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Taxing the rich alone will help a little, but won't be anywherre near enough all by itself.
The bottom 50% who pay very little in tax, also need to pony up. I especially think they ahould raise taxes on gas (.05 per gallon per year for the next 10 years) and alcohol.
There also need to be serious cuts to medical spending. Much of our health care dollars are wasted. We spend almost twice as much as other developed countries on health care, yet we are one of the least healthy developed countries. And publicly funded programs like Medicare & Medicaid have NOT done a good job controlling costs. I don't even think they try.
Military spending also needs to be cut. It's one of the essential functions of government, more than anything else. But you just know there is a lot of bloat there, as well.
In short, we all need to make real and serious sacrifices, and in the case of health care, changes in lifestyle (which would lower costs).
I hear this stat a lot regarding "everyone else", and I don't know the facts to agree or disagree. All I know is my situation- my wife and I combined only earn about 60K- not a lot by any means, but not dirt poor. We pay our taxes as usual and still have to PAY IN at the end of each tax year, usually around $500. There are just no other deductions we can make, no loopholes I have found to avoid paying- are there really that many "regular folks" out there able to get around what my wife and I are paying?
And regarding the rich- they are being taxed at an incredibly low rate right now- the Bush tax cut to them 10 years ago was meant to only be temporary, as even that administration knew this would be a huge burden on the budget. So there is no reason not to at least set that back to pre-tax cut levels as was originally intended. That would go a long ways towards fixing our budget deficit.
I wonder if you would think the rate the rich are taxed at now is incredibly low if you were actually paying it yourself???? Somehow, I doubt it.
the rates are historically low however higher incomes are almost always hit with the amt penalty too. the state and local taxes combined with the amt penalty can be over 1/3 of your money without the writeoffs you were allowed before the big tax cuts.
There are people in all tax brackets who find ways to get around paying "their fair share." It's a myth that rich people, as a whole, don't pay what they should.
Last year the top 10% of income earners paid 70% of the federal taxes. Their share of the income earned was nowhere near that number. Sounds like they, as a group, paid plenty more than "their fair share" to me.
Also, "everyone else" doesn't have to pay under the current system. In fact, over 40% of Americans either have a zero tax burden or actually RECEIVE money back from the government that they didn't pay in. Maybe these people need to start paying "their fair share" so that the successful in our country can stop being treated like walking ATMs.
I've seen and heard this conservative spin SO MANY times...sigh.
Now I'd like to offer a different spin:
"Last year the top 10% of 'income earners' [oh really? a lot of the income at the top comes from investments and capital gains, i.e. unearned, and not directly from the sweat of one's brow] paid 70% of the federal taxes."
1) I think that's federal INCOME taxes; most Americans pay more in federal payroll taxes (Social Security, Medicare) than in federal income taxes.
2) How much of the DISPOSABLE INCOME does the 1op 10% have? Surely that is closer to 70% than to 10%. Are you suggesting the middle class doesn't pay enough taxes?
3) If you think the bottom 40% (or so) need to start paying "their fair share", how much should someone with a kid and a $20K income pay? How much should someone earning minimum wage pay?
BTW, childless adults earning minimum wage actually pay federal income taxes. Are they paying their fair share? If not, how much would you have them pay?
Everyone above the poverty line underpays taxes, period. The federal gov needs to implements a consumptions on non-essential items. This income tax thing is shot.
There isn't anyone who has more than a couple of million dollars of annual income that is unable to structure the income through an entity that does not pay US taxes. Trust me on this. Taxing the rich simply means more highly profitable work for tax lawyers and accountants and lower revenues to the US Treasury.
Rich liberals are always the first to employ these strategies.
From personal experience, I've also observed that liberals/socialists are often very good at capitalism, at gaming the system, and at exploiting workers.
I have wondered whether these people project their own 'greed' onto other rich/wealthy people, and figure the rich are greedy and therefore should pay higher taxes.
Hmm, how about closing loopholes, then, so these people do have to pay their fair share? There is no reason rich people should get a pass on taxes while everyone else has to pay, or take the burden of service cuts as the government tries to balance the budget.
i do agree with this.
it is ridiculous that our own treasury secretary did not pay his own taxes.
You are paying five hundred dollars per year in taxes on a $60K income. That is less than one percent!
Even with the Bush tax cuts -- which, in my opinion, didn't go far enough -- the rich are taxed at 35 percent! That is not an "incredibly low rate." Even if many of them are able to reduce that number significantly through deductions and loopholes, they are still paying much more than you are, and they are probably paying a larger percentage of their incomes as a whole than you are.
1) That $500 is a lump-sum payment at the time of filing taxes, in ADDITION to whatever taxes were withheld from paychecks during the year. I think a typical $60K filer would pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000 a year in federal income taxes. (Actual taxes vary widely depending on things like exemptions and deductions; many will pay more and many will pay less.) That would be about five percent of income.
2) The top tax rate of 35 percent is a MARGINAL rate on 'ordinary income.' Capital gains and dividends are taxed at lower rates, as are all dollars earned before the top rate kicks in. A person's EFFECTIVE tax rate is lower than their NOMINAL tax rate.
3) On the other hand, incomes above about $100K or so are subject to what I call stealth taxation. Above a certain level of income, people lose some of their itemized deductions, making their taxes higher than they should be.
Put a goods and services tax of 8% on everything and your deficit would disappear in short order. It's a very fair tax because everyone pays it on what they buy. The more you buy the more you pay. Very simple concept really.
Nope, it's not fair unless it applies to EVERYTHING equally - it doesn't and it won't apply to everything equally.
Renters would have to pay 8% more on top of their rent. Would a homeowner have to pay 8% more on his mortgage payment and property taxes? Don't think so!
With your GST tax, some spending is more equal than other spending, and therefore is not fair.
And it's not about consumption. At any and every level of equal spending and of equal consumption, a renter would pay more tax than a homeowner. (Homeowners get 'free' housing consumption without paying taxes on it.)
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