The Top 10% of income earners paid 71% of federal income tax

reply to post by OutKast Searcher


Look at the truth, which I know you know:

Corporations pay essentially no tax as compared to what they paid in the 50s. This has accelerated as corporations have invaded government.

The top 500 earners in America pay a lower tax rate than people earning 40K.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
deferred stock options, personal jets and limousines, company vacation homes, gold plated toilets, etc often worth many times the salary they receive.

You still think it's somehow fair? Can YOU get 10 minutes with your Congressman anytime you need them? They can (not the 10% but the .01%)

Im not interested in golden plate toilets or owning more than one car. I dont feel I am entitled to debate with the Congressman personally. If everyone thought so, the Congressman wouldn't get a day of work done.
Only those who want a golden plate toilet are angry at those who have one. For the rest of us, questions like "is it fair that he has a golden plate toilet" don't arise.Im OK if they have golden plate toilets because I don't subscribe to the notion that if someone rich has one thing, it must have been taken away from someone else.

They are rich because they're smarter than the rest; I

I agree. Hence education is a key. More of a key than work, imo.

I would argue that the wealth gap in the US is symptomatic of the decline of ethical and moral behaviors.

Again, I agree. But I do not agree that it is primarily rich people who are unethical, immoral, criminal.

reply to post by Skyfloating


aaaah i see now
You think we are all lazy and incompetent lusting after gold toilets and spinny rims and nobody is going to convince you otherwise because you know what YOU would do.

Originally posted by Skyfloating

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
deferred stock options, personal jets and limousines, company vacation homes, gold plated toilets, etc often worth many times the salary they receive.

You still think it's somehow fair? Can YOU get 10 minutes with your Congressman anytime you need them? They can (not the 10% but the .01%)

Im not interested in golden plate toilets or owning more than one car. I dont feel I am entitled to debate with the Congressman personally. If everyone thought so, the Congressman wouldn't get a day of work done.
Only those who want a golden plate toilet are angry at those who have one. For the rest of us, questions like "is it fair that he has a golden plate toilet" don't arise.Im OK if they have golden plate toilets because I don't subscribe to the notion that if someone rich has one thing, it must have been taken away from someone else.

They are rich because they're smarter than the rest; I

I agree. Hence education is a key. More of a key than work, imo.

I would argue that the wealth gap in the US is symptomatic of the decline of ethical and moral behaviors.

Again, I agree. But I do not agree that it is primarily rich people who are unethical, immoral, criminal.

Smarter than the rest or more ruthless and with less regard for others?

Yeah, firms such as N M Rothschild totally allow anyone with a good eduction to the top,dont they? O yeah they keep it in the family.

Also it seems that only someone with British Royal blood can become president but hey its all about education isnt it?

Contacts are the key, not education

Republicans, Democrats, and the corporate owned media all want to keep this argument centered around how much tax is approprate for rich or poor individuals. The 1% vs 99% has conveniently excluded the biggest tax travesty of all - the avoidance of tax by BIG CORPORATIONS. Warren Buffett uses this tactic when he exclaims that wealthy people, including himself, should pay more in taxes. That's GREAT! But as a businessman he is throwing his individual income out for sacrifice and remaining silent on the tax loopholes that provide mega coporations like GE the ability to pay NO tax on BILLIONS in profit. Correcting these loopholes and endless incentives to businesses whose time has now come to "give back" would have a real impact on the financial picture in this country, but instead, people worry about someone who earns less than $30k a year paying little or tax and has a hard time putting food on the table.

abcnews.go.com...

reply to post by Skyfloating


i don't know how these things work in the US, but over here, this statistic would be pretty useless as part of an argument about who's really paying for the party. The reason for this is that the statistic shows the distribution of percentage of taxes paid among those who paid. This doesn't mention all the "tools" corporations have to avoid paying taxes (in Belgium, for example, Accelor-Mittal pays less taxes than the minimum monthly wages and most companies in the top 20 of local stock market don't pay taxes at all).
The first thing you do over here if you have a top-end job is to start your own company that offers you for hire, changing the name of the tax game all the way. Without company, you would pay 50%, with a company 30 % or less. So if you're smart, you make sure you don't earn too much and take the money out of the company by paying yourself a nice return on your investment - make sure you own most or all of the shares :-).

Using this mechanism, over here filthy rich persons manage to get all the public benefits. In the statistics there's nothing that indicates these persons real wealth. that was what i tried to explain. i hope i succeeded :-)

reply to post by TZela


i include businesses .....they are people after all *barf* (not really)
i should have been more clear but i do consider that when thinking about the matter alone

reply to post by Skyfloating


I just read on skynews website that RBS (Royal Bank Of Scotland) are going to pay out £400 Million in bonuses for last year.... what do you think of that?

Corporations not having to pay taxes is kind of weird,, considering the reason they exist and are able to profit is because of the consuming population.. If the corporations are considered people, why would they not be taxed on their income to support themselves and their fellow citizens?

Originally posted by beezzer

Originally posted by jacklondonmiller
They should pay more and entitlements should be reformed.

And there you have it!
Could have come straight from the Obama administration. The wealthy need to pay their "fair share". And 71% isn't fair enough yet.

To the OP, nice.
Simple, clear and to the point.

I think their reasoning is to simply attack the capitalists.

They want fair shared sacrifice - Cuba - . To make it happen just hide behind victims.

Originally posted by Skyfloating
I found a chart sourced from the IRS that shows how the top 10% of income earners paid 71% of federal income tax. This is pretty interesting because it would mean that all those calls that the rich should pay more taxes or that they dont pay enough taxes are wrong. The 10%ers seem to be paying plenty of taxes.

Thoughts?

All this show is the HUGE descrepancy in income between them and the other 90%. Also who determined the cut off line? And how do any of us even know these numbers are true? Lets face it, if trillions in 'fake' bonds are able to passed around without public awareness, what makes you think this little article is true?

I suggest you know the history about something and do your research before reaching a conclusion so 'conclusive' - thanks for posting, but I do not support this article after my own independent study

Peace.

reply to post by TruthxIsxInxThexMist


They earned it. If you want to spend another 8 years in school after high school and spend all your spare time following the financial circles so you can help the economy grow and provide jobs for hard working people who dont want to suck on big governments teet then you can have a bonus like that too. The fact is youre just not trying hard enough, youre not smart enough, and youre too selfish.

/sarcasm

reply to post by TZela

the avoidance of tax by BIG CORPORATIONS

so - if BIG corps paid income tax - exactly who or whom do you think would eventually pay the tab?

Originally posted by sirhumperdink
reply to post by AwakeinNM

 

lets lower income taxes on the top earners so they pay the same amount as everyone else
seriously i would be happy to do it if only so people could see how quickly things would fail


oh wait thats whats happening now isnt it?

edit on 21-2-2012 by sirhumperdink because: .

OR, here's a whatif: What if the federeal government (i.e. Democrats) stop spending money like a drunken sailor at a Thai strip club. THEN maybe things would be failing a bit less. But no, blame it on rich people "not paying enough taxes".

reply to post by jibajaba


in small corps or business who pays the tab?

Is it because every employee is taxed on their income from the big corporation?

moot argument? void argument? no education will get you at their level, period.
you have to break balls and being corrupt to even get close to get a friend who doesn't pay the right amount of tax.

mork

nano nano

reply to post by sirhumperdink


you could have made millions,,,, but nope, at first you dont succeed just give up,, typical spineless commie teet sipper,

reply to post by Skyfloating


I don't care about gold plated toilets myself and that may have been a poor example. I have heard the argument often hear that capital gains taxes are lower to encourage investment and job growth. This is an obvious failure as there are almost no new jobs to be found.

Even Warren Buffet admits he pays less in taxes percentage-wise than his secretary.

The confusion in this thread is that many believe the notion that somehow income tax is representative of total taxes paid which is an oversimplification of many factors. What happens with the top 1% does not apply to the top 10% either. What I will say is that nobody gets in that top .01% without either inheriting it or engaging in unethical or illegal behaviors. Being smart and working hard will only get one so far.

Money is power in this world and those with either wield it to their own advantage. So much of both has accrued at the upper end of the scale that there is no representation for the working poor (not the welfare lifestyle bunch!) It's the law of the jungle which seems fine to many until the "lazy", "stupid" and starving suddenly march into the capitol and demand change and accountability. We're not that from it and Louis XVI never imagined it could happen either. All it took was a small group of angry, working women who could not afford a loaf of bread picking up knives to change the course of Western history.

The American dream of upward mobility is fast becoming a myth. The wealthy don't create money, they accumulate it. Those who work hard and create goods and services are the real creators of wealth and they've been getting the short end of the stick.

reply to post by Laokin




Exactly. I remember seeing a news report a couple of years ago about how the "definition" of rich has changed. To a broke person like me, rich is rich. It's still more money than I have

maybe one day we will all be on the same page. One can dream...