Argument for everyone paying taxes.
Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:08 pm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123958260423012269.html
Its a good read, but something you should keep in mind is that this is looking at income taxes... Federal income taxes. If you make 30k a year, you aren't paying 0 in taxes, just 0 to the feds. You're most likely paying sales tax, property tax, beer and cigarette taxes, soda deposit taxes, and all sorts of government "fees" which are basically taxes too and they are a much larger % of your income when you make 30k than when you make 300k. Even state funded lotteries are basically a "regressive" tax (regressive meaning affects poor more than rich).
You'd be an idiot ot read this article and blindly go on a tax crusade to lower taxes for the rich, but I like the final suggestions. If everyone had to pay taxes (instead of 30-40-60% of us voting that rich people should pay taxes) then maybe more people would be concerned about what government is spending money.
-- some random quotes
the 10% of the country that makes more than $92,400 a year -- pay 72.4% of the nation's income taxes.
As a result of the 2001 tax cuts enacted by a bipartisan Congress and signed by President George W. Bush, the share of taxes paid by the top 10% increased to 72.8% in 2005 from 67.8% in 2001
According to the CBO, those who made less than $44,300 in 2001 -- 60% of the country -- paid a paltry 3.3% of all income taxes. By 2005, almost all of them were excused from paying any income tax.
When you make almost 26% of the income and you pay only 0.6% of the income tax, that's a good deal, courtesy of those who do pay income taxes. For the bottom 40%, the redistribution deal is even better. In 2001, these 43 million Americans, who earn less than $30,500, made 13.5% of the nation's income but paid no income tax. Instead, they received checks from their taxpaying neighbors worth $16.3 billion. By 2005, those checks totaled $33.3 billion.
Its a good read, but something you should keep in mind is that this is looking at income taxes... Federal income taxes. If you make 30k a year, you aren't paying 0 in taxes, just 0 to the feds. You're most likely paying sales tax, property tax, beer and cigarette taxes, soda deposit taxes, and all sorts of government "fees" which are basically taxes too and they are a much larger % of your income when you make 30k than when you make 300k. Even state funded lotteries are basically a "regressive" tax (regressive meaning affects poor more than rich).
You'd be an idiot ot read this article and blindly go on a tax crusade to lower taxes for the rich, but I like the final suggestions. If everyone had to pay taxes (instead of 30-40-60% of us voting that rich people should pay taxes) then maybe more people would be concerned about what government is spending money.
-- some random quotes
the 10% of the country that makes more than $92,400 a year -- pay 72.4% of the nation's income taxes.
As a result of the 2001 tax cuts enacted by a bipartisan Congress and signed by President George W. Bush, the share of taxes paid by the top 10% increased to 72.8% in 2005 from 67.8% in 2001
According to the CBO, those who made less than $44,300 in 2001 -- 60% of the country -- paid a paltry 3.3% of all income taxes. By 2005, almost all of them were excused from paying any income tax.
When you make almost 26% of the income and you pay only 0.6% of the income tax, that's a good deal, courtesy of those who do pay income taxes. For the bottom 40%, the redistribution deal is even better. In 2001, these 43 million Americans, who earn less than $30,500, made 13.5% of the nation's income but paid no income tax. Instead, they received checks from their taxpaying neighbors worth $16.3 billion. By 2005, those checks totaled $33.3 billion.