How much are “The Rich” really paying in taxes
The top 5% – or those making more than $153,000 – pay 60% of all federal income taxes.
The top 1% – or those making more than $333,000 – pay 40% of all federal income taxes.
Those are the facts, according to the IRS. Now – what do people think ‘the rich’ actually pay?
The IBD/TIPP poll found that 36 percent of those polled thought the rich contribute 10 percent or less of all federal income taxes. Another 15 percent thought the rich pay between 10 and 20 percent, while another 10 percent thought the rich’s share is between 20 and 30 percent. In other words, most people thought the rich pay less — far less — than they actually do. Only 12 percent of those polled thought the rich pay more than 40 percent.
Looking at this another way . . .
A U.S. News & World Report blogger went to the Democratic National Convention in Denver and conducted an informal poll of 24 DNC delegates. He asked them, “What should ‘the rich’ pay in income taxes?” Half the respondents said “25 percent”; 25 percent said “20 percent”; 12 percent said “30 percent”; and another 12 percent said “35 percent.” The average DNC delegate wanted the rich to pay 25.6 percent, which is lower than what the rich pay now — both by share of taxes and by tax rate!
The article from Larry Elder titled In Defense of “The Rich” goes on to say that 30% of American voters pay no federal income taxes at all. These are the folks who are more likely to vote FOR spending programs that will directly benefit them. The majority of those 30% agree with Obama’s $65billion health care plan; while the majority of the 70% who DO pay taxes are opposed to it.
Barack Obama calls his increase in taxes and plan to redistribute the wealth to the needy is a matter of “Neighborlyness”. Joe Biden calls it a matter of “Patriotism”
Yet, in terms of charitable giving? Republicans far outspend Liberals when giving money to charities, both religious and non.
From those hard headed Republicans in office:
- George and Laura Bush reported an adjusted gross income of $923,807 in 2007. They paid $221,635 in taxes. They gave $165,660 to charity – or 18% of their income.
- Dick and Lynn Cheney reported an adjusted gross income of $3.04 million in 2007. They paid $602,651in taxes. They gave $166,547 to charity – or 5.5% of their income.
Compare that to the ‘neighborly’ and ‘patriotic’ liberals running for office:
- Barack and Michelle Obama $200,000 and $300,000 a year between 2000 and 2004. To charity, they donated less than 1% of their income. In 2007, their income climbed to 4.2 million – their charity went up to 5%.
- Joe and Jill Biden reported an adjusted gross income of $319,853. They gave $995 to charity – less than 0.3% of their income. Over the past decade, the Bidens reported $2,450,042 in income and gave $3,690 to charity — or 0.1% of their income.
So the Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who want to raise taxes and redistribute wealth if they are elected, are loathe to set the standard of excellence in that arena and live by example. In short, they don’t walk the talk…. but they want YOU to do as they say, not as they do.
If we go on their own statements – their own records of sharing the wealth cannot be considered very neighborly or patriotic.
Another lesson to take from this article? The rich pay far more taxes in this country than people think they do – why do you suppose that is?
October 11, 2008 - 12:46 AM on October 11th, 2008
Jobama are liberal democrats. The only thing they have in common with Republicans is that they both want to give the Republican’s money to charity.
Here’s a way to put the holier than thou big government welfare programs types in their place. Ask them if they realized that class envy is immoral. How else would you describe an action that violates the commandment about not coveting your neighbor’s possessions?
October 11, 2008 - 04:11 AM on October 11th, 2008
Hi Lisa,
First of all, I’m a conservative who believes in a flat tax of 10%. But it drives me nuts how conservatives constantly use the percentage of all federal income taxes paid by the wealthy to argue that they pay too much. It is a nonsensical argument because it doesn’t account for the percentage of their VERY LARGE incomes that they pay in taxes. To use your examples above:
The top 5% – or those making more than $153,000 – pay 60% of all federal income taxes.
The top 1% – or those making more than $333,000 – pay 40% of all federal income taxes.
But if the top 1% is making so much money that 40% of all federal income taxes represents only 11% of their incomes (as was reported of Theresa Heinz Kerry in 2004), then someone like me who barely makes it into the top 5% of income earners is paying a GREATER PERCENTAGE OF MY INCOME THAN SOME WEALTHY PEOPLE LIKE THERESA HEINZ KERRY.
Now, I know that on average the wealthy are paying a higher percentage of their income in taxes than Kerry paid in 2003, but using the percentage of all federal income taxes that they pay, without accounting for the percentage of their income that they pay, is a bogus argument. I can’t believe how often I see conservatives using it.
October 12, 2008 - 10:30 AM on October 12th, 2008
We should make wealthy liberal demacrats pay 70% taxes look at the many wealthy demacrats THE KENNEDYS,AL GORE,JOHN EDWARDS and many others they should pay a tax as well
October 12, 2008 - 09:46 PM on October 12th, 2008
Michael the problem with all of this is the fact that REALLY wealthy people are WEALTHY, they aren’t necessarily EARNING much, they just have A LOT. We tax INCOME, not WEALTH. A person with a HUGE percentage of stock in a company that receives a lot of dividends may not have any “EARNED” income. Income taxes are primarily on wages earned, dividends and capital gains are an entirely different story. I would guess that Theresa Heinz Kerry doesn’t make a dime from work, but collects a fortune in capital gains from her late husband’s estate. That’s another thing people don’t seem to take into account is trust funds. Does Teddy Kennedy live like someone who only made $175,000 last year? No. WHY? Because his father put EVERYTHING he owned into a living trust so that his heirs would never have to pay a dime in estate taxes, or income taxes on the trust funds earnings. Who’s one of the biggest proponents of a 50%+ estate tax on estates worth over $1 million? Why Teddy Kennedy of course. It doesn’t matter that his father’s estate is worth over $100 million, he’s not going to have to pay a dime because it’s all tied up in a living trust that he’ll make absolutely certain never has to pay an estate tax.
October 13, 2008 - 04:33 AM on October 13th, 2008
Snowy you’ve got an idea there and I agree. Since Liberals apparently LOVE income taxes so much, and are always blathering about how “we” should pay more, I say there should be a box on the 1040 form for them to check identifying themselves as Liberals. Then a formula will be applied that will raise their tax liability by some appropriate amount, say 20%.