| With all the talk of the rich are not paying their fair | | | | therefore they don't care. |
| share of taxes and the tax cuts earlier this decade | | | | • The smaller the pot from where the taxes |
| only went to the rich, here are some facts to | | | | come from, any changes in the economy or the |
| contemplate and you as the reader can make up your | | | | behavior of people will have a much bigger impact on |
| own opinion. | | | | the amount of money received by the treasury. |
| • The statement above could be true when | | | | The problem is even worse than people not paying |
| you look at it from a pure dollar point of view. | | | | any taxes, you can actually get money back even if |
| Someone who makes $500,000 versus someone | | | | you don't owe any. There are two that come to mind, |
| who makes $50,000, if they each get a 5% tax cut, | | | | the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Credit. I |
| the first one pays $25,000 less in taxes, where the | | | | think the second one is a good thing as it is an |
| second one only pays $2,500 less in taxes. | | | | incentive to work, and the more you work, the more |
| • I believe if you want to make an argument | | | | you get and it is capped at a low income and favors |
| who pays more in taxes, you should look at a | | | | people with children. There is nothing wrong with the |
| percentage of income paid and not the dollar figure. | | | | Child Tax Credit, but I don't see why someone actually |
| Let's look at some facts here from the latest statistics | | | | needs to get a refund beyond their overpayment. |
| from the IRS that can be found on their website: | | | | The tax laws are also screwed once you make too |
| • The top 25 percent of income earners pay | | | | much money in the government's point of view |
| 86% of all personal, federal income taxes. That is up | | | | regarding credits and deductions. Anyone making more |
| from 84 percent in 2002. | | | | than $100,000 is rich in the government point of view. I |
| • The top 50 percent of income earners pay | | | | would certainly disagree on that, ask a mom or dad |
| 97% of all personal, federal income taxes, which also | | | | with two or three kids making in the low $100s if they |
| means that the lower half of all income earners in this | | | | feel rich. Anyway, once you reach that level, many of |
| country pay 3% of all personal, federal income taxes. | | | | the deductions like tuition are being phased out, the |
| The medium in 2006 was just over $48,200. | | | | child credit disappears just to mention a few. You will |
| • What is amazing is that the top 1 percent of | | | | not get a dollar for dollar deduction anymore for your |
| income earners pay 39% of all personal, federal | | | | mortgage, charity, state taxes etc. I could go on and |
| income taxes, which is up almost 6 percent since | | | | on. In some circumstances, because of the phase outs, |
| 2002. | | | | the effective tax rate for a certain income range (like |
| 20 years ago, the top 1% paid a little over 27 percent | | | | the income from $110K to $115K, which is just an |
| of all personal, federal income taxes, and the top 50 | | | | example as it depends on the situation), is in the |
| percent paid about 94 percent. | | | | confiscatory category where literately a huge chunk |
| All the talk about the lower income bracket not getting | | | | of extra earned money goes to the government. This |
| enough of a tax cut has a mathematical problem. How | | | | is offset somewhat by not having to pay social |
| can you cut taxes for someone who already pays | | | | security taxes anymore, but that is story for a |
| very little or nothing? That was actually answered | | | | different day. |
| during the tax cuts in 2003 by cutting the lowest | | | | I think what we need is a flatter tax with less |
| bracket from 15% to 10%. So the people who pay | | | | deductions. All of us should pay something, because |
| most of their taxes in the lower of two lowest | | | | once you have some money invested, you might |
| brackets received a 30% tax cut. This obviously is not | | | | actually have some interest how it is spend. We need |
| a large dollar figure, but a nice percentage cut. In | | | | to be generous to the ones in need and the |
| addition tax credits were increased. | | | | unfortunate, but that is not almost half the population |
| Anyway, the issue we have at hand is that the taxes | | | | that pays only 3 percent of the taxes. We should be |
| are paid by a smaller and smaller part of the | | | | more generous with families than with single people, |
| population. This results in several problems: | | | | nevertheless they should all pay the same rate, just |
| • There is a large part of the population that | | | | the dollar figure when you start taxing should be |
| is no longer contributing, even if it is a small amount. | | | | different. |
| Any tax law changes do not affect them and | | | | |