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Yet things are not so simple. The rich have enjoyed an unprecedented boom in their incomes in recent decades. Globalization has been exceedingly kind to them. Stock markets have boomed since the 1980s and investment and profits earned abroad have soared. The wages of American production workers have stagnated, under the pressure of labor competition from Asia. Lower wages of production workers have led to record corporate profits, while manufacturing jobs have been shed by the millions.
The result is a startling rise of income inequality. The (pre-tax) average household income of the top 1% has skyrocketed from $386,900 in 1980 to $1,203,600 in 2008 (using the 2008 price index in both cases). The (pre-tax) average income of the bottom 50% of households, by contrast, has declined slightly from $16,100 in 1980 to $15,400 in 2008, and that decline occurred despite the rise of two-earner households struggling to make ends meet.
Despite much bellyaching about their high federal income-tax burden, the rich have actually enjoyed a declining average tax rate. In 1980 they paid 34.5% of their incomes in personal income taxes, and this fell to just 23.3% by 2008. The rich are certainly not suffering under an arduous tax burden. On the contrary, the average federal income tax rate paid by the rich has not been so low since the eve of the Great Depression!
Since the rich have enjoyed a surge in pre-tax income and a decline in the average tax rate, they can easily afford to pay more in taxes without seriously denting their booming incomes. The average post-tax income of the top 1% (subtracting off their federal income tax payments) rose from $253,500 in 1980 to $923,500 in 2008, while the post-tax income of the bottom fifty percent actually declined, from $15,200 in 1980 and $15,000 in 2008. With the bottom half of American society suffering from unemployment, foreclosures, crushing student debts, and falling earnings, why should we continue to bend over backwards to protect the low tax rates of the rich?
Jeffrey Sachs: Fairness and Efficiency in Taxation
Yet things are not so simple. The rich have enjoyed an unprecedented boom in their incomes in recent decades. Globalization has been exceedingly kind to them. Stock markets have boomed since the 1980s and investment and profits earned abroad have soared. The wages of American production workers have stagnated, under the pressure of labor competition from Asia. Lower wages of production workers have led to record corporate profits, while manufacturing jobs have been shed by the millions.
The result is a startling rise of income inequality. The (pre-tax) average household income of the top 1% has skyrocketed from $386,900 in 1980 to $1,203,600 in 2008 (using the 2008 price index in both cases). The (pre-tax) average income of the bottom 50% of households, by contrast, has declined slightly from $16,100 in 1980 to $15,400 in 2008, and that decline occurred despite the rise of two-earner households struggling to make ends meet.
Despite much bellyaching about their high federal income-tax burden, the rich have actually enjoyed a declining average tax rate. In 1980 they paid 34.5% of their incomes in personal income taxes, and this fell to just 23.3% by 2008. The rich are certainly not suffering under an arduous tax burden. On the contrary, the average federal income tax rate paid by the rich has not been so low since the eve of the Great Depression!
Since the rich have enjoyed a surge in pre-tax income and a decline in the average tax rate, they can easily afford to pay more in taxes without seriously denting their booming incomes. The average post-tax income of the top 1% (subtracting off their federal income tax payments) rose from $253,500 in 1980 to $923,500 in 2008, while the post-tax income of the bottom fifty percent actually declined, from $15,200 in 1980 and $15,000 in 2008. With the bottom half of American society suffering from unemployment, foreclosures, crushing student debts, and falling earnings, why should we continue to bend over backwards to protect the low tax rates of the rich?
Why do the wingnuts in this fucking board still supporting tax cuts for the rich and not more tax cuts for themselves since supporting tax cuts for the former isn't going to get them any more wealth?
Jeffrey Sachs: Fairness and Efficiency in Taxation
Yet things are not so simple. The rich have enjoyed an unprecedented boom in their incomes in recent decades. Globalization has been exceedingly kind to them. Stock markets have boomed since the 1980s and investment and profits earned abroad have soared. The wages of American production workers have stagnated, under the pressure of labor competition from Asia. Lower wages of production workers have led to record corporate profits, while manufacturing jobs have been shed by the millions.
The result is a startling rise of income inequality. The (pre-tax) average household income of the top 1% has skyrocketed from $386,900 in 1980 to $1,203,600 in 2008 (using the 2008 price index in both cases). The (pre-tax) average income of the bottom 50% of households, by contrast, has declined slightly from $16,100 in 1980 to $15,400 in 2008, and that decline occurred despite the rise of two-earner households struggling to make ends meet.
Despite much bellyaching about their high federal income-tax burden, the rich have actually enjoyed a declining average tax rate. In 1980 they paid 34.5% of their incomes in personal income taxes, and this fell to just 23.3% by 2008. The rich are certainly not suffering under an arduous tax burden. On the contrary, the average federal income tax rate paid by the rich has not been so low since the eve of the Great Depression!
Since the rich have enjoyed a surge in pre-tax income and a decline in the average tax rate, they can easily afford to pay more in taxes without seriously denting their booming incomes. The average post-tax income of the top 1% (subtracting off their federal income tax payments) rose from $253,500 in 1980 to $923,500 in 2008, while the post-tax income of the bottom fifty percent actually declined, from $15,200 in 1980 and $15,000 in 2008. With the bottom half of American society suffering from unemployment, foreclosures, crushing student debts, and falling earnings, why should we continue to bend over backwards to protect the low tax rates of the rich?
Why do the wingnuts in this fucking board still supporting tax cuts for the rich and not more tax cuts for themselves since supporting tax cuts for the former isn't going to get them any more wealth?
