Forum Post: Crunching some numbers...
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 18, 2011, 12:17 p.m. EST by ImDoingFine
(36)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
According to a chart on the OWS Wikipedia page, the top 1% in America made about 21% of the total wealth in America in 2009.
According to various other websites, the top 1% pay anywhere from 37% to 40% of the total tax revenue.
Thus 1% of the population, making 21% of the money, pays up to 40% of the total taxes collected.
The top 5% pay about 59%, and the top 25% pay over 87% of the total.
The bottom 50% pay less than 3% of the total.
I'd say it's pretty clear that "the rich" are already paying more than their share.
Absolutely. Of course these OWS dweebs have no clue as to the other taxes they pay such as property taxes. The average property tax in a New Jersey town like Milburn is around $21,000.00 per year. Some of the very wealthy pay $150,000 a year in towns like Peapack or Bedminster. Can you imagine that? The township/state charges them $500 a day just to live in their own house. The idiot OWSers don't take in to account state taxes either. The rich are paying more than their "fair share" while OWS numbnuts only consume those tax revenues. Without the wealthy there would be no "free" public school system, roads or rails.
As I've pointed out in another thread, I find the term "fair share" offensive. If you take $3.5 Trillion and divide it by 200 million tax payers everybody's "fair share" would be $17,500. In that case anyone who pays more than that is a "host" and anyone who pays less than that is a "parasite".
Instead of saying the rich need to pay their "fair share", it's more accurate to say the "hosts" need to pay more for the "parasites".
The problem is what our government does with the money that comes in.
Fix that, and you fix everything.
Why should I trust the government with any more of my money when they are already wasting and abusing the money I give them now?
I agree completely, 100%. To begin with, I think it's about two-thirds of my taxes that go to pay for other people's retirement and healthcare. Put that back in the hands of the people instead of the government and you'll cut all kinds of overhead, thus making each dollar go further toward what it's supposed to be doing anyway, besides empowering people to take control of their own decisions.