General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThanks to Obama, the rich paid more in taxes in 2013 than they did in 1980
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/9/11894794/obama-tax-increase-rich-one-percentPresident Obama has raised taxes on the richest 1 percent of Americans so much that they actually paid more in 2013 than they did in 1980, before the Reagan and Bush tax cuts and the huge recent increase in inequality.
That's the surprising conclusion of a new report from the Congressional Budget Office. The report tracks how incomes and taxes have evolved for different parts of the income distribution from 1979 to 2013. And one thing it suggests is that Obama's tax policies have led to a very significant increase in taxes for the richest 1 percent:
<cut>
But the main thing that changes average tax rates is public policy. You can see that in the big jump from 1986 to 1987, when the rich paid more after Ronald Reagan signed tax reforms raising the rate on capital gains, and after 1993, when Bill Clinton and Democrats in Congress raised top rates to balance the budget.
And you can see it in the jump from 2012 to 2013, when the average federal tax rate on the rich grew from 28.7 percent to 34 percent in a single year. That's a massive gain. One-percenters paid, on average, about $83,000 more that year than they would've paid if their average tax rate had held constant.
BeyondGeography
(39,276 posts)It took decades to be able to do that. Tool of the oligarchy. Yeah.
Squinch
(50,773 posts)IronLionZion
(45,250 posts)I remember Romney escaping a lot of income taxes by having it as carried interest, which gets the lower capital gains tax. And he kept hundreds of millions in his traditional IRA, which is obscene. Most Americans would not know how to transfer shares in a way to bypass the IRA contribution limits. And no Republicans ever ask how many jobs he created with his offshore accounts in Switzerland.
athena
(4,187 posts)isn't it a bit sad that we're celebrating this? They should have paid more in taxes in 1981 than in 1980, and every year after that.
Gore1FL
(21,027 posts)"The Bush tax cuts finally expired but we had to wait until after Obama extended them first." It's a pretty lame thing to congratulate Obama for not continuing to try to extend a bad idea more than he did.
rufus dog
(8,419 posts)For fucks sake!
The god damned whining plays right fucking into republican hands. They count on this weak assed shit, he either fails on the stimulus money or fails on not raising taxes..
Again FOR FUCKS SAKE!
Gore1FL
(21,027 posts)Every president since Carter has bought into Reaganomics. Celebrating keeping the top rate below 40% is pathetic.