Posted by
ROWELG on Monday, September 08, 2008 6:30:07 PM
The question at hand is should Obama give a tax break to 95% of the people, and soak the rich more, shifting the burden to fewer than 10% of Americans? Obama will be on Fox O'Reilly tonight proposing it, to buy votes and pay for all the new proposed progarms. Do we punish the wage creaters more, and then complain about unemployment?
Rich is defined by government in terms of single and joint tax filings, not wealth in pension funds. Government looks at tax returns to determine rich. Any joint adjusted income of a husband and wife over $100,000 is rich. Upper middle class and above, per IRS, is RICH.
For those not doing their own taxes, gross income includes wages, social security benefits, interest income, dividend income, income from retirement, capital gains, alimony, rental income, royalty income, farm income, unemployment compensation, and certain other kinds of income. Adjusted Gross income is that taxable income, after deductions. Social security and medicare TAX payments that are not deductable and are in the adjusted gross income figures, so AGI is not purchasing power.
Let us look to historical facts and actual results of the Bush tax cut “for the rich”, as well as for all. Below is the matrix comparing 2000 to 2006. IRS has not published 2007 data yet. In spite of this tax break for the RICH, they are now paying 20% more in 2006 than in 2000, and paying 75% of the bill. The lower to middle class are paying 22% less. Roughly, 12% of tax payers are paying 75% of the taxes, after going from only paying 65% at end of the Clinton era.. More than a million and a half people have added the ranks of not even having to file because of increase in standard deductions and standard exemptions.
|
Adjusted Gross Income
|
2000 Returns
|
2006 Returns
|
Change
|
2000 Taxes
|
2006 Taxes
|
Change
|
% of Tax
|
|
$10,000,000 or more
|
11,215
|
15,956
|
42%
|
$76,090,875
|
$91,013,554
|
19.6%
|
8.9%
|
|
$5,000,000 under $10,000,000
|
17,610
|
24,975
|
42%
|
$34,332,526
|
$39,556,521
|
15.2%
|
3.9%
|
|
$2,000,000 under $5,000,000
|
66,768
|
98,724
|
48%
|
$58,226,583
|
$71,647,095
|
23.0%
|
7.0%
|
|
$1,500,000 under $2,000,000
|
44,582
|
64,007
|
44%
|
$22,521,143
|
$26,721,295
|
18.6%
|
2.6%
|
|
$1,000,000 under $1,500,000
|
99,510
|
150,431
|
51%
|
$35,149,293
|
$44,125,225
|
25.5%
|
4.3%
|
|
$500,000 under $1,000,000
|
396,131
|
589,306
|
49%
|
$76,021,565
|
$94,213,951
|
23.9%
|
9.2%
|
|
$200,000 under $500,000
|
2,135,763
|
3,121,485
|
46%
|
$146,454,328
|
$177,041,086
|
20.9%
|
17.3%
|
|
$100,000 under $200,000
|
8,083,447
|
12,088,423
|
50%
|
$184,034,909
|
$209,381,101
|
13.8%
|
20.5%
|
|
Trends of the Rich & Upper Middle
|
10,855,026
|
16,153,307
|
49%
|
$632,831,222
|
$753,699,828
|
19.1%
|
73.6%
|
|
8.4%
|
11.7%
|
|
64.5%
|
73.6%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$75,000 under $100,000
|
8,597,328
|
11,140,408
|
30%
|
$99,803,213
|
$90,019,371
|
-9.8%
|
8.8%
|
|
$50,000 under $75,000
|
17,076,159
|
18,854,917
|
10%
|
$115,745,997
|
$94,443,396
|
-18.4%
|
9.2%
|
|
$40,000 under $50,000
|
10,412,090
|
10,687,193
|
3%
|
$45,739,387
|
$32,509,507
|
-28.9%
|
3.2%
|
|
$30,000 under $40,000
|
13,547,727
|
14,151,824
|
4%
|
$40,229,243
|
$27,293,090
|
-32.2%
|
2.7%
|
|
$25,000 under $30,000
|
8,368,758
|
8,749,761
|
5%
|
$16,401,405
|
$10,396,566
|
-36.6%
|
1.0%
|
|
$20,000 under $25,000
|
9,993,115
|
9,912,261
|
-1%
|
$13,131,415
|
$7,501,691
|
-42.9%
|
0.7%
|
|
$15,000 under $20,000
|
11,661,535
|
10,937,694
|
-6%
|
$9,235,883
|
$4,759,278
|
-48.5%
|
0.5%
|
|
$10,000 under $15,000
|
12,111,064
|
11,711,680
|
-3%
|
$5,172,606
|
$2,373,130
|
-54.1%
|
0.2%
|
|
$5,000 under $10,000
|
12,801,602
|
11,786,747
|
-8%
|
$1,891,861
|
$654,390
|
-65.4%
|
0.1%
|
|
$1 under $5,000
|
12,802,741
|
11,633,370
|
-9%
|
$339,129
|
$88,684
|
-73.8%
|
0.0%
|
|
Trends of Low & Middle Class
|
117,372,119
|
119,565,855
|
2%
|
$347,690,139
|
$270,039,103
|
-22.3%
|
26.4%
|
|
91%
|
86%
|
|
35%
|
26%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No adjusted gross income
|
1,146,357
|
2,675,594
|
133%
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
0.0%
|
|
GRAND TOTAL
|
129,373,502
|
138,394,756
|
7%
|
$980,645,201
|
$1,023,738,931
|
4.4%
|
|