I know;
Facts.
What a bummer.
They keep getting in the way of hope and change don't they?
I mean, can't those evil meanie right wingers just let us be without pestering us with those damn facts?
You see, my professor told me everything is relative. It is my perception of reality that is my own reality, ergo, whatever I believe is my reality.
Now you're messing with my reality where the reason I'm poor is not because I majored in a worthless subject or never graduated from high school or had 3 kids before I was 17, but because evil rich people constantly oppress me and keep me down. That and my reality that Obama is going to save us all...though he really hasn't detailed how, but that doesn't matter. My reality, the only one that matters is he will because I want to believe that.
Now you get out of here with those damn statistics and facts and start putting up the ones I want. My parents always got me what I wanted when I was a kid and the government and public schools told me it was never my fault unless something good happened. And let me live in my own reality!
Fascist!
Doesn't the graphic read that 47% are in the 15% bracket and 24% are int eh 10% bracket, which means it is even worse with 69% of the population paying less than 15%. Or am I reading that wrong?
ReplyDelete47 + 24 = 71
ReplyDeleteThat would be 71% of those who file tax returns are under the 15% tax bracket and pay 21% of taxes, about 2/3 of what the top 1% pay. I don't know how many people don't file tax returns but I'll bet that much more than 71% of Americans pay less than 21% of all taxes.
-Pete e
This is a graph of all American income tax returns, does it not leave out the percentage that do not pay *any* income tax?
ReplyDeleteIsn't democracy grand....do you really believe that 69% wants things to change AT ALL??? They just need a MORE sympathetic gov't so they can pay even less....
ReplyDeletea person who pays almost 0% in income taxes is still probably paying around 15% of their income in taxes if you figure in social security and Fica. A very wealthy person like Bill Gate is probably also only paying 15% of his income in taxes, because he has no income and lives entirely off of capital gains. For those of us in between we are the ones getting screwed. I have read in other places that everyone regardless of income in the US spends about 45% of their total earnings in taxes. Don't make the mistake that the pundits make and only think of the income tax when you are thinking about tax related issues.
ReplyDeleteseverin is absolutely correct in observing that US Federal income taxes aren't the only tax burden we bear. When you add up everything we are paying, e.g., Federal, state, and local, HENRYs* like me are paying close to 50% of our gross income in taxes. After struggling 30 years to arrive at this point in the earning hierarchy it's painful to realize that I lose 50 cents on every dollar earned. And, assuming Obama wins and has a nearly all blue Congress, will soon be paying even more. I have to wonder why the hell I'm working so damn hard to get ahead and provide my daughter with a better start in life than I had.
ReplyDelete*HENRY. High Earner, Not Rich Yet.