Quote:
Originally Posted by White Rabbit
You are desperately trying to show that my statement isn't true.
The best you can say is that the bottom 50% of Americans pay less than 5% of their total income in taxes of all kinds (not withstanding property taxes - which of course they are least likely to pay as well).
That's a mere fraction of the value of the services they receive (welfare, social security, medicare, highways, FDA, etc).
The average tax bill in the USA is about 27% of income (last figures I've seen on this which was 2004 data).
Poor people in the USA pay less taxes in the USA than poor people anywhere else in the western world. That is a fact.
The fact that this contradicts most assumptions on the left is particularly important. One has to have the facts. In the USA, it is the rich that pay the vast majority of taxes.
Remarkably, the USA has one of the most progressive tax systems in the world. The richer you are, the more you pay. Up until Bush's latest round of tax cuts, the top 1% rich were rather heavily taxed compared with the top 1% in Canada (for example).
Even the middle class in the USA is remarkably lightly taxed. It is the upper middle class and the wealthy that pay the lion's share of taxes in the USA.
In Canada for example, even if you make minimum wage, you will have to pay income taxes (around 11% rate I believe, notwithstanding possible deductions). Minimum wage in the USA is totally income tax free. |
agreed...
and for those struggling with this...
TAX CUTS EXPLAINED
Because it is tax season. . . Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can
understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill
for all ten comes to $100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something
like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the
arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Because you
are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of
your daily beer by $20." Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the
first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But
what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they
divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted
that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would
each end up being paid to drink his beer.
So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's
bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the
amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued
to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to
compare their savings.
"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed
to the tenth man," but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar,
too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back
when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get
anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat
down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill,
they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money
between all of them for even half of the bill!
This is how our
tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most
benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being
wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might
start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.