Who thinks that only rich people have low taxes?

Question

I saw in another question that some folks think that taxes are low for rich folks but high for them. Do you not realize that if you get a refund every year you technically dont pay taxes at all? Did you also know that the top 50% of wage earners pay 96.54% of all taxes? just wondering.

Answer 1

yep, I knew that. and poor people and people with kids and crap dont pay taxes and some even get back more than they pay in.

Answer 2

Let's clear up a few things. First of all, if you get a refund, that doesn't mean you don't pay taxes. In 2006, I paid about $30,000 in income taxes, and I will get a about a $7,000 refund, so I still paid $18,000. Secondly, the fact that the upper 50% of wage earner pay 96.54% of the taxes is the lamest thing I have ever heard. It doesn't prove anything.

What the lower and lower-middle class object to is the fact that people at the upper income level have the opportunity to lower their effective tax rate with certain deductions and loopholes.

Example: If I make $100,000 a year, and pay 30% in federal income taxes, my tax liability is $30,000. But because I bought a house and can deduct $25,000 for the interest, I end up gettting a $7,000 refund. So now my tax burden is only $23,000, so my effective rate is 23%.

Now take a couple making $60,000 combined who cannot afford a house. Their base tax rate is 23% but because they have no deductions, they still pay 23%. So even I though I make more, we have the same effective tax rate. This is why their is still inequity and why the middle class complains.

Answer 3

You are wrong about one thing. If you get a refund all it means is that you have overpaid your true tax liability and are being given back the difference after filing the return. This is very common considering the payroll tax withholding system we have in America today. Many folks like the "forced savings" aspect of a Federal or even State refund. It does not however mean you have paid no taxes at all.
The question of whether the rich pay their fair share is a matter of political perspective. I think the wealthy pay their fair share in that they pay a huge percentage of the overall tax burden. There are those however on the political left who believe that those who earn a certain standard of living cant pay ENOUGH back to the government. They believe that it is somehow unfair that the rich are rich. That it is perhaps due to some trickery at the expense of the poor that these folks have attained a certain level of wealth.
This really speaks to the isse of being rewarded for taking risk.
Imagine a tax system that purged all write-offs except Mortgage interest, children and capital expenditures. If we created this situation and taxed all remaining income at the same rate no matter who earned it and regardless of whether it was the first dollar earned or the ten millionth dollar earned. By virtue of the fact that the wealthy guy made more he would pay more. Then we could get rid of all the tax brackets and fire a good portion of the IRS.

Answer 4

Thats the penalty for being succesful, thats also why an across the boards tax cut "favors the rich" because the people who make the most not only pay the most in dollars, but also in % of their income, but some people just want to see middle-upper class people taxed even more.

Answer 5

Not me. I think that rich people pay a LOT in taxes.

I think the top level is 38% of their income.

Answer 6

I know they pay alot in taxes, boo hoo, they can afford it. The working poor can't even get health insurance, tax breaks and earned income credit don't help much.