CBO:Top 40% Paid 106.2% of Income Taxes; Bottom 40% Paid -9.1%

cnsnews.com...

The top 40 percent of households by before-tax income actually paid 106.2 percent of the nation’s net income taxes in 2010, according to a new study by the Congressional Budget Office.

At the same time, households in the bottom 40 percent took in an average of $18,950 in what the CBO called “government transfers” in 2010.

Taxpayers in the top 40 percent of households were able to pay more than 100 percent of net federal income taxes in 2010 because Americans in the bottom 40 percent actually paid negative income taxes

Every now and then an article appears which should elicit furious anger and frustration from the majority of Americans. If there is a silver lining to this article, it is found in the fact that it justifies the anger a lot of us in the middle class and up have been feeling... you know, that anger that gets called "greed" by complete asshats in the media and in politics? That anger that gets dismissed so quickly by the lower intelligence spectrum of society by being intentionally mislabeled as "hatred" towards the have nots? That anger that would be universally accepted if not for semantics which make this theft something other than blatent thievery?

Romney was right (not that I haven't said this all along, but it's great to have some statistical facts to back it up suddenly)... he lost the election largely because of the 40% of Americans who wouldn't vote against their Meal Ticket. (Well, in actuality those of us who sit in the "Top" 40% are their Meal Ticket... the politicians who have made it so are little more than caffeteria hash slingers, dishing out the fruits of our labor to whomever they choose in exchange for that all important vote.) I'd like to see Harry Reid show this CBO report to everyone in the 40% and then tell them how he's sure they all know they're not being taxed enough and want the government to tax them more... condescending douche that he is.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


I can't help but wonder what the mega wealthy had to actually pay though, percentage wise....the same? i'm really asking.......very carefully seeing as how you are angry. which is understandable.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


With maths like that, no wonder your country is fubarred.

solongandgoodnight
reply to post by burdman30ott6

 

I can't help but wonder what the mega wealthy had to actually pay though, percentage wise....the same? i'm really asking.

I do not know the answer to that, but it definitely isn't the same... the bottom 40% RECIEVED an average of $18,950 FROM the government while the top 20% PAID 92.9% of all Federally collected taxes. Recieving is always going to come out on top of paying as far as the math goes.

I'm angry because I am forced to budget my family tightly to afford to pay for a bunch of other folks' tax payer subsidized leeching lifestyle. I'm aghast at the level of economic parasitism this government has created.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


Rather than getting mad at those who don't have enough money to live on, even though they work, and in most cases work damn hard for their minimum wage, get mad at the corporations who pay pennies so some stock holder who never worked a day in his life gets mega rich...
The reason they don't pay tax is because of the pathetically poor wages they earn, if they were paid a decent wage they would pay tax, instead share holders take home vast dividends because they know that you, yes you the tax payer will supplement their piss poor wage structure...
It's not until the likes of you finally wake up and see what is happening that this problem will be solved, instead you moan about unfortunate people who cannot do anything but suffer, work damn hard and still have to beg for a handout just to feed their kids, they are not lazy, just manipulated by a corrupt and unjust system, and until you grasp that it is only going to get worse...

reply to post by PrinceDreamer


Read Atlas Shrugged someday, friend. The time is closer than the "blame the corporations" parrots dare to realize.

106.2 + 9.1= 115.3 115.3 %??? WTF? Very sloppy propaganda.

I don't pay income tax here in the UK due to not earning enough despite working a full time job, I don't claim for anything from the government but I do a good moral hard job 99% of people just will not do.
Am I a waste to society also?

according to a new study by the Congressional Budget Office

Does ATS still allow the Congressional Budget Office as a reliable source?

I barely pay crap I completely understand that, but try explaining to another low income worker that. They have us so brainwashed that we have the short end of the stick, and it's all those mean nasty rich people who've done it to us.

I would so vote for the fair tax plan! It would put more money in my hands, allow employers to pay higher wages, and stop double taxing and even triple taxing.

But OH NO, that can't happen because then I couldn't get a 3 to 6 thousand dollar check at the end of the year!

I hate stupid people.

reply to post by PrinceDreamer


Yes, but even this is more complex than you realize.

When it comes to corporations, whether or not you pay or are paid to play depends on if you are a crony of the people in power. You might be like GE which actually made money at tax time thanks to its cronyist deals or you might be like another industry that gets hosed because it's not one of the "in" kiddies.

Understand that when it comes right down to it, America does have the highest corporate tax rate in the civilized world.

The problem is that our tax is the most progressive one out there. The most you "succeed," the more they punish you for it by taking more from in the form of taxes.

My husband works very hard, but because of his salary, he actually doesn't start earning money that will go to pay our bills and support our family until late Tuesday into Wednesday sometime, and that's with a mostly 10-hour work day.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


With all due respect;

Are you really that surprised? Wealth redistribution, social justice, punishing success, is all the mainstay of this administration.

If you are so upset about it the answer is really quite simple. This next year refuse to file.

Instead give the IRS power of attorney to file on your behalf. Send the IRS a letter clearly explaining that you are not filing tax forms as they violate your Fifth Amendment rights. This is due to requiring you to sign the tax forms Under Penalty of Perjury and that you simply can not do that.

State that you are unable to keep up with the US tax code and an average of 3000 new tax laws a year and as such you do not feel qualified to prepare the forms.

Nor do you wish to waive your Fifth Amendment rights signing off on the work done by a "preparer" as you can not be certain that they are abreast of the 3000 new tax laws either.
Tell the IRS you are NOT refusing to pay taxes. Simply that you are not prepared to waive your rights.

One of two things will happen.
1. You will never hear from them again
2. You will receive a bill. Should you receive a bill and have a bunch of deductions, you can submit those deductions with your check filled out for the amended amount.

I once beat a State Tax Audit by claiming all my business records were destroyed and that I could not provide them with much of anything. I would however be willing to pay a bill should they wish to prepare it. I technically owed them about 15k. It is not my fault they did not feel like taking the time.

I repeat and I repeat this loudly: Not paying taxes is illegal! Not filing? well that is another story and defensible. The Fifth Amendment clearly states that the US Government can not force you to provide any document that can be used against you in a Court of Law.

Want a bloodless rebellion? Want to make a real change? Imagine if 20% of Americans did that! The IRS would have no choice but to enact an easier to understand flat tax.

It's too complex to blame any one group. Everyone is doing as their programming tells them is best. Partially genetic variation, partially cultural/political/social programming.

Strategies differ from the top and the bottom, but the end result is the same.

The system is broke.

Setting the stage for conditions which exist, in that the poor must beg for basic necessities. Keep that going on for long enough, and there will certainly be those who exploit the safety net.

Corporations maximizing profits for shareholders, of which are mostly the top 20%, takes away from society in general. I wonder how many in that top 20% who pay high taxes are offset by their increases in stocks?

Creating pro-social corporate policies is not something to brush off. It's vital to putting our society on a more sustainable path.

Atlas shrugged suggests that regulating corporations leads to the vanishing of the economy... corporations jump ship to other countries where there's less interference by governments who might have social and environmental concerns. Fine, be gone psycho corporations. We don't want you.

You change the policies, and you'll rejuvenate the entrepreneurial spirit.

Having "too big to fail" corporations who are too friggin psycho and powerful to allow competition, surely offsets the benefits of keeping them around.

boymonkey74
I don't pay income tax here in the UK due to not earning enough despite working a full time job, I don't claim for anything from the government but I do a good moral hard job 99% of people just will not do.

Emphasis in quote above is mine...

Am I a waste to society also?

I'd say no based on the above...

reply to post by burdman30ott6


I could do though, I could claim just short of 2k income Tax credits.
I may have to If I want to pay my rent in Feb.

reply to post by webedoomed


I don't think anyone I know says there shouldn't be some common sense regulation, but we've gone way overboard into the realms of punitive in a lot of places.

Trust me. I wish at times like these my husband would join just to post on this. He works, admittedly for a corporation, but he works in quality control and deals a lot with regulatory. It's his job to know the regulations for all the various US agencies as well the regulations for the various markets they sell to: EU, China, Japan, several South American countries, Middle East, etc. He can tell you some stories about the endemic stupidity.

And yes, some of it does come from businesses wanting to make sure there are no smaller competitors coming up through the ranks.

But there is a great deal of spillover from all sorts of special interests and it all adds up.

beezzer
With all due respect;

Are you really that surprised? Wealth redistribution, social justice, punishing success, is all the mainstay of this administration.

No, not surprised at all. Everyone in the middle class was well aware of this farce already. It's just surprising to see the CBO lay it out in black and white.

solongandgoodnight
reply to post by burdman30ott6

 

I can't help but wonder what the mega wealthy had to actually pay though, percentage wise....the same? i'm really asking.......very carefully seeing as how you are angry. which is understandable.

here's a little on that..

According to new IRS data, the 1.35 million taxpayers that represent the highest-earning one percent of the Americans who filed federal income tax returns in 2010 earned 18.9% of the total gross income and paid 37.4% of all federal income taxes paid in that year.

In contrast, the 128.3 million taxpayers in the bottom 95% of all U.S. taxpayers in 2010 earned 66.2% of gross income and that group paid 40.9% of all taxes paid.

In other words, the top 1 percent (1.35 million) of American taxpayers paid almost as much federal income tax in 2010 ($354.8 billion) as the entire bottom 95% of American tax filers ($388.4 billion), see chart above. And it’s that group of top income earners (with income above $221,000 in 2010 to be in the top one percent), that Obama and the Democrats want to tax even more.

Further, there were more than 58 million Americans in 2010 who had tax returns with a zero or negative tax liability, so about half of the bottom 95% of American “taxpayers” paid nothing or got a tax refund.

The top 1% of US taxpayers pay almost as much in federal income taxes as the entire bottom 95%, and half of that bottom group paid no taxes at all in 2010