They're paying far less of their incomes in taxes than average Americans.
The "very rich" pay far more, not far less.
The article then goes on to refer to the top 400 but they are not the same as "the very rich", as their are plenty of very rich people who fall far short of the top 400.
Also its statements about the top 400 are questionable at best.
One particularly striking example from billionaire investor Warren Buffett: In 2006, he paid 17.7 percent of his income in total taxes. His secretary, who made $60,000, paid 30 percent of hers.
Warren Buffet owns large shares of corporations that pay corporate income taxes. He's paying at taxes before he even gets the income.
Also see
Message 24937013
and
Message 24937307
Since the article you quote gives a specific salary, $60,000, I can redo the calculation.
At
dinkytown.net
I plugged in $60,000. I assumed zero deductions or credits, and no credits except the person deduction, even though its likely she would have more than this.
The result? 15.18% taxes. Add in 7.65% for payroll taxes and you get 22.83% not 30%. And since she's likely to have credits, deductions and/or exemptions the rate is likely to be lower. If she has some capital gains, than the rate would also be lower since she would not have to pay any payroll taxes on those.
Sure you could double the payroll part since payroll taxes on the employer exert essentially the same downward pressure on after tax wages as payroll taxes on the employee, but if your going to count the employer's tax, then you reasonably have to count the taxes paid by the companies that Buffet owns, whole or in part, directly or indirectly, and then his percentage would be much higher.
Obama just announced his plan to end the Bush administration's high-income tax cuts.
A foolish, and otherwise unreasonable idea.
We can insist, also, that lawmakers end the preferential treatment of dividends and capital gains.
You could but it would be a foolish idea since
1 - Both the rich, and the very rich, on the whole already pay more as a percentage of their income as taxes than the average or typical person.
2 - They pay more still if you consider the fact that the companies that they own all or part of also pay taxes.
3 - Taxing returns on investment discourages, distorts, and drives away, investment, thus helping to lower the income for the typical person, not just the investor.
4 - Capital is more mobile than workers, so whatever issues anyone might have with "fairness" it makes a lot of sense to tax it at a lower rate. Its more likely to leave if you tax it at a higher rate. |
