress an extra $1.3 trillion in revenue. That's less than half the 2006 federal budget of $2.7 trillion and looks tiny compared to the more than $4 trillion Congress will spend in fiscal 2010. Even taking every taxable "dime" of everyone earning more than $75,000 in 2006 would have barely yielded enough to cover that $4 trillion.
This is what the government of We the People is doing to us. We're barely a month into this disaster, and this is the size hole we find ourselves in. Never mind the fact that these income totals are going to decline this year.
Finally someone has posted this bit of truth that I have been hearing all day long. I will scream very loud when they hit me as one of the bottom people in that group but they will be coming after us sooner than they said. Obama talks top 2% and cuts for everybody else but for the 2010 year those of us too close to $100,000 will see us paying right along with the wealthy people. Only those who don't pay anything now will escape it all.
"Only those who don't pay anything now will escape it all."
Oh, they'll pay, too. Small businesses are included in that "richest 2%," essentially making the whole term meaningless. Then there are the issues of unemployment and inflation....
This whole budget is just bad policy repeated over and over again.
"Only those who don't pay anything now will escape it all."
Oh, they'll pay, too. Small businesses are included in that "richest 2%," essentially making the whole term meaningless. Then there are the issues of unemployment and inflation....
This whole budget is just bad policy repeated over and over again.
This post is correct. When the inflation really hits the fan, it can wipe out everyone from top to bottom. Even people who receive more from the Gov than they pay in taxes will have their purchasing power wiped out by inflation.
My sense is that Obama looks at Governors Granholm (D-MI) and Schwarzenegger (R-CA) and thinks they are doing very well but are not quite liberal enough in their policies. He seems to be taking his Economic policy from them: more Government, more regulations, higher taxes and more unions. How'd that work out in CA and MI?!?!
Obama talks top 2% and cuts for everybody else but for the 2010 year those of us too close to $100,000 will see us paying right along with the wealthy people. Only those who don't pay anything now will escape it all.
Charities are going to be hit by this nonsense, as well, which will affect the poor. Obama does a lot of talk, but he also fails to mention the cuts he made in the percent of income one can write off to charitable donations. That cut will be felt, it will push people into higher income brackets, and it will hurt the poor. Charitable giving will no doubt decline.
I'm just not seeing that much to be impressed about with Boy Wonder.
People don't seem to realize that the real money is not in with the rich. Anyone who thinks they are safe because they don't make $250K is not too bright.
I see the libs here are still infatuated with Sarah Palin. I guess it's easier than to face the fact that they elected a dope.
Nonsense. As though Obama thinks that the increased taxes--3-6% (OMG!)--on the wealthy will serve as the only source of funds for getting out of this mess. The mess, you might remember, that your savior George Bush created.
Nonsense. As though Obama thinks that the increased taxes--3-6% (OMG!)--on the wealthy will serve as the only source of funds for getting out of this mess. The mess, you might remember, that your savior George Bush created.
The WSJ? Yeah, right.
Unlike the lockstep left lapping up anything Obama only because he has a D after his name. I remember that most conservatives did not like many of the things Bush did. You don't think his approval ratings were so low because of only the left do you?
I think the savior and messiah monikers are firmly self attached to Barry. I don't think you'll have too much luck in your attempt to try to hang them on Bush.
Moderator cut: copyright
Last edited by katzenfreund; 03-01-2009 at 03:04 PM..
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