Who pays taxes... just so you know

[glwilson]

IRS data points in 2005; which is the most "fresh" data.

The top 1% of the nation’s income earners paid in 38.4% of the nation’s taxes.

The top 5%, including the top 1%, paid in 58.8% of the nation’s taxes.

The top 10%, including the top 1 and 5%-ers, paid in 69.7% of the nation’s taxes; the top 25%... again inclusive of those “ahead” of them… paid in 85.6% of the taxes
and the top 50% paid in a whopping 96.8% of the total taxes paid.

The bottom 50% paid in only 3.2% of the total taxes.

The top 1% of the income earners did receive 21.8% of the total income of the nation, so their income earned/taxes paid ratio was 1.76:1.

That is, the top 1% of the nation’s wage earners paid in 1.76 times as much income tax as a percentage of that paid in total to income earned.

The top 5% received 37.2% of the total income of the country, so their taxes/income ratio was 1.58:1, falling as it will in a progressive income tax regime. By the time we get down to the top 10% of the nation’s income earners who took in 48% of the nation’s total income, the taxes paid/income ratio has fallen to 1.45:1.

At the top 25% level, where 68.5% of the total income has been earned, the ratio has fallen to .98:1.

At the top 50% level, the ratio has fallen to.90:1, but from there the ratio plunges to the point where the bottom 50%, having paid in only 3.2% of the taxes but having earned 50% of the income, sees its taxes paid/income ratio falling to .064:1!

For those arguing that the nation’s tax regime has become skewed against the poor, we offer up the following then, taking information from the IRS back in ’97: back then, the top 1% of the nation’s income earners paid in 33.2% of the total taxes; the top 5% paid in 52.9%; the top 10% paid 63.2%; the top 25% paid in 81.7% and the top 50% paid in 95.7%, while the bottom 50% paid in 4.3%.

In other words, the upper income levels paid in less of the total then than they do now and the bottom 50% paid in less… all despite the supposed unfairness of the Bush Tax cuts.

I am not trying to "stir the mud" here but rather trying to provide the facts.

Too often; the "masses" are confused or misinformed about the facts as delivered by political rhetoric and agendas.

Please don't be fooled. When those that have money are squeezed enough... "they will leave".

[audiogooroo]

Thanks for post Greg. Good info. Problem is, most people simply believe whatever their party tells them and "don't cloud the issue with facts!"
I love how the most recent data from the IRS is four years old. I wonder how they would respond if I told them every April that my most recent bookkeeping on my businesses was from 2005.
Actually, strike that...I know exactly how they would respond!

[blowndodge]

Greg Greg Greg,,

don't confuse a Liberal with math! That argument about the top percentage pays the most in taxes is something they just refuse to discuss. Like asking Jesse Jackson why 50 percent of all black children have no father in the house? Jesse really squirms when confronted with that question.

[Kawhead]

The reason he squirms is 'cause some of 'em are his.

[nomad561]

Using some of the same data provided by the IRS from 2005---the IRS can't account for 69% of their fiscal budget monies.They spent $400 billion to collect $1.3 trillion.
69% of $400 billion =$276 billion. Try running your business or household like that and see how long you stay out of jail.

[glwilson]

Originally Posted by audiogooroo

Thanks for post Greg. Good info. Problem is, most people simply believe whatever their party tells them and "don't cloud the issue with facts!"
I love how the most recent data from the IRS is four years old. I wonder how they would respond if I told them every April that my most recent bookkeeping on my businesses was from 2005.
Actually, strike that...I know exactly how they would respond!

[NRiderUSA]

Great and valid info.. unfortunatley facts are not what is the topic.
"Get the man" is the rally Obama got elected on and will keep a lot of his backers with.

As everyone saw during the election and since, there is no content just pretty words.... facts just distract from the "Get the man" syndrome.

[BudMan]

Imagine if 10 guys went out to eat and it cost $10
a plate. 5 of them only have to pay $3.20 combined.
They would then complain the others "can afford it"
and really should have paid more. Class envy may be at
an all time high, and the politicians play off it.

[dantama]

I usually don’t come in here, but my monitor is displaying everything differently on this site today, so I came in here to see if anyone else was talking about it displaying different.

Then I got sucked into clicking on gl’s post.

In the grand scheme of things, every single person on this board is tiny and insignificant when it comes to wealth. We are all fighting for table scraps.
Hree is some information from this site:
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesam...er/wealth.html

It details who really has the money and power. No wonder the top are paying most of the taxes. THEY HAVE MOST OF THE STUFF!


The top 0.1% -- that's one-tenth of one percent -- had more combined pre-tax income than the poorest 120 million people (Johnston, 2006).
Although overall income has grown by 27% since 1979, 33% of the gains went to the top 1%.


The distribution of what is called "capital income": income from capital gains, dividends, interest, and rents. In 2003, just 1% of all households -- those with after-tax incomes averaging $701,500 -- received 57.5% of all capital income, up from 40% in the early 1990s. On the other hand, the bottom 80% received only 12.6% of capital income, down by nearly half since 1983

According to a study published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, only 1.6% of Americans receive $100,000 or more in inheritance. Another 1.1% receive $50,000 to $100,000. On the other hand, 91.9% receive nothing (Kotlikoff & Gokhale, 2000). Thus, the attempt by ultra-conservatives to eliminate inheritance taxes -- which they always call "death taxes" for P.R. reasons -- would take a huge bite out of government revenues for the benefit of less than 1% of the population. few of the ultra-conservatives behind the effort will benefit from it in any material way.


Wealth distribution became even more concentrated between 1983 and 2004, in good part due to the tax cuts for the wealthy and the defeat of labor unions: Of all the new financial wealth created by the American economy in that 21-year-period, fully 42% of it went to the top 1%. A whopping 94% went to the top 20%, which of course means that the bottom 80% received only 6% of all the new financial wealth generated in the United States during the '80s, '90s, and early 2000s (Wolff, 2007).


The top 10% of the world's adults control about 85% of global household wealth -- defined very broadly as all assets (not just financial assets), minus debts. That compares with a figure of 69.8% for the top 10% for the United States. The only industrialized democracy with a higher concentration of wealth in the top 10% than the United States is Switzerland at 71.3%.


Amount of stock owned by various wealth classes in the U.S., 2004
Percent of households owning stocks worth:
Wealth class More than $0 More than $5,000 More than $10,000
Top 1% 93.3% 93.2% 92.8%
95-99% 93.5% 92.7% 91.0%
90-95% 87.4% 85.6% 80.3%
80-90% 84.3% 77.0% 71.5%
60-80% 65.5% 54.4% 47.1%
40-60% 46.4% 28.7% 20.3%
20-40% 31.6% 13.4% 8.3%
Bottom 20% 12.2% 2.5% 1.1%
TOTAL 48.6% 36.4% 31.1%

Both tables' data from Wolff (2007). Includes direct ownership of stock shares and indirect ownership through mutual funds, trusts, and IRAs, Keogh plans, 401(k) plans, and other retirement accounts. All figures are in 2004 dollars.

[BudMan]

every single person on this board is tiny and insignificant when it comes to wealth. We are all fighting for table scraps.

Dan,

You got me pegged. :(

Those only time I ever feel wealthy is when I look at my tax return.

If I can afford that bill, I must be well off.

[lw]

Originally Posted by Blowndodge "Darksider"

is something they just refuse to discuss. Like asking Jesse Jackson why 50 percent of all black children have no father in the house? Jesse really squirms when confronted with that question.

Or asking him why he isnt doing something about the fact that the leading killer of young black males is. . . other young black males. Seems he ought to be way more concerned about that than he is. . . but wait, being part of solving that social problem doesnt pay as well as corporate extortion.

[NRiderUSA]

I dont think the issue is that the top is paying the most... I think the issue is the Dem's and Obama want them to pay it all.
As he said during the election

Pitching his message to Oregon’s environmentally-conscious voters, Obama called on the United States to “lead by example” on global warming, and develop new technologies at home which could be exported to developing countries.
“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said.
“That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen,” he added.

So instead of making sure we all are eating and keeping a temperate house temp, we are on the road of take it away from the ones who have so we can all be have nots?
Its just like lower the grade scale because too many arent passing the tests... its the people who are passing the tests fault so we should penalize them for the effort.

Where does anyone think those jobs that most of us have come from? The good job fairy???

What a world we are turning into.

[macmac]

This is supposed to end with a beer joke right?

[NRiderUSA]

Two fishermen were adrift in their rented boat due to an engine failure. While rummaging through the boat's provisions, one of the men stumbled across an old lamp. Secretly hoping that a genie would appear, he rubbed the lamp vigorously. To the amazement of the castaways, a genie came forth. This particular genie, however, stated that he could only deliver one wish, not the standard three.

Without giving much thought to the matter the man blurted out, "Make the entire ocean into beer!" The genie clapped his hands with a deafening crash, and immediately the entire sea turned into the finest brew ever sampled by mortals.

Simultaneously, the genie vanished. Only the gentle lapping of beer on the hull broke the stillness as the men considered their circumstances.

One man looked disgustedly at the other whose wish had been granted. After a long, tension filled moment, he spoke: "Nice going idiot! Now we're going to have to piss in the boat!"

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Liked the joke. The way I see it is that the rich are taxed heavily. Then their tax burden is passed along to the little man, which is mostly you and I. Then when he does his tax stuff he gets huge write offs and gets all the tax money he has paid in, back. You and I try to find ways to get anything back and can't. We may not pay as much as the rich but what we pay in stays with the government. What the rich man pays in comes back to him in the way of a tax refund plus all the money he got from us when he included his tax in his profit margin. Folks, that is the way this little man sees it. And, you aren't going to change my mind. I have been seeing it since I was 16 and that means I have been doing it for 46 years. Always been that way, always will.