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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (17119)	4/20/2010 10:48:42 AM
From: Lane3	2 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 42652

that's what the article is talking about, ok? The morality of taxing the poor. No, that's not what the article is talking about. We've been over this before. That piece is not about the morality of taxing the poor. You may choose to read it that way but you're inserting your own biases/reading comprehension shortfall into it. What it's talking about is the unhealthful incentive created in a scenario when voting majorities can effect transfer payments from minorities to themselves. If you want to make a case about morality of taxing the poor, go ahead and make it. But don't distort what that author wrote. To the extent that the piece suggests anything about morality and the poor, it's about the morality of the middle and lower classes taxing the rich.

To: Alighieri who wrote (17119)	4/20/2010 11:24:32 AM
From: TimF	Respond to of 42652

It is for instance true that a very rich person whose income is derived primarily from investments pays an even lower total tax rate than the poor slob with family of four scraping by on $50K. No, not usually. They may pay a lower marginal income tax rate on the next dollar of income, but they pay a higher percentage of their total income in federal taxes in most cases. The information below is for all federal taxes, not just the income tax ---- The Progressivity of the Tax System The CBO has released a new report on effective tax rates (total taxes divided by total income). Compared with previous reports, it includes more information about thin slices at the top of the income distribution. Here are the total effective federal tax rates for 2005, the most recent year available: Lowest quintile: 4.3 percent Second quintile: 9.9 percent Middle quintile: 14.2 percent Fourth quintile: 17.4 percent Percentiles 81-90: 20.3 percent Percentiles 91-95: 22.4 percent Percentiles 96-99: 25.7 percent Percentiles 99.0-99.5: 29.7 percent Percentiles 99.5-99.9: 31.2 percent Percentiles 99.9-99.99: 32.1 percent Top 0.01 Percentile: 31.5 percent N.B.: These figures include all federal taxes, not just income taxes. gregmankiw.blogspot.com Also see Message 25440769