Nothing in Common
An Xpatriated Texan now living in NJ asks, “What do Dick Cheney, George Bush, and I have in common?” I’m guessing it’s not a full-time job, taxes paid or charitable contributions.
President and Mrs. Bush contributed $78,100 to charities in 2006. This is almost as much as Xpatriated’s wife earned. Vice President Cheney and his wife donated $104,425 to charity, resulting in a $51,463 tax overpayment for 2006. This tax overpayment is more than Xpatriated made. That means the Xpatriated family made about $130,000. It also means they paid at most $20,973 in federal income taxes, 16.13% of their gross income and 18.55% of their AGI. That’s assuming no deductions for state and local taxes, mortgage interest, children, and medical expenses.
Wanna bet he reduced his income taxes with some, if not all of those deductions? The Xpatriateds would have paid income taxes to one or more states. They own a home, which means they paid property taxes and probably mortgage interest. Xpatriated had four children and added twins to his family last year. Wanna bet he paid about 15% of his adjusted income in federal income taxes?
Xpatriated’s tax anecdote sheds little light on the distribution of the federal tax burden. His little story proves only one thing, he’s either a fabulist or he can’t “do the math’. The truth is that the vast majority of federal income taxes are paid by high-income earners. Studies of aggregate data show the “rich” are paying a greater share of federal income taxes now than in 2000.
A reasonable case can be made that the “rich” are paying more than their fair share. Households earning in the top 10 percent pay 70 percent of federal income taxes. One-third of income-earning households pay no federal income taxes and $1 trillion is redistributed to the bottom 60 percent. When is enough, enough?
The federal budget deficit is actually shrinking and much faster than projected because federal tax receipts are increasing faster than spending. We’d be in surplus if guys like Xpatriated stopped demanding subsidies from taxpayers. If he got himself a full-time job he’d have more resources to support his family and he’d pay more in taxes. It’d be a win-win. But he’d rather spend his time spreading moonbattery.
Yea, I see a few problems. Xpatriated is comparing his tax rate – 25% - to the percent of income the President and Vice President paid in taxes. The tax rate for Bush and Cheney was 35% . Under the worse case scenario the Xpatriateds paid 18.55 % of their income in federal income taxes.Give up?
Here’s a clue:
If you do the math, the President had an effective tax rate of 24.3%. The Cheney’s tax rate was slightly higher - 25.8%. My wife and I hit the 25% tax bracket this year.See any problems?
Cheney overpaid his taxes by more than I make, and he paid almost the same tax rate that I did. The President donated almost as much as my wife makes and he pays, actually, a lower rate than we do.
Sorry, but when this is true, the false protest that the rich pay too much is just hollow.
Gee. I wonder how we ended up with a budge deficit.
President and Mrs. Bush contributed $78,100 to charities in 2006. This is almost as much as Xpatriated’s wife earned. Vice President Cheney and his wife donated $104,425 to charity, resulting in a $51,463 tax overpayment for 2006. This tax overpayment is more than Xpatriated made. That means the Xpatriated family made about $130,000. It also means they paid at most $20,973 in federal income taxes, 16.13% of their gross income and 18.55% of their AGI. That’s assuming no deductions for state and local taxes, mortgage interest, children, and medical expenses.
Wanna bet he reduced his income taxes with some, if not all of those deductions? The Xpatriateds would have paid income taxes to one or more states. They own a home, which means they paid property taxes and probably mortgage interest. Xpatriated had four children and added twins to his family last year. Wanna bet he paid about 15% of his adjusted income in federal income taxes?
Xpatriated’s tax anecdote sheds little light on the distribution of the federal tax burden. His little story proves only one thing, he’s either a fabulist or he can’t “do the math’. The truth is that the vast majority of federal income taxes are paid by high-income earners. Studies of aggregate data show the “rich” are paying a greater share of federal income taxes now than in 2000.
A reasonable case can be made that the “rich” are paying more than their fair share. Households earning in the top 10 percent pay 70 percent of federal income taxes. One-third of income-earning households pay no federal income taxes and $1 trillion is redistributed to the bottom 60 percent. When is enough, enough?
The federal budget deficit is actually shrinking and much faster than projected because federal tax receipts are increasing faster than spending. We’d be in surplus if guys like Xpatriated stopped demanding subsidies from taxpayers. If he got himself a full-time job he’d have more resources to support his family and he’d pay more in taxes. It’d be a win-win. But he’d rather spend his time spreading moonbattery.
Labels: Taxes, Thurman Hart, XpatriatedTexan
