[quote=AN][quote=CA renter]Don’t forget “the richest,” who pay 15% or less.
Yes, tax rates are near historic lows. That’s why some of us get so angry when hearing the weathiest Americans complain about paying taxes. They are wealthier today, and pay lower tax rates today, than they have in many, many, many decades.
As a matter of fact, the last time we saw such low tax rates and such a high wealth/income disparity was right before the Great Depression. Coincidence? I don’t think so.[/quote]
Did you even look at the link I posted? EVERYONE have been paying less effective tax rate except for the to 10%. The data doesn’t support your assertion that the top 10% pay lower tax rates today than they have in many decades. I provided my data, where’s your data to support your assertions?[/quote]
“So what’s the full story? In brief, tax rates for the wealthy have fallen more than for other income groups. Tax rates for the very wealthy have fallen more than they have for the merely wealthy. Incomes at the top have also increased much more quickly than incomes have for other groups.
Add it all up, and you can see why the wealthy are paying a greater share of federal taxes even though they are paying less tax on each dollar they earn. They’re simply making many more dollars than they used to.”
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The following one apparently doesn’t take into account the 15% rate on LT cap gains/dividends, but you can still see what’s been happening.
“But another one of the contentions of today’s Republican party is that high income tax rates are always bad for the economy, because they deprive people of an incentive to work hard, thus making us a nation of lazy good-for-nothings.
This argument has been repeated so often and for so long that it is now basically regarded as fact.
But, interestingly, the history of income tax rates in the US actually suggests that it may be b.s.
Some of the most prosperous periods in US history (1950s and 1960s) have come during periods of super-high marginal income tax rates. And some of the most disastrous periods in US history (1930s, 2010s) have come after periods of super-low income tax rates.”
While it’s true that many middle-class Americans own stocks or bonds, they tend to stash them in tax-sheltered retirement accounts, where the capital gains rate does not apply. By contrast, the richest Americans reap huge benefits. Over the past 20 years, more than 80 percent of the capital gains income realized in the United States has gone to 5 percent of the people; about half of all the capital gains have gone to the wealthiest 0.1 percent.
“The way you get rich in this world is not by working hard,” said Marty Sullivan, an economist and a contributing editor to Tax Analysts. “It’s by owning large amounts of assets and having those things appreciate in value.”
“In the debate over tax cuts, it helps to look at the history of U.S. federal income taxes on high-income people. For the last 18 years individuals in the top income tax bracket (those making more than $250,000 to $379,150, depending on the year) have been paying 30-40% of their income in federal taxes. By itself, this figure might seem high. But unbeknownst to most Americans, today’s tax rates on wealthy Americans are LOWER than they’ve been in almost 80 years. They are the lowest since the “roaring ’20’s” that led to the Great Depression, when the top rate was 25%.
Think about this: FOR ALMOST TWO DECADES — from 1945-1963 — the richest people — those in the highest tax bracket, making over $200,000 — paid 91-94% of their income in taxes! After that the top rate dropped to around 70% (if over $100,000) for the rest of the 60s and all of the 70s. Even under Reagan, the tax rate was around 50%. The idea that today’s wealthy are being newly and unduly oppressed by federal tax rates seems contradicted by the facts.”
[There are some useful tables and links in this article.]
