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> The rich pay few taxes and the international rich pay even less The rich pay almost all tax.

shagie 10y ago
The chart depicted in xkcd https://xkcd.com/980/ https://xkcd.com/980/ doesn't seem to agree with this. http://taxfoundation.org/article/summary-latest-federal-income-tax-data-2015-update http://taxfoundation.org/article/summary-latest-federal-inco... Shows the top 50% paying nearly all the taxes. That is a far cry from the rich.
- robotresearcher 10y ago
  The data you link to shows that the top 5% income people pay 58.55% of all taxes, while the the top 50% pay 97.22%, as you indicated. So as a simple-language summary we might all agree that the rich pay a majority of the taxes, while the richer half of the country pays nearly all the taxes.
  - shagie 10y ago
    The richer half of the country _own_ 97.5% of the wealth. ( http://www.businessinsider.com/15-charts-about-wealth-and-inequality-in-america-2010-4?op=1 http://www.businessinsider.com/15-charts-about-wealth-and-in... ). It is hard to not pay nearly all of the taxes in that situation. Note that the "richer half" starts at the median income. For the US, the median income is about $52k. That isn't particularly wealthy. When the bar for "nearly all the wealth" is set at that point, it is not surprising at all.
    - Chris2048 10y ago
      Just 'wealth' take into account the value of the commons? Or just private resources?
mysterypie 10y ago
A humorous way to express the same idea is that the non-rich are actually sponging off the rich: "The average American household of 2.64 people receives almost $13,000 worth of federal benefits, services, and protection per annum. These people would have to have a family income of $53,700 to pay as much in taxes as they get in goodies... Only 4.8 percent of the population -- 12,228,000 people -- file income tax returns showing more than $50,000 in adjusted gross income. Ninety-five percent of Americans are on the mooch." -- P. J. O'Rourke [1] [1] https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1555847153 https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1555847153

The chart depicted in xkcd https://xkcd.com/980/ https://xkcd.com/980/ doesn't seem to agree with this. http://taxfoundation.org/article/summary-latest-federal-income-tax-data-2015-update http://taxfoundation.org/article/summary-latest-federal-inco... Shows the top 50% paying nearly all the taxes. That is a far cry from the rich.

robotresearcher 10y ago
The data you link to shows that the top 5% income people pay 58.55% of all taxes, while the the top 50% pay 97.22%, as you indicated. So as a simple-language summary we might all agree that the rich pay a majority of the taxes, while the richer half of the country pays nearly all the taxes.
- shagie 10y ago
  The richer half of the country _own_ 97.5% of the wealth. ( http://www.businessinsider.com/15-charts-about-wealth-and-inequality-in-america-2010-4?op=1 http://www.businessinsider.com/15-charts-about-wealth-and-in... ). It is hard to not pay nearly all of the taxes in that situation. Note that the "richer half" starts at the median income. For the US, the median income is about $52k. That isn't particularly wealthy. When the bar for "nearly all the wealth" is set at that point, it is not surprising at all.
  - Chris2048 10y ago
    Just 'wealth' take into account the value of the commons? Or just private resources?

mysterypie 10y ago

A humorous way to express the same idea is that the non-rich are actually sponging off the rich: "The average American household of 2.64 people receives almost $13,000 worth of federal benefits, services, and protection per annum. These people would have to have a family income of $53,700 to pay as much in taxes as they get in goodies... Only 4.8 percent of the population -- 12,228,000 people -- file income tax returns showing more than $50,000 in adjusted gross income. Ninety-five percent of Americans are on the mooch." -- P. J. O'Rourke [1] [1] https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1555847153 https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1555847153