Just got back from filing my taxes–well, my extension, to be honest. And while we all like to bitch and moan about them, it’s worth noting that income taxes really do soak the rich, while the rest of us get a pretty decent deal. Not as good a deal as we used to get, because the Bush tax cuts overwhelmingly favored the wealthiest people in the country, but the rich still pay a huge percentage of the federal government’s take.
I’ve written about this before, here and there, if you’re feeling all wonky and want to learn more. But to sum it up: Getting rid of the federal income tax and going to a sales tax would be a huge tax increase for most Americans, and every time the Arizona Legislature does an across-the-board income-tax cut, the wealthiest Arizonans make out very well, and the average Arizonan gets peanuts.
Remember that the next time you’re stuck in traffic on the Interstate and wish there was a third lane between here and Phoenix.
This article appears in Apr 12-18, 2007.
On the other hand, the rich tend to be rich because of huge benefits given to them via society and enforced by the government. So it all evens out.
well, also, when you point out that the rich pay the lion’s share of taxes, aren’t you forgetting to point out that it’s in proportion to their incomes? how are they getting soaked, dude?
if you look at the raw numbers on bush and cheney, for instance, they actually paid right around 25% of their income on federal taxes.
nice deal, huh? apparently i’m in a higher tax bracket than they are.
Curtis, if you’re paying 25 percent of your income in federal taxes–not including Social Security and Medicare–you need to find yourself a better accountant. That aside, I don’t think I suggested that the rich shouldn’t pay a greater percentage of their income in taxes–I think they should, which is one reason I directed folks to the NYT story that showed that they were gettting a smokin’ deal from the GOP tax cuts. My point was simply that middle- and low-income folks, in general, get a pretty good deal from the current system and that going to a flat-tax system or a national sales tax, while it seems to have a weird amount of popular support from the average person, amounts to a big break for the wealthiest Americans. I find it strange that tax reform proposals that screw the average taxpayer have become populist issues. Same goes for the high level of support for repeal of the estate tax, which has tremendous support in polls even though it only affects a tiny percentage of households.