Forum Post: The top 1% make 18% of the money but pay 28% of the taxes. Is this fair?
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 17, 2011, 12:23 a.m. EST by IminTexas
(33)
from La Marque, TX
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
You need to look at these charts!
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph
You're obviously not one of them. The 1% are not all bad, just look at Warren Buffet. Others also have spoken up in favor of higher taxes on them. Higher taxes on the top 1% are good for people who primarily have investment income, which should include them if they are putting their wealth to work in the economy and not just sitting on it. The reason that higher taxes on them is good for them is that it gets distributed to the poorest in society, who proceed to spend it, and spend it smartly because they have to. Spending in the economy is good for the economy and smart spending is even better. Thus the wealthy make more money when they are taxed than when they are not. Think about it this way, would you rather make money and get taxed or not make money in the first place. That is the decision that the wealthy are faced with when it comes to raising their taxes, and pretty much all of them are smart enough to know that they are better off if their taxes are higher than they are right now.
But the truth is the top 1% have ways of moving their money around so that they appear to be making only 18% of the money. But in fact they're probably making more like 50% of the money. They distribute their income to their family and collect it offshore.
There needs to be more incentive for the private sector to create jobs. Taxing the rich even more is not going to help the situation. If you tax the top 1% at 100% and then redistribute that wealth to the bottom 90% all you will create is price inflation because there is no productivity backing this money up. And when that money dries up the economy is in even worse shape because we're mainly just buying foreign goods with it. If you want real economic improvement you need the drastic changes in Washington that only Ron Paul is talking about.
You're right, it's not fair. They should be paying more. Since they've gotten at least twice as rich while we've gotten poorer (that website doesn't take into account the Great Recession since it was written prior to 2008 btw) and when you take into account the fact that Healthcare and College costs have gotten dramatically higher and houses have lost their value, I'd say they definitely need to be paying MUCH more.
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Most of the 1%'s net worth is in stocks on which they pay 16% capital gains tax. That is just over half the rate the middle class's income is taxed at.
The poor and middle class also pay MUCH more in state and local taxes in addition to excise taxes.
All said and done, the middle class pay as much or more than the 1% as a percentage of their net worth
Way to perpetuate bullshit. It's really easy to tell half the truth isn't it? open your eyes, use your head and stop kissing 1% ass.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph
Is this fair?
If you support OWS, please watch this video. I think it's important for all of us to hear the points made here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX1N3opw5eI
That's a misleading statistic.
If you consider that so many cannot afford to eat, or own a home, or pay taxes. Then it's no wonder it feels unfair. But the truth is the top 1% have ways of moving their money around so that they appear to be making only 18% of the money. But in fact they're probably making more like 50% of the money.
The last I saw the poor in this country had a shockingly high rate of obesity. They may not be able to own a home but they are hardly having problems feeding themselves.
When was the last time you heard of someone in the US starving to death?
I know some of those poor people. It's because Spaghetti and Macaroni are the cheapest things to eat and they are the most fattening and unhealthy. Also, most of them are poor because they have health and/or mental issues and it's very hard for people like that to cook a healthy meal every day. It's very hard to be wealthy when you're functionally handicapped but unable to collect disability and even if you did, you couldn't possibly live on your own anyway and you were never taught things like how to cook and had to leave home shortly after your 15th birthday because of your abusive stepfather.
People are starving to death in the US. You need to get to the city where people are digging through garbage cans looking for food.
A link to an article maybe? You would think that if people starved to death it would be in the news. I read/watch the news daily and have for years and I can't ever remember hearing of such a thing.
Of course generally people don't starve to death because of the various charities and government services for the poor. I've volunteered in the soup kitchen of the church so I see these people every week. Thank goodness our society cares for people in this predicament, except for you, who isn't aware of their existence. And back to your original point about obesity. In fact many of the poor who are obese become that way because of lack of access to nutritious foods that generally cost more. Hamburgers are cheap but fattening.
Of the 49.1 million people living in food insecure households (up from 36.2 million in 2007), 32.4 million are adults (14.4 percent of all adults) and 16.7 million are children (22.5 percent of all children). 17.3 million people lived in households that were considered to have "very low food security," a USDA term (previously denominated "food insecure with hunger") that means one or more people in the household were hungry over the course of the year because of the inability to afford enough food. This was up from 11.9 million in 2007 and 8.5 million in 2000. Very low food security had been getting worse even before the recession. The number of people in this category in 2008 is more than double the number in 2000. Black (25.7 percent) and Hispanic (26.9 percent) households experienced food insecurity at far higher rates than the national average.
All those people have to do though is make their way to their local social services office to get food stamps.
People may be hungry, but they are not starving.
Point taken. You win.
why do people keep making this a debate about taxes...? that is a dead issue.... stop talking about it! taxes no taxes higher taxes what does it matter what they do or do not pay in taxes? the fact of the matter is the rich are the corporation owners and shit rolls downhill.... they pay higher taxes so what they will just cut your pension or your healthcare or deny you a raise and increase the cost to whatever shit they are peddling..get off the taxes shit everyone with half a Fu**cking brain knows they roll any extra they have to pay out in cash right on down to the little guy! this is about a revolution....and as there is 14 million people unemployed with more time on our hands than we would likehow long do you think it will be before it gets mean and ugly....and all this talk about taxes and solutions will be taken out of the hands of the rich.....this is a first step not the last.... they may shut this protest down eventually but people are mad... people are poor people are fed up... there is no solution to the rich getting richer they always find a way to come out on top they are the great white sharks of the world.....in the end its going to be a war if they don't start playing fair....watch this is not the end....the rich better start sharing or somebody...lots of bodys are going to take what they have...by force....its coming the anger is rising and cooler heads will not prevail because i dont think rich people even know how to play fair.... maybe one or two of them play fair but the vast majority are like spoiled little kids who take what they want and dont give a dam....they are going to get what they give soon enough if they dont realize how violent this will get eventually if things dont change.....so if i were them i would realize that it will be easy enough to find them in their fancy cars and big houses. and i am going to sit back and cheer because i hate the rich!
This is a scary post. Where protest turns to riot. No thank you.