Fact-Check: taxes and the Rich

[JBeukema]

Myth 1: Wealthy people pack up and move when their taxes increase.
Fact 1: High taxes generally do not cause the wealthy to move.


Myth 2: Blue states are big government states and red states are small government states.
Fact 2: Blue states are net payers, meaning residents pay more in income tax than they get back from the federal government, while red states are net recipients. Only one red state pays more into the system than it gets.


Myth 3: The federal income tax may be progressive but the rest of the tax system is not, particularly the payroll tax.
Fact 3: The entire tax system is progressive.


The Truth About Taxes and the Rich - Reason Magazine

 

[JBeukema]

http://www.stanford.edu/~cy10/public/Millionaire_Migration.pdf

 

[JBeukema]

• Tax cuts for the wealthy don't stimulate the economy. Tax cuts can't jumpstart a flagging economy, because they're a "supply-side remedy for a problem caused by lack of demand."
• The wealthy don't spend their tax cuts. Tax cuts don't create demand because the wealthy will save the money instead of spend it. The saving rate among the rich went up after Bush's tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. The rate fell under Clinton, when taxes went up.
• Tax cuts for the wealthy don't create jobs. Instead of producing job growth and prosperity, the Bush era tax cuts resulted in an era of zero net job creation.
• Tax cuts for the wealthy don't result in higher revenue.In fact, economists say tax cuts do not spur enough growth to pay for themselves.
• Tax cuts for the wealthy reduce revenue. The Bush tax cuts reduced revenue significantly.
• Tax cuts for the wealthy mostly benefit the wealthy. Their taxes fell and their incomes increased dramatically after the Bush tax cuts, while the gap between rich and poor widened.
• The middle class end up paying more taxes. U.S. taxpayers with the very highest incomes pay income taxes worth only 18 percent of their income on average, compared to 25 percent for the typical American.
• Tax cuts for the wealthy don't spread prosperity. Between 1992 and 2007, a time in which income for the average household grew 13% and that of the top 1 percent grew 123%, the income for the top 400 households grew fully 399%.
• Taxes are really low for the wealthiest. The average federal income tax rate for the 400 richest Americans was 17 percent in 2007, down from 26 percent in 1992.
• The cost of tax cuts for the wealthy exceeds the value of budget cuts. The estimated cost to the government of the tax deal extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, $42 billion this fiscal year, exceeds the stated $38 billion value of the savings from the federal budget cuts lawmakers approved last week.
• Some patriotic millionaires want to be taxed. One group of millionaires is saying that they are more than willing to pay more for the good of their country. The “Patriotic Millionaires” penned a letter to President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner urging them to “increase taxes on incomes over $1,000,000.”
• Most Americans support higher taxes for the wealthy. A full 72% of adults approve of increasing federal taxes on households making more than $250,000 starting in 2013, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

13 Conservative Myths About Taxes -- Debunked | Economy | AlterNet

 

[JBeukema]

• Tax cuts for the wealthy don't stimulate the economy. Tax cuts can't jumpstart a flagging economy, because they're a "supply-side remedy for a problem caused by lack of demand."
• The wealthy don't spend their tax cuts. Tax cuts don't create demand because the wealthy will save the money instead of spend it. The saving rate among the rich went up after Bush's tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. The rate fell under Clinton, when taxes went up.
• Tax cuts for the wealthy don't create jobs. Instead of producing job growth and prosperity, the Bush era tax cuts resulted in an era of zero net job creation.
• Tax cuts for the wealthy don't result in higher revenue.In fact, economists say tax cuts do not spur enough growth to pay for themselves.
• Tax cuts for the wealthy reduce revenue. The Bush tax cuts reduced revenue significantly.
• Tax cuts for the wealthy mostly benefit the wealthy. Their taxes fell and their incomes increased dramatically after the Bush tax cuts, while the gap between rich and poor widened.
• The middle class end up paying more taxes. U.S. taxpayers with the very highest incomes pay income taxes worth only 18 percent of their income on average, compared to 25 percent for the typical American.
• Tax cuts for the wealthy don't spread prosperity. Between 1992 and 2007, a time in which income for the average household grew 13% and that of the top 1 percent grew 123%, the income for the top 400 households grew fully 399%.
• Taxes are really low for the wealthiest. The average federal income tax rate for the 400 richest Americans was 17 percent in 2007, down from 26 percent in 1992.
• The cost of tax cuts for the wealthy exceeds the value of budget cuts. The estimated cost to the government of the tax deal extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, $42 billion this fiscal year, exceeds the stated $38 billion value of the savings from the federal budget cuts lawmakers approved last week.
• Some patriotic millionaires want to be taxed. One group of millionaires is saying that they are more than willing to pay more for the good of their country. The “Patriotic Millionaires” penned a letter to President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner urging them to “increase taxes on incomes over $1,000,000.”
• Most Americans support higher taxes for the wealthy. A full 72% of adults approve of increasing federal taxes on households making more than $250,000 starting in 2013, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

13 Conservative Myths About Taxes -- Debunked | Economy | AlterNet

 

[Mad Scientist]

Replace "tax cuts for the wealthy" with "government" and I'd agree with you.

 

[expat_panama]

...13 Conservative Myths About Taxes -- Debunked | Economy | AlterNet

Political food fights are fun, just grab some rant by a hack and throw it at someone else.

Earning a living and feeding a family is work because that's where money facts have to be checked and double checked. No problem, we got lots of good places for getting records on past tax rates and revenue. If you're interested it might be interesting for us to see together how the facts speak for themselves --not what pundits say about the facts.

Then we can vote in candidates that let us feed our families.

 

[uscitizen]

An entire political party based mostly on mythology.

 

[Wiseacre]

It's just not worth the trouble. Have a great day.