Only the Little People Pay Taxes.

[stephendare]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/28/super-rich-tax-cheats-vid_n_115375.html

[willydenn]

"...the top fifth of U.S. households (with incomes above $84,000) remain perennial targets of class-warfare enmity. These families, however, perform a third of all labor in the economy. They contain the best educated and most productive workers, and they provide a disproportionate share of the investment needed to create jobs and spur economic growth. Nearly all are married-couple families, many with two or more earners. Far from shirking the tax burden, these families pay 82.5 percent of total federal income taxes and two-thirds of federal taxes overall. By contrast, the bottom quintile pays 1.1 percent of total federal taxes.12"

Full article:  http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/bg1791.cfm

[willydenn]

European Levels of Taxation:  Barack Obama's Tax Plan:

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/wm1973.cfm

[willydenn]

The solution!

www.fairtax.org

[Basstacular]

Thank You Willy.  I plan on sending the first paper to friends of mine to hopefully reverse some misconceptions.

[Lunican]

Willy... thanks once again for the FairTax plug. If I remember correctly we already discussed this issue and it was determined that the FairTax is not a good solution to our current tax issues.

Here is the thread: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,1488.15.html

[vicupstate]

European Levels of Taxation:  Barack Obama's Tax Plan:

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/wm1973.cfm

Why not post from Obama's website, if it is HIS plan, instead of the right-wing Heritage Foundation?  

[vicupstate]

Just a few days ago the Wall Street Journal had this article, which is very relevant to this discussion...

Richest Americans See Their Income Share Grow

By JESSE DRUCKER
July 23, 2008; Page A3

In a new sign of increasing inequality in the U.S., the richest 1% of Americans in 2006 garnered the highest share of the nation's adjusted gross income for two decades, and possibly the highest since 1929, according to Internal Revenue Service data.


Meanwhile, the average tax rate of the wealthiest 1% fell to its lowest level in at least 18 years. The group's share of the tax burden has risen, though not as quickly as its share of income.

The figures are from the IRS's income-statistics division and were posted on the agency's Web site last week. The 2006 data are the most recent available.

The figures about the relative income and tax rates of the wealthiest Americans come as the presumptive presidential candidates are in a debate about taxes. Congress and the next president will have to decide whether to extend several Bush-era tax cuts, including the 2003 reduction in tax rates on capital gains and dividends. Experts said those tax cuts in particular are playing a major role in falling tax rates for the very wealthy.

Sen. John McCain has proposed extending the lower tax rates of 15% on long-term capital gains and dividends that apply to most taxpayers, while Sen. Barack Obama has said he will seek to raise them to at least 20%, the rate before the 2003 cut, and possibly higher.

According to the figures, the richest 1% reported 22% of the nation's total adjusted gross income in 2006. That is up from 21.2% a year earlier, and is the highest in the 19 years that the IRS has kept strictly comparable figures. The 1988 level was 15.2%. Earlier IRS data show the last year the share of income belonging to the top 1% was at such a high level as it was in 2006 was in 1929, but changes in measuring income make a precise comparison difficult.

The average tax rate in 2006 for the top 1%, based on adjusted gross income, was 22.8%, down slightly from 2005 and the fifth straight year of declines. The average tax rate of this group was 28.9% in 1996, and was 24% in 1988.

As the wealthiest Americans' share of income has risen, so has their share of the income-tax burden. The group paid 39.9% of all income taxes in 2006, compared with 27.6% in 1988. In the most recently reported five years, however, the share of income reported by the very wealthy has risen faster than the group's share of income taxes[/b].

The IRS data look only at so-called adjusted gross income, which is reported on tax returns, and focus only on income taxes. A report by the Congressional Budget Office late last year, which used wider definitions of both income and taxes, found similar trends.

Joel Slemrod, a tax economist at the University of Michigan's business school, said that some portion of the increase in income for the top 1% could stem from the increasing shift to entities such as partnerships, which means some income previously reported by businesses is now reported by individuals. Larger factors likely include changes in trade policy and other aspects of the increasingly global economy, he said.

Write to Jesse Drucker at jesse.drucker@wsj.com3

For some graphs, see the link..

http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB121677287690575589.html

[Doctor_K]

So according to the article, the top 1% are being taxed more, dollar-wise, than they have been.  The top 1% of wage earners shoulder 40% of the tax burden in the country, according to the charts in the article.

Sucks to be uber-rich apparently, but for the rest of us 'little guys,' what's the problem here?

[downtownparks]

What percentage of the income do they make? If they make 40% of the income, then it sounds fair to me.

I am guessing that they don't make anywhere near 40% of the income.

[Basstacular]

The problem to me is the "uber-rich" earn $84,000 and shoulder over 80% of the federal taxes according to this article.  I work over 50 hours a week and am on track to earn over 75K this year.  With that siad I already feel the 25% I will pay in federal income tax is more than enough.  But, Mr. Obama feels I shuld chip in another 6% because I am "wealthy".  Ha.

And before anyone jumps on me about being fortunate to have such a well paying jon, I am an independent contractor in sales, working in a recession.

[uptowngirl]

An income over 84K is considered "uber rich' WTF???!!!

[Lunican]

Under Obama's plan, $250,000 is the level of income that would be required to pay the additional tax.

[dganson]

Stephen please define lower middle class

[dganson]

And at what income are you saying the lower class begins at?