3 ms·

The percentage of income paid in taxes by the poor is about 34% (ignoring state and city taxes which can easily bump the total above 40% alone). Sales tax is e

by emmett 18y ago

The percentage of income paid in taxes by the poor is about 34% (ignoring state and city taxes which can easily bump the total above 40% alone). Sales tax is equivalent to income tax for a poor person (albiet at a discount rate given that their rent, and in some cases food, is not taxed). Sales tax is not the equivalent for a rich person, who can save the bulk of their income. Therefore it is fair and not misleading to include sales tax as an additional part of income taxes for the poor. And it's correct to say that poor people pay more than the rich in taxes. Because of the way the tax system is structured, someone making around 100k a year is taxed most heavily, then less and less in either direction away from that point.

nazgulnarsil 18y ago
no. the poor pay about 10-15% in income tax, then about 7-9% in sales taxes.
- akeefer 18y ago
  Doesn't your 10-15% ignore social security and medicare taxes?
- emmett 18y ago
  Social security is 15% of a poor person's income alone. Medicare is another 6%. At 30k/year, you additionally pay 13% federal income tax. That means that the amount of money from your paycheck going to the federal government totals 34%. A poor person making $30k/year is paying 34% of their income to the federal government, before any other taxes. It's not all officially named "income tax", but it's paid as a percentage of income which meets the definition of an income tax. (http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aincome+tax&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aincome+tax&ie=ut...)
  - eds 18y ago
    Where are your numbers coming from? The employee's social security tax is 6.2%, and medicare is 1.45%. You can argue that the employee indirectly pays the employer's portion as well, but you specifically said that 15% comes "from your paycheck," which is wrong. For the record, I think even my numbers are unconscionably high.
    - emmett 18y ago
      Unless you don't believe that wages are set by the market, the employer's portion definitely comes from your paycheck. If you dropped the social security tax on the employer side, wages would rise (the employer doesn't care whether the money goes to the government or the employee). It's effectively an income tax. The accounting is slightly different, but that's just the name we give it. You can see another example of this in that the self-employed pay the full tax - in the limit of one person, the lack of a distinction becomes obvious. http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/taxRates.html http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/taxRates.html
  - deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]

by emmett 18y ago

nazgulnarsil 18y ago

no. the poor pay about 10-15% in income tax, then about 7-9% in sales taxes.

akeefer 18y ago
Doesn't your 10-15% ignore social security and medicare taxes?
emmett 18y ago
Social security is 15% of a poor person's income alone. Medicare is another 6%. At 30k/year, you additionally pay 13% federal income tax. That means that the amount of money from your paycheck going to the federal government totals 34%. A poor person making $30k/year is paying 34% of their income to the federal government, before any other taxes. It's not all officially named "income tax", but it's paid as a percentage of income which meets the definition of an income tax. (http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aincome+tax&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aincome+tax&ie=ut...)
- eds 18y ago
  Where are your numbers coming from? The employee's social security tax is 6.2%, and medicare is 1.45%. You can argue that the employee indirectly pays the employer's portion as well, but you specifically said that 15% comes "from your paycheck," which is wrong. For the record, I think even my numbers are unconscionably high.
  - emmett 18y ago
    Unless you don't believe that wages are set by the market, the employer's portion definitely comes from your paycheck. If you dropped the social security tax on the employer side, wages would rise (the employer doesn't care whether the money goes to the government or the employee). It's effectively an income tax. The accounting is slightly different, but that's just the name we give it. You can see another example of this in that the self-employed pay the full tax - in the limit of one person, the lack of a distinction becomes obvious. http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/taxRates.html http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/taxRates.html
- deleted 18y ago
  [deleted]