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"The news is that $2.78 million of that income came in the form of tax- exempt interest from what the Kerry campaign's press release attributed to investments in 'state, municipal and public entity bonds.' What the campaign didn't say is that these are the kind of investments that rich people can afford to hire lawyers and accountants to steer their money into."
On her "remaining 'taxable' income of $2.29 million, Mrs. Kerry paid $627,150 in taxes, for an overall average federal tax rate of only 12.4% on her $5.07 million in total income." This "puts Mrs. Kerry's tax rate at well below that of other filers in her super-rich neighborhood. But it also means she is paying a lower average rate than nearly all middle- class taxpayers paid in 2001, the last year for which the IRS has published the data.
The top 50% of all federal filers contributed 96.1% of all federal income taxes in 2001, and they paid an average income-tax rate of 15.9%. That's 3.5-percentage points more than Mrs. Kerry paid in 2003." At the "very least, Mrs. Kerry's tax returns are a screaming illustration of the need for reform to make the tax code simpler and fairer. But they also show that Senator Kerry's proposed tax increases are much more about a revenue grab than they are about tax justice."
Originally posted by Jemison
They are not for the middle class. They are for themselves.
Jemison
Isn't more a problem of the system, than one person's attempt to reduce their overall taxes? If the loophole exists, you honestly think people won't take advantage of it? The problem is not how "rich people" find ways to avoid paying taxes on a portion of their income, it's the fact that they can.
Originally posted by Jemison I realize that the wealthy have various ways of investing so that they don't have to pay outrageous taxes, but at the same time, she is NOT paying her fair share. Does this make anyone else irate?
THK -- or more accurately, her tax attorneys -- followed the IRS code and paid every dime she was required to by law...and now she's a bad person because she didn't deliberately *overpay*? That's completely ridiculous.