One thing at a time, pls!
You talked about what I didn't present. I responded with a list of what I did present (essentially everything but misc. federal taxes, well and also corporate taxes, and such that are not applied directly to the individual)
1) Which years are we hanging the argument on?
50s and 60s, compared to recent years. I linked to data for the whole period (plus a lot more), and presented specific scenarios using that data for a couple of different income levels and for two years in the 60s and one in the 50s.
2) What is the agreed definition for "Middle Class"
The way the term is normally used. Yes its not very precise, but people understand what your talking about, and in any case my statement was about "much of the middle class" not all of it, so the boundaries don't have to be rigidly defined. And in any case I presented the tax scenario for a more (in fact overly) rigidly defined point of your choosing, that of the exact median income (as well as for somewhat above that in a post I presented earlier).
3) EXACTLY what *is* (and what is not!) INCLUDED as a component part of making up your composite of "total tax load"?
All taxes.
For example, some would certainly argue that TRANSFER PAYMENT PROGRAMS --- such as FICA/Medicare, etc., --- since they return money to the individual are not the same thing as regular 'taxes' are
They would be wrong. FICA taxes are taxes like any other taxes. FICA spending is government spending. They don't cancel each other out if your measuring total spending, spending on each person, total taxation, or tax paid by each tax payer. They only cancel each other out if your measuring the net transfer between the government and the particular person (which was not the issue, how much they paid in taxes was). |
