“In 2008, the most recent year for which full data is available, the infamous top 1% – those earning over $380,354 – paid 38.02 percent of federal income taxes, according to an analysis of IRS data by the Tax Foundation. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent of income earners – the group that, according to the liberal world view, is subsidizing tax handouts to the wealthy – shouldered just 2.7 percent of the federal income tax burden. And keep in mind, in 2008, the higher income earners share of taxes slipped from the previous year’s 40.4 percent due to the economic downturn.”
“When you make this argument to liberals, they’ll often respond that the only reason such a distribution exists is that there’s a lot of income inequality in America. But even if you account for that, the wealthy are paying disproportionately. The top 1 percent, for instance, earned 20 percent of the nation’s adjusted gross income in 2008 – yet their share of the tax burden was nearly twice that. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent earned 12.75 percent of the nation’s income, while their share of the tax burden was about one-fifth of that. You can see this demonstrated in the chart below.”
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Horrible argument and a twist of words…
not defending the liberal point, but if we are to have a screwed up tax system then those who make more will naturally pay more.
The opposite is true too; if 10 people make $10, but 1 of those people pulled in $9.10 you can say the average person makes a dollar. You could then argue that income distribution in this example is fair and equitable…
Any way I’m for a flat tax. Fire the IRS and call it a day.
You need to start studying economics, Cronkite, and sooon. Embarrassing.
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your point jake
The thing is, most of the people who bitch about the income gap support policies that help create it.
The only way to close the gap is with losses. But every time serious losses grip the system, the whole thing gets bailed out. So if you can only make money, then everyone will make an expected level each year, and the richest will consistently pull ahead of everyone else.
That’s how an exponential model works. Two rates of roughly the same magnitude, and the greater always runs ahead.
If they really cared about the wage gap, for real, then they’d let the system take a hit now and again.
Exactly, Mr. Cain Thaler. My many liberal friends bitch constantly about corporations but seemingly miss the fact that the whole system should have been reset in 2008- that is BOA, GM, etc. and instead they were bailed out and subsequently increased the risk of future moral hazards.
Seriously, who stood to lose more in 2008-2009, the poor or the rich?
And my point remains that it is gov’t that is the problem.