I didn't say 'income taxes'... the way of avoiding these is to receive wealth in a form not assessed as income, or off-shore or in other untaxed venues
So the rich are better at avoiding or outright cheating on their taxes. The way to handle that is to make the taxes simplier (less specific loopholes and a clearer idea of who owes what) and have the rates be lower (less incentive to cheat, and since you are cutting out the loopholes you don't reduce the tax intake as much as might be expected, you might not reduce it at all). In any case most of the rich or near rich (the top 5 or 10%) don't have significant off shore assets.
Increaseing tax rates just increases the amount of tax avoidence and tax cheating and lobbying for special loopholes.
I still don't see anything in your post to support the assertion that "The rich pay a *lower* proportion of their income as tax than all but the very poorest.", except perhaps an argument as to how it could be possible if you believe most of the rich are tax cheats.
Incidentally, you missed the conclusion of that article. Oversight, I'm sure. Between 1980 and 1999, the share of total taxable U.S. income earned by the top 5 percent rose from 21 percent to 34 percent.
So they made a lot more, the middle class made more and the poor where not in an abolute sense worse off. I find it hard to get broken up about the fact that the rich got richer, esp. since it wasn't just the rich that go richer. Many in the top 5% in 1999 where not in the top 5% in 1980, they moved up to the top 5% its not a fixed class.
Tim |
