Don't Believe The Class Warriors: America's Income-Tax Code Doesn't Favor The Rich
Taxes: As April 15 looms, a day of dread for most taxpayers, you might be wondering just how fair our tax system is. Turns out, it's not very fair at all: A relatively small number of higher-income people pay the vast majority of taxes.
The myth, of course, is that the middle class and poor get shafted, while the rich and the upper-middle class make out like bandits. It's propagated by those who believe ever-higher taxes on the so-called "rich" are the answer to all of the U.S. budget problems, not to mention a way to end income and wealth disparities.
But each year, the nonpartisan Tax Foundation puts out its Facts & Figures report, a trove of data on taxes, both at the federal and the state level. This year's edition, which uses 2015 tax-year data, reminds us why President Trump's tax reform was so badly needed: The U.S. tax code is highly progressive when it comes to income.
The much-maligned "1%" of all income tax payers, it turns out, earn just under 21% of all adjusted gross income; but they pay 39% of all income taxes, and have an average tax rate of 27.1%, nearly twice the average of 14.3% for all taxpayers. That's 1.4 million people out of 141 million total. To say they're "not paying their fair share" is, on the very face of it, false.
Go down even a little in income and the story stays the same. The top 10% earn nearly half of all income, which seems disproportionate until you see that they also pay nearly 71% of all income taxes at a 21.4% tax rate. Drop down to the top 50%, and they make 89% of the income, but pay 97% of taxes.
The bottom 50%, by comparison, earns 11.3% of all income, but pays just 2.8% of the taxes.
So, yes, our tax system is "fair," if by that you mean the rich pay far more than their income would suggest they should. Yet, last year, during the tax-reform debate, the Democratic Party-allied group "Not One Penny" traveled the country with liberal politicians selling the idea that Americans should "Tell Congress that millionaires, billionaires and wealthy corporations deserve #NotOnePenny in tax cuts at our expense."
At your expense? Those "millionaires, billionaires and wealthy corporations" are the ones that pay virtually all of the taxes already. That won't change much under Trump's tax reforms. And punishing them with higher taxes only punishes those who depend on them: workers and those who want to be workers.
Trump's tax cuts for both wealthy individuals and corporations have led to a surge of productive investment, a big jump in hiring, and rising incomes and fat bonuses. If that's class warfare, it's the middle-income and lower-income families that are winning.
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Well, there are tax cuts for the middle class - they just expire down the road, whereas the tax cuts for the wealthy apparently don't. Most people should see a decrease in their taxes for 2018 and for a while after that; then, their taxes will go back up (unless whoever's in charge then decides to continue them to avoid backlash). It didn't simplify the tax code nearly enough, although it will mean that fewer people need to itemize. And some loopholes got even murkier - the passthrough thing is worth reading up on. The removal of exemptions may or may not make up for the increased personal deductions depending on your circumstances.
Either way, it's a huge problem when, if you can't figure out what you should do with your taxes, and you call the IRS - they can't always tell you what's correct, and you're on the hook for penalties if the advice they gave you is wrong. Nothing in this bill has changed that.
Now, with all the increased spending, we're going to be screwed in the future - that seems to be a hallmark of all administrations. By the time we're feeling it, someone else will be in office, and they'll get the blame. But none of us want to give up the money for the things that matter to us, and we can't afford it all, so there you go.
Imagine if you ran your family budget the way our government - either party - runs our national budget.
What we have here is an example of "The Big Lie" as explained by Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels...
Joseph Goebbels: On the "Big Lie"
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
So, what was the Clinton's tax cut? How about Soros? Come on, you can tell us.
Hillary opposed the tax cut.
Yea, and Chuck Schumer said........
$21,000,000,000,000 is getting to be a real investment. These 1.3 trillion dollar, 6 month spending bills are killing us, but at least we're no longer living in the 'era of austerity', right?
Now there is your Democrat leader. We've been living in a life of austerity and didn't even know it. I wonder, what about raising the National Debt more than all the Presidents before him. I would hate to see what not living a life of austerity is. Well, Trump going along with the tax plan is what austerity isn't for sure, but what we've been living hasn't been austerity by a long shot, so no, I don't care one thing about what Democrats like Schumer or Clinton say, because it has nothing to do with the truth, only political posturing and propaganda.
Thank you JBB and Mr. Frost for doing my heavy lifting.
America's Income-Tax Code Doesn't Favor The Rich , Yes it does in the short and long terms.
It still penalizes their hard work and success and rewards laziness. A flat tax rate is most fair.
And how would THAT work? Sales taxes hit the poor the hardest. Period. All of this republican angst about the rich elite paying more is weird. The rich are getting almost ALL of the benefits of our tax structure now. They are the BENEFICIARIES of the income generated by our economy. They are reaping almost all of it. Why the hell shouldn't they pay for that? Our infrastructure, our education system, our stability (well that part may be history).........
That question reveals either a massive naïveté or wilful denial of reality. You can't possibly really believe that everyone has access to the same level of education, safety and services in this country.
SOME of them don't pay JACK, do you care about that?
Only if you want to kill the middle class. There is a reason why conservatives love both of those hare-brained ideas. Those tax ideas would be another huge tax cut for the rich and boost the tax burden for everyone else. Did you ever wonder why conservatives support such a policy and how it would benefit them?
Considering the top 20% possess 80% of all financial assets it doesn't seem that unfair at all. Those in the bottom 50% are barely able to afford food and shelter and live paycheck to paycheck, so I'm not sure what conservative trickle down economic proponents expect. As they say, you can't squeeze blood from a turnip. To try and demand more from the lowest income group to subsidy those at the top is beyond ignorant, it's callous elitism at the expense of the downtrodden all in the hopes that the elites will piss some profit on those suffering at the bottom.
Actually it doesn't....the less wealthy need to pay their fair share, and they don't.
Is this where you're going to give us that perverted rightwing libertoonian definition of "fair share?"
What is everyone's fair share?
Asked and answered. Why doesn't one of you start answering that fucking stupid question for a change. Go on. Put your ass out there for once.
Bullshit. That's one of the stupidest dodges I've seen today. Where was it asked an answered? You're so busy trying to spin plates you can't even see how foolish your comment comes off as.
12.2 below. Your turn to answer or are you and Spike going to keep dodging and weaving?
When are you going to stop cowering and hiding and answer your own question?
39% is too low for the top tax rate. It should be much higher. Few people pay that tax rate because of the many loopholes, so don't start crying elephant tears for the overtaxed rich people.
I busted you on this stat already. The top 1% own at least 40% of the wealth in this country so the proportion of taxes is just a bit low but very appropriate.
I have swampland in the Sahara if you believe that the effective tax rate for anyone is 60%.
You're amusing,
NY property taxes
The sales tax is high at 8.875. That tax hurts the poor and middle class at the expense of the rich who don't spend nearly as much as they earn.
Medicare and Social Security (FICA) are small.
The top 1% own 40% of all financial assets. It would be like having 100 guests at a party and 1 of them takes 40 of the 100 slices of pie, while 80 of the guests have to share 7 slices. When you ask the 1 guest with 40 slices to maybe, perhaps donate 10 of his slices to the 80 that are having to share the 7 slices what do we hear? Outrage and whining about having to share, "It's my pie damn it! Without me there wouldn't be much of a party so suck it up losers! Be happy with the 7 slices I gave you ungrateful little bitches! If you want more sit at the edge of my table begging likes dogs and maybe some crumbs will trickle down...".
" the top wealthiest 1% possess 40% of the nation’s wealth; the bottom 80% own 7%; similarly, but later, the media reported, the "richest 1 percent in the United States now own more additional income than the bottom 90 percent".
We just did our taxes and there wasn't much of a difference from last year in regards to our return.
We are PAYING almost five grand over what was already taken out in taxes this year, we've NEVER done that before. And has anybody noticed price increases? I have. Wait til the trade war takes off.
Our worse year was when we got hit by the inheritance tax from his mother's estate. We saw it coming and sidelined the funds ahead of time. His brother didn't and spent his share like a drunken sailor on shore leave. Within six months he had to get a second mortgage to make ends meet. It was like Aaesop's The Ant and The Grasshopper, with us being the ants.
Was it you who claimed you were already getting $100 more a pay period due to the new tax rates?
Wait a sec. That means the estate was worth at more $5M. You don't have to answer this (it's none of my or anyone else's "bidness"), but I wonder why you'd have to "set aside" your own money (or maybe you meant from the estate) to pay the taxes on that when the estate itself should have had more than enough to do that.
I wish 5 million. We consulted out tax person to get an approximation as to what we would pay and took it out of the money we received from the estate. We had enough left to settle bills and pay off the mortgage, which wasn't much as we were close to paying it off anyway.
My husband retired so we did have some changes, I'm not sure exactly why yet, just got the papers back. We definitely aren't 1%. Luckier than many, but certainly not that. But even without the taxes Americans overall will be worse off, because prices on a lot of items are going to spike and jobs will be impacted as well with the trade war. Healthcare costs will rise faster. I wish everybody could look at the economy and country as a whole instead of this or that little tax break, or just pieces of the puzzle instead of the whole thing. Everything is inter-related and it doesn't do any of us any good to allow things that aren't beneficial overall continue. We need to require more of ourselves when it comes to policies and their REAL impact. It shouldn't be a partisan thing. I'm hoping somewhere in all this mess something good will come out of it all. Can't imagine what or that it will, but if it does I'll admit it.
Honey, we paid more than our fair share our entire lives. Every year we pay more than some make, so stop assuming only the poor and destitute want a robust middle class. A better question is why people don't require enough of themselves to really understand what they are voting for, and stop believing political lies told with impunity. Not everything is equal, there are ways to go back and see what works and doesn't.
Define "fare share." And weren't you the one falsely claiming that you were seeing $100 more per pay period now despite being shown that for your alleged income it couldn't have been more than $10?
That's because the tax cuts are for the 2018 tax year.
It's a great time to remind ourselves what chickenshits rightwingers are. A bunch of them are demanding to know what "fair taxation" means. Of course, they ignore or dismiss the answers they get and never come up with their own definition. There's no coward like a rightwing coward.
From private school tax breaks to bigger inheritances, 7 ways rich people win big if tax reform passes
Higher-income taxpayers will get the largest tax cuts.
The House GOP's legislation would reduce taxes on average for all income groups in 2018 as well as ten years from now, but higher-income households would get the largest cuts — both in terms of dollar amounts and as a percentage of after-tax income, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center .
Taxpayers in the top 1% — defined as those making over $730,000 — would receive 20% of the total tax cut, the think tank found. They'd get an average cut of $37,000, which translates to about 2.4% of their after-tax income.
The estate tax, which benefits about 5,500 taxpayers a year, will be eliminated.
The House GOP plan would eliminate the estate tax, under which people who give money or assets such as real estate or stocks to their children or other heir when they die have to pay a 40% tax. Currently, the tax only applies to estates larger than $5.49 million, but the House plan would double that threshold to over $10 million. Then, the plan would phase out the tax completely after six years.
Trump has touted the repeal as a perk for farmers and small businesses owners. An analysis by The Washington Post , however, found that only 5,500 estates out of about 3 million will pay any estate tax in 2017. And within that 5,500, only about 80 are farms or small businesses.
Those who genuflect to their "Jess Willard" will look the other way on even those Trumpian phenomena that screw them … as long has he plays to their ignorance, hatreds and fears!
There's an economic class war going on all right and it's against the middle class by the likes of the Donald Shitbag Trumps in the country. The share of the nation's wealth held by the middle class has dwindled steadily for the past 40 years. First chart is the income gap increase:
The next shows dramatically increasing net wealth disparity. The 50% at the bottom is the barely visible black curve:
This is not a good sign for what's supposed to be a republic. This is the what a plutocratic oligarchy looks like--see today's Russia for the "perfection" of that system of government.
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