Guess Who Really Pays the Taxes By Stephen Moore From the November/December 2007 Issue
Yes, income in America is skewed toward the rich. But taxes are skewed far, far more. The top 5 percent pay well over half the income taxes. STEPHEN MOORE has the numbers.
Q: But haven’t the tax cuts put more of the burden on the backs of the middle class and the poor?
A: No. I examined the Treasury Department analysis of how much the rich would have paid without the Bush tax cuts and how much they actually did pay. The rich are now paying more than they would have paid, not less, after the Bush investment tax cuts. For example, the Treasury’s estimate was that the top 1 percent of earners would pay 31 percent of taxes if the Bush cuts did not go into effect; with the cuts, they actually paid 37 percent. Similarly, the share of the top 10 percent of earners was estimated at 63 percent without the cuts; they actually paid 68 percent.
Saying that the wealthy pay such and such a percentage of tax revenues doesn't really mean much. What percentage of THEIR income is paid out? and how many dollars do they have left? Those are the stats that actually measure "hardship" or "discouragement." If you need to run the government, it's inevitably important to tax people who have money.
That's the problem with a straight percentage or proportion; economically, it means different things at different levels of wealth.
As for the treasury estimates given: how are they made? It's good marketing for conservatism, and happens to be done by a Treasury full of Bush appointments-- only the most "ideologically correct" administration ever.
for geing successful. The rich should have to share with the non-achievers. In kiddie sports now everyone gets a trophy. We don't want to leave anyone out as we "spread the weath around"
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