The bottom 45% of income earners pay exactly 0 federal income tax. Zero. Zilch. And for our illegal friends, nada.
That kind of pisses me off.
Here we have the Demagogue-in-Chief going around telling everybody that the rich don’t pay their fair share and they are successful on the backs of the poor.
Except this is a bald-faced lie.
The top 5% of income earners pay 59% of all federal income taxes. Look at this from the National Taxpayers Union:
So, what the hell is Obama talking about?
I have no idea.
Either he actually believes that the top 5% should pay MORE than 59% of income taxes, in which case he is at at best a full-on socialist. Or he knows that the top income earners are already getting soaked, but claims they’re not paying their fair share, which makes him a liar.
So the leftists promise people a bunch of stuff. Programs, food stamps, housing, cash for clunkers, and on and on. Then, they heap the income taxes on top earners, while removing low income workers from the tax roles.
The result?
Nearly 50% of the people vote and have no stake in the game.
Maybe people would be less likely to want government programs if they actually had to pay for them?
Do you think people who pay nothing in income tax should be allowed to vote?
Thanks for illustrating this point nicely, Harry. I just don’t understand how the left can justify the top 50 percent of earner paying almost 98 percent of taxes as “fair”. But the demagoguery is what really gets me. Case in point: Warren Buffett. This guy is the perfect example of the left’s favorite cherry picking technique. He props himself up as the quintessential example of the super-wealthy billionaire that pays little or no income tax. But if you’re smart enough to get past the empty rhetoric, here’s what you will really find. What Buffet is referring to is not his income tax rate, it’s the capital gain’s tax paid on the income earned form (long term) securities trading. Since that is where the vast majority of his income is derived, that forms the basis of his argument. However, there are few key points to consider: 1) The low tax rate he is referring to applies only to long term gains. Any earning derived from short term gains are taxed at twice that rate. 2) For most people in the US, even the top 1% earners don’t derive the majority of their earnings solely from capital gains. Most people earnings are a mix of salary, bonuses and investments. So at the end of the day, Buffet does not represent the top 1%, only a fraction of the 1% – that is, the top earners in the US whose income is derived mostly from the stock market. 3) Raising the capital gains tax rate would adversely affect millions of hard working Americans most of which are not the top 1% of earners. Is this a fair tactic for the purposes of simply punishing the fraction if the 1%? 4) Many of the people who complain about the supposedly low tax rate of the rich are either a) part of the lower 50 percent that pay no taxes at all. If that’s the case, what are they complaining about in the first place? b) they are part of the 1% who pretend that they are not (insert “Michael Moore” here) or c) are part of the 1% who don’t pay their taxes (insert long list of Hollywood liberals here.)
The current Income Tax system has been falling apart for years.
Even CPA’s and tax preparers do not understand the Income Tax system, as evidenced by the different answers you get to the same questions about how to report various income transactions.
Just look at the enormous amount of tax court cases where people pay money to argue with their government over what is deductible, what is not deductible, what can be carried forward, what can be carried back, what are the facts and circumstances surrounding the income and/or deductions, etc. etc.
If this 75,000 page income tax code was clear and understandable, there would be very little arguments over much of anything!
So instead of people spending their time making money, they end up spending time and money figuring out how to comply with the government’s bookkeeping requirements, which change every single year!
The current Income Tax system is a horrid mess and hurts everyone.
Well said, Scott. I can tell you first hand, as a small business owner, that the tax system is a disaster. My wife and I spend hours and hours, not to mention the cost of our accountants, working on our taxes every year.
What’s funny (well, not funny) is that the same clowns that go around demagoguing the issue are the ones who wrote the 75,000 pages in the first place!
Here’s a radical idea: How about everyone pays 5% of their earned income?
If you asked one of our founders if they thought that to be fair, what do you think they’d have said?
As always, Andy, you make a great case. We often talk about demagoguery here…and you hit the nail on the head. Make me wonder… do you think people fall for it? How much of the time?
Clearly in the 2008 election, people fell for it. I mean, Obama told us exactly what he was going to do and people voted for him anyway.
Today, Obama put out this ridiculous budget. He claims $4 Trillion in debt reduction in 10 years. But Jeff Sessions, the Chairman of the Budget Committee was on Fox this morning saying that in 10 years, we’ll add another $11 trillion onto the debt to top out at an estimated $26 Trillion.
So…is Obama lying?
Of course he is. He’s calling the reduction in growth “savings.”
Liar.
This from the guy who put on $5 Trillion in debt in 3 years.
Anyway…I digress. (I get so mad at this stuff!)
The point is, that these politicians tell bald-faced lies, so brazenly that I think a good number of people believe it.
Bolstered by the demagogues in Hollywood that you mention, Andy, and people end up voting themselves into subjugation.
Sigh……