Here's a Nobel winning economist posting a fact.
USA fact of the day - Marginal REVOLUTION:
Yes the top 20% do pay 95% of federal income tax in the US.
But, (from the same document used above) they only pay 78% of all Federal tax.
This 78% includes Social Security and Medicare taxes which every working person pays.
The combine rate on these is about 7.6%. But... Social Security Tax isn't paid on any income over $127,200 so someone making $50,000 per year pays SS at a 6.2% rate but someone making 1 million a year only pays about 1.6% (1.6% assuming they pay it all .8% if their employer is paying half).
That's pretty good deal for the top 20%
Also, the top 20% make a hair over 60% of the income (document) and hold about 85% of the wealth in the US.
His "USA fact of the day" could have been the "Top 20% hold 85% of the wealth but only pay 78% of the taxes." Why wasn't it?
Even worse, these numbers are Federal taxes only and ignore state and local taxes, sales tax, gasoline tax, etc... Sales tax especially hits the poor harder than the rich.
You can't fix the tax mess in this country if you don't include all taxes paid by all people in the discussion.
If you see a headline about "Federal Income taxes" and the article doesn't mention some of the above you can be pretty sure dealing with someone who's not really being straight with you.
tnb
'via Blog this'
USA fact of the day - Marginal REVOLUTION:
The top 0.1 percent of earners projected to pay more to the IRS than the bottom 80 percent combined. This year, official government data show, the top 20 percent will pay 95 percent of all income taxes.It's right. It's real. But its propaganda. It's put here to point out how terrible our tax system is to the wealthy in the US but it's hiding a lot of details.
Yes the top 20% do pay 95% of federal income tax in the US.
But, (from the same document used above) they only pay 78% of all Federal tax.
This 78% includes Social Security and Medicare taxes which every working person pays.
The combine rate on these is about 7.6%. But... Social Security Tax isn't paid on any income over $127,200 so someone making $50,000 per year pays SS at a 6.2% rate but someone making 1 million a year only pays about 1.6% (1.6% assuming they pay it all .8% if their employer is paying half).
That's pretty good deal for the top 20%
His "USA fact of the day" could have been the "Top 20% hold 85% of the wealth but only pay 78% of the taxes." Why wasn't it?
Even worse, these numbers are Federal taxes only and ignore state and local taxes, sales tax, gasoline tax, etc... Sales tax especially hits the poor harder than the rich.
You can't fix the tax mess in this country if you don't include all taxes paid by all people in the discussion.
If you see a headline about "Federal Income taxes" and the article doesn't mention some of the above you can be pretty sure dealing with someone who's not really being straight with you.
tnb
'via Blog this'
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