Tucker's tax fraud
April 27, 2009 1:27 pm ET by Jamison Foser
Tucker Carlson, in a Washington Post online discussion today: "I don't think it's a choice between the tax current system, which isn't simply progressive but wildly skewed against the rich, and Mexican plutocracy. As of today, before Obama's tax increases on the upper income, the top one-percent of earners pay about as much in income taxes as the bottom 90 percent of earners. So next time you see a rich person, thank him for keeping the country afloat."
Now, the Washington Post lets Carlson say pretty much anything he wants in these things, so he didn't have to support his claim that the current tax system is "wildly skewed against the rich," which is a good thing for him, because he can't*.
According to Citizens for Tax Justice, the top one percent pay 30.9 percent of their income in federal, state, and local taxes. The remaining 99 percent pay 29.8 percent of their income in taxes. The top one percent actually pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than the next 20 percent.
That doesn't sound like a system that "isn't simply progressive but wildly skewed against the rich," does it? In fact, it sounds more like a system that isn't progressive at all.
* No, Carlson's statement that "the top one-percent of earners pay about as much in income taxes as the bottom 90 percent of earners" does not support his contention that the tax system is "wildly skewed against the rich," for several reasons. First, it considers only federal income taxes. More importantly, looking at the amount of taxes paid without looking at the amount of income earned is worse than useless; it is deliberately misleading. It's like going out to dinner with a friend and ordering the Surf & Turf, then lashing out at your friend who ordered only the house salad because she wants you to pay 90 percent of the bill. Whenever anyone tells you the richest X percent of Americans pay Y percent of taxes, stop taking them seriously right there: they're trying to trick you.
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There's the good old GOP looking out for the rich guy again!
Tucker must have HATED when Reagan was president and the top wage earners paid 50% in Fed income taxes!! Look it up, it is true ...
I am having this fight with an associate of mine right now. For the last 2 weeks, since the tea parties, he's been trying to claim that the richest Americans pay too much in taxes. He paid about $100,000 in income taxes with his business income and his wife's income. He also paid close to $50,000 in property and school taxes, etc. That means that he had about $250,000 left from his gross $400,000 income to live on, and he thinks I should feel sorry for him.
He also tried to argue that the tax rate of the richest of the rich must have gone up, because those used to pay a smaller percentage of all the income taxes, and now that percentage has gone up.
I explained to him that it's because they have become so much more wealthy than the rest of us, that even though they are still the top 1%, they have a ton more money to tax, and that's why they now pay a larger percentage of the total income taxes paid! It's not that they have the same income but a higher tax rate - the tax rate on these people is lower than what it was 20 years ago during the Reagan administration, and much lower than it was 40 years ago in the 1960's. The only reason the rich are paying a higher percentage is because the wealth inequity has gotten greater and greater!
Rich people complaining about their taxes is one of my pet peeves. My parents always used to say that they'd LOVE to pay the taxes that rich people paid, and my parents were upper middle class after starting out life as a couple barely scrapping by.
So he pays about 36% to taxes? I don't make quite as much as him, but I too pay about 36% in taxes.
I am happy to do it and, frankly, feel that the adjustment up to 39% is more than necessary. We are getting close to dire straits financially in this country. And, if I need to sacrifice another 3% of my income (or another $8000 or so) to make things just a little bit easier in this tough time (mostly made by people I did NOT vote for) than as an American I am glad to do it. That, to me, is part of being a patriot. I will still be living like a king compared to most humans on this planet because I am lucky enough to be an American so in the grand scheme it is but a small sacrifice to pay.