The Top 5% of TAX PAYERS pay 58% of all income taxes, Is this FAIR?

Question

The bottom 50%? They pay a paltry 3.97% of all income taxes. Are they paying their FAIR share?

"FAIR" there is that word again. Liberals can not seem to talk for more than two minutes without the word fair popping up. Apparently Liberals really want everything to be fair. But their version of what is and is not fair seems to be a bit skewed to many people.

Certainly fairness in taxation amounts to soaking the taxpayer depending on how much they earn. Liberals oppose all tax codes, which would truly be fair. Flat taxes, where everyone pays the same rate? Liberals do not like those. Consumption taxes, where again everyone is taxed in a balanced fashion? Liberals dislike that system as well.

In fact, the only "fair" tax code to liberals appears to be one which punishes success, and takes way too much of Americans hard earned money and places it in the hands of government.

Who Pays the Taxes;

http://www.ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=6

Answer 1

Your question brings to mind the theory of Barstool Economics (I forget the author):

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20." Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.


The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so:


The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

Answer 2

Well that's not quite fair to say as they create jobs. like the tax attorneys who find the loop holes and the same with the certified accountants, the rich have to pay them "maintenance" every year. You may wonder why the rich in Congress like Kerry or even Clinton were against the Bush tax cuts. Kerry is worth $180 million and his wife what a billion. Well the deal is they know that the tax guys can take a $8 million estate and turn it into a one million dollar one. Thus the estate would owe not taxes. To do this it's not that elaborate. The local attorney firms hire local crooked yokels to say cruise adn appraise the land and building or homes. I am working n one right now that the land is worth minimum of two grand and it has from 2 to 4 thousand in timber on it. What they did was have a crooked forrester adn Realtor appraise the land and timber for $500 an acre, then go back eight years or further when some property sold for $750 or less, goat pasture and use that to show the IrS. If you have 2,000 acres @ $500 that's a million, but wait it gets better. The law firms then set them up in a limited partnership or an LLC and discount it another 20%. What's funny on this one you have hoes and cash worth a million and that didn't even include the land. So once they get the crooked stuff then they send it to the fluff guy. The fluff guy takes the information and puts if up and sharpens it and puts it in a nice booklet. Why do this simple this will further insulate the cpa and law firms. Something comes up they just say "Hey, those guys did it". Then those guys say "Hey the local yokel gave us the info". They the local yokel can say they messed up or got confused. What is even worse is when one fo the IrS agents retires or leaves and goes into private practice they get tons of business shoveled way by the large law firms. Also the CPa firms are able to audit the banks and if you got a crooked bank with crooked lawyers who associate with the larger crooked firm who is hooked up with the crooked cpa firm then you have a su0per elaborate deal going on. I have talked to some of the lawyers that were irs and they say they are best of friends with the law firms. so the Democrats are upset as they know the tax cut deal only gives ore cash, I mean look at the estate of the guy that owned the baseball team. $500 million. So the Dems are mad that as they know it is already discounted down to nothing. That is why they are trying to make a deal and say someone with 5 million can be excluded, which an estate like that might go to several people and they spend some of the cash, where as the old way they only get half that. In closing the firms charge a pretty penny for this and when the person passes on they will normally call the heirs in and tell them there is a tax problem and milk it for more on this one it's up to a million. So hats off to the Democrats for whining about it but not doing anything about it. If someone had five million and is tax exempt that is good more than that do you think they are really going to spend it. I mean kerry bought a boat but docked it in another state. Since lobbyists run Congress by giving them billions * each year and employing their families how hard is it to believe there are crooked law firms, cpa firms that the feds use to audit banks and crooked fed employees and crooked judges and crooked ..................... Have a great 2011.

Answer 3

Of course it's not fair...It is very obvious that many people do not have a rudimentary grasp on our tax scheme or basic economics... And yes.. a flat tax would be fair...everyone pays the same percentage ..the rich pay 10% as does everyone else...(for those that don't understand.. The rich guy that provides you with a job...would still pay more than you)... I guess some of our fellow posters don't understand the punitive nature of TAX BRACKETING.....

Answer 4

I don't hate liberals but their concept of fair and ecomic balance is warped. How can they preach to want equality when they discriminate against those who make more money? Just because you went to college and got a good job, you should pay more taxes? That sounds something Karl Marx would support. My mother has worked all her life and she went to school to learn English (we're Hispanics) and got a job as CNA at a hospital by taking class at night while working daytime. Now she has to pay more in her income tax! That's her reward? Paying more so welfare has enough money to give to its lazy people? This is what liberals call equality? I'm going to college to become a lawyer and is unfair that in 10 years I will have to pay my loans and higher income taxes so failed social programs can still be kept afloat. It is not right, is unfair for the hardworking people of America. You are punished for making more while those who make less enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Answer 5

During WWII the highest tax rate was 90%. How was that fair? Why is it that everyone hates the rich but would love to be rich? A lot of people got rich by working very hard and sacrificing a lot. It is the rich who provide jobs for the working class. The super rich like the Kennedy's have so many ways to avoid paying taxes. We in the middle class get screwed no matter what. The poor need to limit the number of children they have. They need a father and a mother to raise the children and they need to teach their children the importance of an education. You can't expect the government to pay for you and your mistakes. Anyone can become rich.

Answer 6

This is just a sick trend and it has to stop or this country will fall apart. We can't carry the lazy forever and not have it affect us in a very negative way.
I am extremely sick of paying more than my fair share. I am in favor of a FLAT TAX where everyone pays. We would still pay MUCH MORE...but the key is everyone would pay.

Answer 7

Fair or not, when you need to get a lot of money out of people, you can only get it out of people who HAVE money. It's simple arithmetics. How are we gonna fund this huge military if we depended on the poor people to come up with the money? Yeah, you can tax the poor. But 90% of a low income, is only a small fraction of 10% of a high income. In the Lib-Con game, everyone loses. Well, almost everyone...

Answer 8

A flat rate would be fair. The rich would still pay alot more. Why discourage people from succeeding?

Answer 9

you are from those 5% and it is not fair that you will relax and do nothing and you will have food coming to your table in a golden plate, while some other people are having a box of carton to sleep in, is this fair in your point of view? Anyway you can afford to pay these taxes and it will not affect you at all, Paris Hilton

Answer 10

The entire income tax system is unfair, as is the IRS. No one can seem to identify where there is a law requiring the average citizen to pay income tax. Income isn't a gift, it is a trade of your services(time), for someone else's money.