[QUOTE=TexanAtPlay;1311774]Take 1952, when the MARGINAL Federal tax rate for a couple making over $250,000 was a measly 92% (Wikipedia)! Is that where you wish to turn the clock back to? Those rates would even make a SWEDE blush! Those are CONFISCATORY tax rates, designed to PUNISH wealth generators.
Why should I produce to only keep 8 cents on a dollar...and less when the State takes a bite too.
In 2007, per the evil IRS itself, 1% of earners paid 40% of total income tax. In 2004, 1% of earners paid only 25% of total income tax (despite Bush's "evil" tax cuts, the "evil rich" paid even more taxes).
47% of Americans paid NO income taxes at all (but most received "refunds").
I don't want someone fighting for me, it leads to redistributive regimes, we all need to fight for OURSELVES."
If you don't want a federal government protecting its citizens from inequality, then there are a number of third world countries that would suit you just fine. Might I suggest Somalia? No taxes or government there plus they have a burgeoning new Pirate industry you could invest in.
Haven't you noticed that this line of argument is almost never used if at all during our national debate over taxation of the rich? That's because it's a bunch of bull and your way off on your assumptions. This line of argument is soo old it has hair on it. Plus, it’s very selective cherry-picking.
You see what the very carefully picked phrase "the top 50% wage earners" hides is the dirty secret-- most of that alleged 97% is paid for by the bottom 40% of that 50%-- the middle class. The really rich pay little in taxes, as $$$ or as percent.
How about looking at it this way:
The top 20% of wage earners have a surplus of cash-- they do not sacrifice one iota, not one champagne glass, not one limo, not one lap-dance, in order to pay their taxes. And oh, their taxes top out around 20% because of all the tax loopholes and dodges they exercise. The top 20% tends to make a lot of money on capital gains, which not only requires no effort on their part, they don’t get taxed on it! No work and no taxes! Sweet!
On the other hand, the middle 50% of taxpayers, they are not only taxed much more percentage-wise than the top 20%, they have no surplus-- each dollar they pay in taxes is one dollar less of food on the table. Plus these folks worked hard and sweated for their money. High taxes, sweated for, and less food.
Not so keen.
As a prime example, let's look at plutocrat Warren Buffet:
Warren Buffett, the third-richest man in the world, has criticised the US tax system for allowing him to pay a lower rate than his secretary and his cleaner.
Speaking at a $4,600-a-seat fundraiser in New York for Senator Hillary Clinton, Mr Buffett, who is worth an estimated $52 billion, said: “The 400 of us pay a lower part of our income in taxes than our receptionists do, or our cleaning ladies, for that matter. If you’re in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent.”
Mr Buffett said that he was taxed at 17.7 per cent on the $46 million he made last year, without trying to avoid paying higher taxes, while his secretary, who earned $60,000, was taxed at 30 per cent. Mr Buffett told his audience, which included John Mack, the chairman of Morgan Stanley, and Alan Patricof, the founder of the US branch of Apax Partners, that US government policy had accentuated a disparity of wealth that hurt the economy by stifling opportunity and motivation.
You fail completely to look at the true factors of the economy, which involve the shameful inequality of wealth.
Your stats are one-dimentional. They don't reflect the true problem, which is the tremendous rise in the inequality of wealth. It's even worse than it was during the great depression.
In 2004, the wealthiest 25% of US households owned 87% ($43.6 trillion) of the country’s wealth, while the bottom quartile held no net wealth at all. The middle 50% of the country held 13% or $6.5 trillion of the total household net wealth. The previous data are taken from analysis of the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) which over samples wealthy households. This over sampling more accurately represents the true wealth distribution [since most of the wealth is concentrated at the top]. This data shows that the top 25% of American society holds on average a net wealth of $1,556,801 which is 33 times more than those of the lower middle class, or the 25th-50th percentile.
Why should the have nots pay all the taxes, when the haves, with the money, can afford and have the responsibility of paying more taxes. The more you take in, the more you pay on it. It's always been that way.
The problem with taxes is, actually, this 25% who have 87% of all the wealth have always had built in systems continually grow their wealth, faster now than ever before, and to either keep their money in places where they don't have to pay taxes at all, or have built-in tax shelters all wealthy people do in business ventures. It's the way neo-capitalism works.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/numbe...F/T11-0114.GIF
