The bottom fifth of taxpayers (earning less than $18,000), paid 11.7% of income taxes

Discussion in 'Politics' started by walter4, Apr 19, 2010.

  1. In 2007, the nonpartisan California Budget Project observed, the bottom fifth of taxpayers -- those earning less than about $18,000 -- paid about 11.7% of family income in state and local taxes.


    By contrast, the top 1%, earning $430,000 or more, paid only about 7.1% on average, counting the deduction of state and local taxes many could take from their federal tax bill.

    http://articles.latimes.com/2009/oct/12/business/fi-hiltzik12

    I SAY: TAX THE MOTHER****ERS.
     
  2. Wallet

    Wallet

    So the lower 20% paid $2106 (11.7%) on average while the upper 1% paid $30,530 (7.1%)????

    What would be fair, if the upper 1% of taxpayers paid the same 11.7%? $50,310?

    That could give a free ride for about 9 or 10 lower percentile taxpayers for every 1 taxpayer in the upper.

    Wait how about we make em' pay double, that would just about give tax amnesty for the majority of citizens, would that be fair?

    Go get a job.
     
  3. Fuck yea! you're absolutely right! The top 1% should also be paying the exact same 11.7%!! It's not fair at all to segregate people based on income and tax them differently! After all our constitution says "all men are created equal"!

     
  4. Throw in property taxes, sales taxes, etc and you'll see the obvious trend of the mid to lower income groups paying a larger percentage of their income in taxes yet it's the whiney rich who cry about taxes. The rich don't server much of a purpose of anything in this country.
     
  5. Listen to you... sounding like a black panther. Preach on farakhan!

     
  6. Bakinec

    Bakinec

    No shit.

    Bottom fifth = 20%.

    Top .01 = 1%.

    USA = 400 mil.

    20% = 80 mil.

    1% = 4 mil.

    Now do your math.
     
  7. Mav88

    Mav88

    Some of you guys are not very bright.

    First of all it's California, not the federal system where the bottom 10% pays negative taxes.

    Second- property and sales tax do not discriminate with income, and to make it so would be be very complcated and stupid.

    Third- California is a 'progressive' state, so cat calls for government action are ridiculous. The tax rate is ridiculous itself, and the state of their finanaces tells you all you need to know about what happens when leftsist populism runs the show.
     
  8. I think California should do as these guys say (the OP and gang) and tax the ever living crap out of the rich in that state. We need a test case to show how stupid an idea that is, and when all the rich leave California, it'll be in even worse a situation (if that is even possible) than it is now.
     
  9. This is a perfect example of statistics being distorted to draw a conclusion that is the exact opposite of reality.

    First, the title of this thread "The bottom fifth of taxpayers (earning less than $18,000), paid 11.7% of income taxes" is outright false and is not what is claimed by the California Budget Project.

    Second, what is "the nonpartisan California Budget Project".

    Answer: "The California Budget Project engages in independent fiscal and policy analysis and public education with the goal of improving public policies affecting the economic and social well-being of low- and middle-income Californians."

    How can they be nonpartisan and independent when they have a distinct agenda and that distinct agenda is clearly biased?

    Third, who really pays the state and local taxes in California?

    Here are the latest facts from the California Budget Project:

    "Measured as a share of family income, California’s lowest-income families pay the most in taxes. The poorest fifth of the state’s non-elderly families, with an average income of $13,200, spent 11.1 percent of their income on state taxes. In comparison, the wealthiest 1 percent, with an average income of $2.2 million, spent 7.8 percent of their income on state taxes."

    Let's assume that those facts are true. So by the given facts the average family in the bottom 20% pays $1465.20 in state and local taxes and the average family in the top 1% pays $171,600 in state and local taxes. So it takes 117 families in the bottom 20% to pay the same tax as one family in the top 1%. In other words the top 1% pays almost 6 times the total taxes as the entire bottom 20% does.

    To claim that "California’s lowest-income families pay the most in taxes" is absurd nonsense. California's soak the rich tax policy is already a disaster. Groups like the California Budget Project that want even more taxes on the rich are just looking to make the disaster even worse of a disaster. Doesn't take much for a motivated rich Californian to move to Nevada or Washington and slash their state and local tax burden. The more rich people that leave California means an even larger tax burden for those that stay. How about a soak the rich with taxes death spiral?
     
  10. Ricter

    Ricter

    The differential income tax rate is fair, based on the concept of marginal utility (of a dollar).
     
    #10     Apr 19, 2010