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> The fact is that -- at least percentagewise -- the rich tend to be taxed far less than the middle class... If you're talking about Federal income taxes, that
by twoodfin 14y ago
> The fact is that -- at least percentagewise -- the rich tend to be taxed far less than the middle class...
If you're talking about Federal income taxes, that isn't true. Marginal rates for the middle class can exceed 15% (a married couple would have to earn ~$80K jointly before that happened), but the effective income tax rate for the median household is much lower than, say, Mitt Romney's.[1]
Payroll taxes make this a closer run thing, but that's another story, and the trend since the Medicare reforms of the '90's (removing the FICA tax cap) and the ACA today (higher FICA tax on high income, new cap gains tax) has been to push the costs of broad social welfare programs onto high earners.
[1] http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3151 http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3151
- jamesaguilar 14y agoThe other thing to observe is that very few people who are making a mid-lot of money ($200k-$1m) are paying as low of an effective rate as Romney is.
- loup-vaillant 14y agoNo, he's talking about total effective taxes in France. That includes things such as VAT. Basically, the lower classes pay around 40% taxes (compared to their income). The middle class pay around 50%. Rich people pay around 30%, and the riches pay even much less (percentage wise). Apparently, wealthy people are better at exploiting loopholes in our tax system.
- twoodfin 14y agoThat the VAT taxes consumption, something the rich do proportionally less of, is not a "loophole". It's fundamental to the design of the tax.
- loup-vaillant 14y agoGood point. It doesn't explain everything however: The top 2% (or is it 0.2%?) pay less than 10% taxes. Direct income tax alone is supposed to approach 50% for those incomes.