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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill/WA who wrote (125184)	11/20/2010 10:48:44 AM
From: Knighty Tin	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Nothing beats todays deductions. Exxon pays NO income tax in The United States due to deductions for using a Kleenex when they sneeze. <G>

To: Bill/WA who wrote (125184)	11/22/2010 11:02:12 AM
From: Freedom Fighter	Respond to of 132070

Bill, I don't have the entire tax code available. First, if you deduct anything at all on your taxes and are paying a 90% tax rate, that deduction is obviously worth more than if you are paying a 35% tax rate because it reduces the dollar tax load more. So the more you deduct, the more you lower your NET tax paid (which is the critical number). So at higher tax rates you have a huge incentive to look for write offs. 1. The write offs related to home ownership were obviously very valuable. Many rich people also used to invest in other real estate where the accelerated depreciation write offs of the time were a bonanza for reducing taxes while simultaneously owning an appreciating investment. There were other similar investment opportunities. 2. There are charts available that tell you what percentage of the national income the government ultimately collected at various tax rates. It was no higher during the period of 90% tax rates than it is now.