Who pays taxes in America?

[Peter1469]

http://brain-terminal.com/posts/2008/07/22/socialism

The nearby chart shows that the top 1% of taxpayers, those who earn above $388,806, paid 40% of all income taxes in 2006, the highest share in at least 40 years. The top 10% in income, those earning more than $108,904, paid 71%. [...] Americans with an income below the median paid a record low 2.9% of all income taxes, while the top 50% paid 97.1%. [...]
Aha, we are told: The rich paid more taxes because they made a greater share of the money. That is true. The top 1% earned 22% of all reported income. But they also paid a share of taxes not far from double their share of income. In other words, the tax code is already steeply progressive.

[they call me MR. GRUMPY god damn it!]

this is an argument for a flat tax and immediate cut in discretionary spending by 5-10%

[SDML]

No, this is an argument for the ridiculousness of people's use of the word "progressive". It is an argument for tossing out the entire tax code, along with the personal income tax, and a giant cut in government spending.

[Gunit Hussein Sangh]

Yeah ... and just think of how much they would be paying if there wasn't all those loopholes where they can move their money into offshore accounts and hide it from the IRS!

[conley]

cry me a river...these guys pay a disproportionate amount of taxes because they have a disproportionate amount of wealth.  they're lucky taxes are so low, because if they lived any where else in the civilized world they would be A LOT higher. not to mention the current rate is at a very low point historically speaking:

# During World War I the top rate rose to 77%; after the war, the top rate was scaled down to a low of 25%.
# During the Great Depression and World War II, the top income tax rate rose again. In the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, the top rate was 75%. The top rate reached 94% during the war and remained at 91% until 1964. (!!!!!!)
# In 1964 the top rate was decreased to 70% (1964 Revenue Act), then to 50% in 1981 (Economic Recovery Tax Act or ERTA).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_States

[SDML]

Raising the rate to 3/4+ of one's income is a HUGE incentive to find loopholes, not to mention to hide MOST of one's income. For that matter, a rate of 25% is a huge incentive when one realizes that it means you work 1/4 of the year (3 months) just to pay the government.

A personal income tax is a stupid idea that punishes productivity.

[OswaldTheOsprey]

cry me a river...these guys pay a disproportionate amount of taxes because they have a disproportionate amount of wealth.  they're lucky taxes are so low, because if they lived any where else in the civilized world they would be A LOT higher. not to mention the current rate is at a very low point historically speaking:

# During World War I the top rate rose to 77%; after the war, the top rate was scaled down to a low of 25%.
# During the Great Depression and World War II, the top income tax rate rose again. In the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, the top rate was 75%. The top rate reached 94% during the war and remained at 91% until 1964. (!!!!!!)
# In 1964 the top rate was decreased to 70% (1964 Revenue Act), then to 50% in 1981 (Economic Recovery Tax Act or ERTA).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_States

Excellent post. Please do not forget that most of wealthy are internationalists who put the bottom line over our Motherland.

OswaldTheOsprey

[Vermouth]

Raising the rate to 3/4+ of one's income is a HUGE incentive to find loopholes, not to mention to hide MOST of one's income. For that matter, a rate of 25% is a huge incentive when one realizes that it means you work 1/4 of the year (3 months) just to pay the government.

A personal income tax is a stupid idea that punishes productivity.

It's not 3/4 of your entire income. It's 3/4 of your income that's in the highest bracket. According to the link, the current highest bracket is 35%, and the rate kicks in at $357,701. You're only paying 35% on the portion of your income that's over $357,701.

[conley]

Raising the rate to 3/4+ of one's income is a HUGE incentive to find loopholes, not to mention to hide MOST of one's income. For that matter, a rate of 25% is a huge incentive when one realizes that it means you work 1/4 of the year (3 months) just to pay the government.

A personal income tax is a stupid idea that punishes productivity.

It's not 3/4 of your entire income. It's 3/4 of your income that's in the highest bracket. According to the link, the current highest bracket is 35%, and the rate kicks in at $357,701. You're only paying 35% on the portion of your income that's over $357,701.

Great point

Vemouth doesn't say much but when she does she usually nails it.

[they call me MR. GRUMPY god damn it!]

any discussion of taxes and tax rates should begin with and only after the govt is forced to curtail spending beyond it's constitutional authority.  that said this nation does not benefit from class warfare as justification to redistribute wealth and maintain political power.

[conley]

any discussion of taxes and tax rates should begin with and only after the govt is forced to curtail spending beyond it's constitutional authority.

no bid defense contracts?

or are you railing against the .0001% spent on healthcare, education,. etc??

[Gunit Hussein Sangh]

any attempt to eliminate no-bid contracts to wealthy campaign contributors is un-american

[OswaldTheOsprey]

any discussion of taxes and tax rates should begin with and only after the govt is forced to curtail spending beyond it's constitutional authority.  that said this nation does not benefit from class warfare as justification to redistribute wealth and maintain political power.

Hold the presses! Give me re-write! Grumpy is actually coming out against warfare! Oh wait, hold the phone! It is actually a form of warfare that doesn't involve mass killing. Tax them! Tax them twice!

OswaldTheOsprey

[Peter1469]

Raising the rate to 3/4+ of one's income is a HUGE incentive to find loopholes, not to mention to hide MOST of one's income. For that matter, a rate of 25% is a huge incentive when one realizes that it means you work 1/4 of the year (3 months) just to pay the government.

A personal income tax is a stupid idea that punishes productivity.

It's not 3/4 of your entire income. It's 3/4 of your income that's in the highest bracket. According to the link, the current highest bracket is 35%, and the rate kicks in at $357,701. You're only paying 35% on the portion of your income that's over $357,701.

But you are paying a progressively smaller amount on your income below the 35% threshold. 

There is a fundamental problem with the bottom 50% pay 2.9% of the income taxes. 

[Vermouth]

Raising the rate to 3/4+ of one's income is a HUGE incentive to find loopholes, not to mention to hide MOST of one's income. For that matter, a rate of 25% is a huge incentive when one realizes that it means you work 1/4 of the year (3 months) just to pay the government.

A personal income tax is a stupid idea that punishes productivity.

It's not 3/4 of your entire income. It's 3/4 of your income that's in the highest bracket. According to the link, the current highest bracket is 35%, and the rate kicks in at $357,701. You're only paying 35% on the portion of your income that's over $357,701.

But you are paying a progressively smaller amount on your income below the 35% threshold. 

There is a fundamental problem with the bottom 50% pay 2.9% of the income taxes. 

What's the problem? Even with a flat tax rate, more tax revenue will be coming from the wealthy than from the poor. The poor can't contribute funds they don't have.