Rich pay less tax as a percentage of income

[bushvoodoo]

Why don't Democratic politicians point out that even though the tax rate is higher on wealthy Americans, that if you take into account the total tax paid i.e, payroll, ssi and income tax - and take into account deductions (or lack of for average Americans), the average family making a basic wage pays a higher percentage of total tax than most millionaires?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Uh-oh. Class war?

Don't you know that if you take the side of those being screwed you will probably be tagged as a "loony leftist", "commie", "socialist", or "unrealistic idealist"?

Which is exactly why Democratic Politicians don't mention such things as inequities in the tax-sytem.

[indepat]

2. Democratic politicians have therefore also declared war on the middle

class, not to mention the poor, in absentia: Shifting the tax burden down and cutting/eliminating benefits supposedly being paid for by most of the middle class and all the poor via payroll taxes is the RW's job #1 IMHO.

[Union Thug]

3. Class War? Where do I enlist?

Private WillW reporting for duty!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. What? Aren't you grateful for being trickled down upon?

Tsk. Tsk. Don't you know that those CEO's have your best interests at heart? Why, every time they buy a $20,000.00 shower curtain they're employing some happy soul making minimum wage. Smile! Be happy! And, most important, don't complain.

[Union Thug]

7. Geez, how could I forget..

that corporate CEO's really love me? Thanks for the reminder...

...oh wait... The opposing side of that is "Greed is Good" and those high wages and good benefits we are all enjoying are by-products of successful greed.

What? Wages are down and benefits in decline... geez..

[2Design]

5. rich don't have income...they have stock, real estate, and dividends

and retirement income....and in some places those are all taxed or not.

[papau]

13. Investment income is real income - and should be taxed at 100 cents to $

just as wage income - and indeed at flat rate if we have only one tax (not 2 incomes taxes - FIT plus SS payroll - as we do now)

Indeed a "semi-flat" tax- meaning a flat tax on all income at 100 cents to dollar, but with a per person deductible - makes a lot of sense to me - hell , throw in a a mort deduct for the the first 500,000 borrowed, and let it fly!


:-)

[JohnnyFianna1]

6. because it's not true the rich pay 19 percent in total taxes,

the poor pay 18 percent, granted it's close but the rich do pay (if only slightly) more.

[Union Thug]

8. The rich should be paying between about...

50 and 90% on income. 19 percent isn't SHIT.

[CaTeacher]

10. I agree! And I think that a person is

"rich" if they have more than enough to meet their basic needs.

A person should be able to afford to have housing, food, clothing etc. To encourage this, a certain amount should be taxed fairly lightly.

Anything over that basic amount should be taxed VERY heavily and this tax revenue shoud be used by the government to subsidize health care, education and benefits for those who are NOT earning enough to meet their basic needs.

[papau]

14. 19/18 does not reflect hidden investment income. n/t

:-)

[DieboldMustDie]

16. Bushvoodoo didn't say that the rich pay less than the poor...

he said they less than the average American.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. You need to get the figures out there

and so do the politicians. It's actually quite hard to find figures for the total tax burden for people or households in the USA. If you know anyone who's collated them on the Web, I'd love a link.

[JohnnyFianna1]

11. Bush whacked has the figures divided into 5 quintiles.

Bottom quintile pays 18% percent in total income, second form bottom pays 14%, middle quintile 16%, second from top pays 17% and top quintile pays 19%.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. Thanks

It looks like the bottom fifth who get really screwed. Do you know what year that is for? I presume top fifth will have benefited most from Bush's tax cuts - is that before or after them?

[papau]

15. The IRS/Census/BEA/Labor all have annual studies.

The data is not hidden - except the effect of the investment income non-reporting is just not in the numbers.

[ProfLefty]

12. We are woefully undertaxed.

And shamefully underserved. Compared to the progressive countries in Europe and elsewhere around the world our tax rates are miniscule but so are the services we recieve as a return on our "investment".
Our health care system is warped and on the road to almost certain destruction...our educational system is painfully substandard in comparison to most other developed nations. Our only accomplishments are the building of an ultra-powerful military machine many times more lethal than any other in existence today and a prison system (federal, state and local) which incarcerates a higher percentage of citizens than that of any other developed nation and probably any undeveloped nation as well. What a sense of pride and accomplishment those of us who are currently both free of incarceration and not in military service can have in this astounding and incomprehensible use of our nation's tax revenues.