The Liberal Myth that the Rich Pay "Virtually No Taxes"

[mikegriffith1]

If the rich pay "virtually nothing" in taxes, as liberals continue to claim, how is it that they pay the majority of federal personal income taxes? According to federal income tax data, the top 1% pay about 45% of all federal income taxes. The top 10% pay at least 60% of all federal income taxes. And the top 20% pay over 80% of all federal income taxes.

Top 1% pay nearly half of federal income taxes

Top 10 Percent of Earners Paid 68 Percent of Federal Income Taxes

Top 20% of Earners Pay 84% of Income Tax

STEPHEN MOORE: Do the rich pay their fair share of taxes?

Do the rich pay lower taxes than the middle class?

The Rich Pay More than Their Fair Share of Taxes | Economics21

What's more, the top 1% pay around 24% of all federal taxes (income taxes, corporate taxes, tariffs, etc.). The top 10% pay over 50% of all federal taxes.

1 Percenters Pay 24 Percent and Top 10 Percent Pay 53.3 Percent of All Federal Taxes

And this is on top of the huge amount of county and state taxes that the rich pay, especially rich people who own businesses. I have two relatives who own businesses, and I can't believe how much they get soaked in county and state taxes, especially property taxes.

Liberals who go around peddling the kool-aid myth that "the rich pay virtually no taxes" or that "the average rich person pays less than a middle-income earner" obviously don't know any rich people and/or any business owners and are basing these silly claims on grossly misleading "studies" churned out by liberal think tanks and economists.

 

[imawhosure]

Sorry Mike but....on factual grounds you may win this arguement. You will also win this arguement on moral grounds. But you will never win this arguement under the current conditions of politics/tax code in this country. As long as a large % of the adult population in the US pays 0 or less federal tax, they have no inclination to fight against overtaxing. The politicians have purposely set it up this way so as they have a group to pander to in elections. We both know this, and so does every lefty on this board, and good luck beating your head against the wall trying to get them to admit it; although I do appreciate your using facts in an attempt to try and get them to do so!

As the wise say...........a 10% rise in taxes on 100 dollars is 10 bucks. A 10% rise on zero taxes is still zero. Nothing from nothing means nothing to them financially, so how we gonna win that arguement on any political grounds?

 

[midcan5]

Can someone get the right wing corporatist apologist for the rich a dictionary and then explain to them proportionality and fairness. When someone can show me a rich person alone on an island creating wealth they may have something, till then they simply miss where wealth is created and how.

"This disposition to admire, and almost to worship , the rich and powerful, and to despise, or, at least neglect persons of poor and mean conditions...is...the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments." Adam Smith

Right wing mental gymnastic apologies for the wealthy and the greedy is a funny show. One has to wonder what world they live in or even if they are just greed justification bots? The very same right wingers think minimum wage is too high. Put that in your moral ethical Christian mixer and tell us how or why? Two things: I happen to know many of the top and believe me they could care less, if they even thought about it, that you righties are on their side. Plus, having worked in corporate America we've done fine too, as it ain't just the top that do so well. But please righties stay the course, Walmart's billionaires love you, nah. LOL


"Lasch understood the paradox that much of the modern American left and right find contradictory: property could be theft, particularly under capitalist property relations and wage labor, but it also meant freedom for small producers — such as farmers, artisans, and shopkeepers in the 19th century or what today have become small business owners and sole proprietorships — who were able to control the conditions under which they made their living. The rise of mass production for ever-expanding markets and with it the shift to salaried labor destroyed this radical yet deeply conservative outlook on life, turning skilled craftsmen who worked for themselves into interchangeable cogs in somebody else’s machine, both literally and figuratively. Workers understood this, noted Lasch, and reacted by "defending not just their economic interests but their crafts, families, and neighborhoods.""
Why Read Christopher Lasch?

"It turns out that the Wall Street bonus pool in 2014 was roughly twice the total annual earnings of all Americans working full time at the federal minimum wage." http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-inequality-is-a-choice.html

"This is what the Lord says: 'Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord." Jeremiah 9:23-24

 

[my2¢]

For me it isn't so much the money but rather the invasion of privacy that concerns me about the income tax code. A system where one has to account to the government for their every dollar is totally against the principles of both privacy and justice.

 

[Mac1958]

Can someone get the right wing corporatist apologist for the rich a dictionary and then explain to them proportionality and fairness. When someone can show me a rich person alone on an island creating wealth they may have something, till then they simply miss where wealth is created and how.

"This disposition to admire, and almost to worship , the rich and powerful, and to despise, or, at least neglect persons of poor and mean conditions...is...the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments." Adam Smith

Right wing mental gymnastic apologies for the wealthy and the greedy is a funny show. One has to wonder what world they live in or even if they are just greed justification bots? The very same right wingers think minimum wage is too high. Put that in your moral ethical Christian mixer and tell us how or why? Two things: I happen to know many of the top and believe me they could care less, if they even thought about it, that you righties are on their side. Plus, having worked in corporate America we've done fine too, as it ain't just the top that do so well. But please righties stay the course, Walmart's billionaires love you, nah. LOL


"Lasch understood the paradox that much of the modern American left and right find contradictory: property could be theft, particularly under capitalist property relations and wage labor, but it also meant freedom for small producers — such as farmers, artisans, and shopkeepers in the 19th century or what today have become small business owners and sole proprietorships — who were able to control the conditions under which they made their living. The rise of mass production for ever-expanding markets and with it the shift to salaried labor destroyed this radical yet deeply conservative outlook on life, turning skilled craftsmen who worked for themselves into interchangeable cogs in somebody else’s machine, both literally and figuratively. Workers understood this, noted Lasch, and reacted by "defending not just their economic interests but their crafts, families, and neighborhoods.""
Why Read Christopher Lasch?

"It turns out that the Wall Street bonus pool in 2014 was roughly twice the total annual earnings of all Americans working full time at the federal minimum wage." http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-inequality-is-a-choice.html

"This is what the Lord says: 'Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord." Jeremiah 9:23-24

What does this have to do with the OP?
.

 

[rightwinger]

The 1% pay an effective tax rate of 17%...lowest in a hundred years

The middle class have to make up the difference

 

[Iceweasel]

Can someone get the right wing corporatist apologist for the rich a dictionary and then explain to them proportionality and fairness. When someone can show me a rich person alone on an island creating wealth they may have something, till then they simply miss where wealth is created and how.

That makes zero sense, first, you aren't god and are in no position to dictate fairness. How do you determine who gets to keep what? Your analogy is flawed because if you are alone on an island there is no wealth. Money is useless.

What we need to do is get corporations out of politician's pockets and create a free market. Big business steps on small business and small business is the backbone of the economy. Or it was.

 

[Wilbur Right]

What a stupid op.

Where are those liberals who make the claim that the ultra rich pay virtully nothing in the way of income taxes....where are those people other than in the head of the OP.

 

[rightwinger]

What a stupid op.

Where are those liberals who make the claim that the ultra rich pay virtully nothing in the way of income taxes....where are those people other than in the head of the OP.

Liberals claim the ultra rich pay historically low income taxes and need to contribute more

Why do we continue supply side policies that do not work?

 

[NYcarbineer]

If the rich pay "virtually nothing" in taxes, as liberals continue to claim, how is it that they pay the majority of federal personal income taxes? According to federal income tax data, the top 1% pay about 45% of all federal income taxes. The top 10% pay at least 60% of all federal income taxes. And the top 20% pay over 80% of all federal income taxes.

Top 1% pay nearly half of federal income taxes

Top 10 Percent of Earners Paid 68 Percent of Federal Income Taxes

Top 20% of Earners Pay 84% of Income Tax

STEPHEN MOORE: Do the rich pay their fair share of taxes?

Do the rich pay lower taxes than the middle class?

The Rich Pay More than Their Fair Share of Taxes | Economics21

What's more, the top 1% pay around 24% of all federal taxes (income taxes, corporate taxes, tariffs, etc.). The top 10% pay over 50% of all federal taxes.

1 Percenters Pay 24 Percent and Top 10 Percent Pay 53.3 Percent of All Federal Taxes

And this is on top of the huge amount of county and state taxes that the rich pay, especially rich people who own businesses. I have two relatives who own businesses, and I can't believe how much they get soaked in county and state taxes, especially property taxes.

Liberals who go around peddling the kool-aid myth that "the rich pay virtually no taxes" or that "the average rich person pays less than a middle-income earner" obviously don't know any rich people and/or any business owners and are basing these silly claims on grossly misleading "studies" churned out by liberal think tanks and economists.

Who says the Rich pay 'virtually no' taxes?

 

[mikegriffith1]

What a stupid op.

Where are those liberals who make the claim that the ultra rich pay virtully nothing in the way of income taxes....where are those people other than in the head of the OP.

Uhhhh, there are two threads going right now in which liberals have claimed that the rich "pay virtually nothing" in taxes and/or that "the rich pay less in taxes than the middle class," etc., etc. Those comments, and many others I've seen/heard in recent years, prompted me to write this thread.

 

[Moonglow]

For me it isn't so much the money but rather the invasion of privacy that concerns me about the income tax code. A system where one has to account to the government for their every dollar is totally against the principles of both privacy and justice.

Then don't do it..

 

[Moonglow]

What a stupid op.

Where are those liberals who make the claim that the ultra rich pay virtully nothing in the way of income taxes....where are those people other than in the head of the OP.

Uhhhh, there are two threads going right now in which liberals have claimed that the rich "pay virtually nothing" in taxes and/or that "the rich pay less in taxes than the middle class," etc., etc. Those comments, and many others I've seen/heard in recent years, prompted me to write this thread.

Then you should of used a quote to assert your OP...

 

[TheCrusader]

Can someone get the right wing corporatist apologist for the rich a dictionary and then explain to them proportionality and fairness. When someone can show me a rich person alone on an island creating wealth they may have something, till then they simply miss where wealth is created and how.

"This disposition to admire, and almost to worship , the rich and powerful, and to despise, or, at least neglect persons of poor and mean conditions...is...the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments." Adam Smith

Right wing mental gymnastic apologies for the wealthy and the greedy is a funny show. One has to wonder what world they live in or even if they are just greed justification bots? The very same right wingers think minimum wage is too high. Put that in your moral ethical Christian mixer and tell us how or why? Two things: I happen to know many of the top and believe me they could care less, if they even thought about it, that you righties are on their side. Plus, having worked in corporate America we've done fine too, as it ain't just the top that do so well. But please righties stay the course, Walmart's billionaires love you, nah. LOL


"Lasch understood the paradox that much of the modern American left and right find contradictory: property could be theft, particularly under capitalist property relations and wage labor, but it also meant freedom for small producers — such as farmers, artisans, and shopkeepers in the 19th century or what today have become small business owners and sole proprietorships — who were able to control the conditions under which they made their living. The rise of mass production for ever-expanding markets and with it the shift to salaried labor destroyed this radical yet deeply conservative outlook on life, turning skilled craftsmen who worked for themselves into interchangeable cogs in somebody else’s machine, both literally and figuratively. Workers understood this, noted Lasch, and reacted by "defending not just their economic interests but their crafts, families, and neighborhoods.""
Why Read Christopher Lasch?

"It turns out that the Wall Street bonus pool in 2014 was roughly twice the total annual earnings of all Americans working full time at the federal minimum wage." http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-inequality-is-a-choice.html

"This is what the Lord says: 'Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord." Jeremiah 9:23-24

This needs to be seen again and again.

 

[NYcarbineer]

Nothing is funnier than when the rank and file RWnuts start portraying the Rich as America's victims.

 

[imawhosure]

Nothing is funnier than when the rank and file RWnuts start portraying the Rich as America's victims.

They are victims, as is anyone else who pays one cent in federal income tax. Why? Because allowing people to affect what YOU pay without affecting what they themselves pay, makes you a subordinate to them!

EXAMPLE---> congress and President impose upon us Obysmalcare, tell us it is a great idea, then exempt themselves from it, and it's good or deleterious affects. How fair is that? Or is it ok because the left got what it wanted!

 

[rightwinger]

What a stupid op.

Where are those liberals who make the claim that the ultra rich pay virtully nothing in the way of income taxes....where are those people other than in the head of the OP.

Uhhhh, there are two threads going right now in which liberals have claimed that the rich "pay virtually nothing" in taxes and/or that "the rich pay less in taxes than the middle class," etc., etc. Those comments, and many others I've seen/heard in recent years, prompted me to write this thread.

If the wealthy are paying 17% effective tax rate compared to the 50% they should be paying, does that qualify as "virtually nothing"?

 

[mikegriffith1]

What a stupid op.

Where are those liberals who make the claim that the ultra rich pay virtully nothing in the way of income taxes....where are those people other than in the head of the OP.

Uhhhh, there are two threads going right now in which liberals have claimed that the rich "pay virtually nothing" in taxes and/or that "the rich pay less in taxes than the middle class," etc., etc. Those comments, and many others I've seen/heard in recent years, prompted me to write this thread.

If the wealthy are paying 17% effective tax rate compared to the 50% they should be paying, does that qualify as "virtually nothing"?

You make two dubious assumptions and then proceed from there.

Why should anyone have an effective tax rate of 50%?

Does your fuzzy-math claim about a 17% effective tax rate include all the taxes that the rich pay in state and county taxes? I am barely in the top 20% and my state takes about 5% of my gross income and refunds about $100 of that money to me each year. And, good grief, I pay many thousands of dollars in state sales tax and county property tax. Two of my relatives own businesses, and they pay a huge amount in state and county business and property taxes. Does your 17% figure include state and county taxes?

 

[rightwinger]

What a stupid op.

Where are those liberals who make the claim that the ultra rich pay virtully nothing in the way of income taxes....where are those people other than in the head of the OP.

Uhhhh, there are two threads going right now in which liberals have claimed that the rich "pay virtually nothing" in taxes and/or that "the rich pay less in taxes than the middle class," etc., etc. Those comments, and many others I've seen/heard in recent years, prompted me to write this thread.

If the wealthy are paying 17% effective tax rate compared to the 50% they should be paying, does that qualify as "virtually nothing"?

You make two dubious assumptions and then proceed from there.

Why should anyone have an effective tax rate of 50%?

Does your fuzzy-math claim about a 17% effective tax rate include all the taxes that the rich pay in state and county taxes? I am barely in the top 20% and my state takes about 5% of my gross income and refunds about $100 of that money to me each year. And, good grief, I pay many thousands of dollars in state sales tax and county property tax. Two of my relatives own businesses, and they pay a huge amount in state and county business and property taxes. Does your 17% figure include state and county taxes?

Why?

Because that is where our tax rate used to be before we were running up record debt. It is where our tax rate used to be when taxes actually paid more for infrastructure, education and healthcare. It is where our tax rate used to be when the Government actually accomplished things

We have seen what Supply Side tax rates have done for this country...time to fix the mistake

 

[Skull Pilot]

Nothing is funnier than when the rank and file RWnuts start portraying the Rich as America's victims.

Anyone who gets 40% of their income confiscated by the government IS a victim of theft