There are many politicans claiming that the rich don't pay their fair share of taxes. The same politicians then say that the government needs to step in and make the rich pay more.
I have a question about the idea of the rich not paying their fair share of taxes? What is it based on? I wondered for quite awhile, how true is this? Is there any information that shows the amount of taxes paid by the "rich" versus the amount of taxes paid by the "poor"?
I found information that refutes the claim being made by many politicians today. If you look at the bottom portion of the image, the chart compares the percent of total income earned in the country by various groups to the percent of the total federal taxes paid by those same groups. Let's look closely.
1. The top 0.1% make 9.1% of all the income in the country but pay 17.4% of all the federal taxes paid in the country.2. The top 1% make 19% of all income but pay 36.9% of all federal taxes.
3. The top 5% make 33.4% of all income but pay 57.1% of all federal taxes.
4. The bottom 50% make 13.4% of all income but pay only 3.3% of all federal taxes.
5. The wealthiest 5% pay almost 60% of the taxes. While the poorest 50% pay less then 5%. How does that equal the rich don't pay their share of the taxes?? You tell me.
Look at the source... The Department of the Treasury, based on IRS data from the 2004 tax year. Not a political party or someone trying to win an election.
No comments:
Post a Comment