Contributors

Monday, August 04, 2008

Hallelujah!

I really need to get more organized with my links and blog information. It's just terrible. Whenever I am having a discussion with someone in comments, it's a real struggle to find pertinent information to back up my points.

The need for organization was played out quite eloquently in a recent discussion I have been having with one reader regarding whether or not the rich are taxed more. I could not come up with the information quickly and was quite unimpressive in the debate.

After searching for days, I finally found the links that show some hard numbers on what is really going on in this country. The main link I was looking for, by Thurman Hart on NJ.com, a New Jersey web site, neatly explains how "Paris Hilton and her pals have gotten windfall tax breaks while Joe Sixpack has had to take up the slack." Bear in mind, his information is coming from the Census Bureau, the IRS, and the Tax Center. Please go and double check his numbers. I did and it is nauseating.

He explains things in a very brief and clear fashion. An example?

The marginal tax rate - the highest tax bracket - in 1968 was 75.25% for incomes over $200,000. Adjusted for inflation, that would be a $1,128,351 - and they would pay 35% taxes on income over $326,450. For someone making over a million dollars a year currently, that's a 40% tax savings! According to the IRS Statistics of Income, that means about 270,000 people benefited from this tax break in 2004 (2005 and later statistics not currently available). So how much money is that? If the whole sum were subjected to only a 20% tax, the United States government would have brought in an additional $98 BILLION. By way of comparison, this is $17 billion more than was spent in Iraq in 2005.

This is a natural function of the multiplier effect of wealth. Less than one percent of Americans earn more than a million dollars, but they account for 11.2% of all income. This doesn't mean we should "soak the rich", but it does mean that over my lifetime the extremely wealthy have benefited from massive tax cuts.


And that has been my point all along. If you need more tables and charts to understand this, check out this site which is chock full o' data. Check out the CEO compensation charts at the bottom of the page.

I also found this article from the Times which further enforces my point regarding the stratification of our society. This was in regards to the Congressional Budget Office report regarding middle class income earners-the same report the Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson was coming when he took office. It shows a very bleak future for our country and, if we don't pay attention, we are going to be in real trouble.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The wealthy do pay more in dollar amount of taxes but they get to keep more of their money than they ever have at any time in history. That is the legacy of the Bush administration.

What this has basically done is completely fuck up our economy because less people are spending less money and that is why their is no growth. All of the money is at the top and they are not spending it.

Anonymous said...

Agreed, tom. The great myth of conservatism is that rich people will stimulate the economy if they just had less in taxes to pay. The fact that people believe this is quite possibly the purest definition of "naive" in the history of the world.

Our economy works best by having more people spend money, not less. In the case of today, the less are hoarding their money.

Anonymous said...

Look kids, the rich pay a higher share of total taxes now, even with the Reagan and Bush cuts in rate, then they did during the years of very high marginal rates.

CEOs make hundreds of times the average-joe salary. So do pro athletes and actors and musicians. Why do you all get your panties in a bunch about the former and not the latter?

If you are concerned about the rich paying their "fair share" - they are. The top 1% have 11% of all income, and pay 25% of all taxes.

If on the other hand, you are angry that they have what you don't and you want the govt to even the score - please ask mommy to buy you a lollipop and stop the infantile whining.

Anonymous said...

Take from the rich; give to the poor. I wrote that, ya' know.

Anonymous said...

Robin Hood for veep!! Looks like some people need to spend more time getting to the top instead of whining about being at the bottom. "waaawaa, he's hoarding his money!!!!"

Anonymous said...

DID YOU SAY ONLY 270,000 PEOPLE BENEFITTED FROM BUSH TAX CUTS?

Anonymous said...

Three excellent example of the current intellect of this country and why George Bush got elected once.

Anonymous said...

You comment about the intellect of this country while mentioning those "Three excellent example"?

btw, GWB got elected twice.

Great post.

Anonymous said...

Oh, that was no typo, rld, Bush got elected once....in 2004. Some even debate the validity of that.

Anonymous said...

That was a nice examples of correcting me.

Anonymous said...

"you are angry that they have what you don't and you want the govt to even the score - please ask mommy to buy you a lollipop and stop the infantile whining."

First of all, I have plenty of money. I don't need anymore.

What I am angry about is the fact that when less people get more of the money, they tend to become dictators and are able to control many aspects of our lives. They are able to limit choices and easily extend their power way beyond what they should have. This has been the plan all along with the conservative movement and many people buy into it.

Anonymous said...

What I am angry about is the fact that when less people get more of the money, they tend to become dictators and are able to control many aspects of our lives.

Ah, again not about paying their fair share - but according to MY values YOU have too much. Funny, but I'll bet that bar is always set just above any amount you might ever hope to earn.

And I must ask - how has ANY rich person ever been able to dictate what you may or may not do (and this must be ABSENT using the govt to do so).