Ask yourself: Which Americans pay the most taxes?
Posted on June 4, 2008
Filed Under Tax Rebate | 1 Comment
At this time of year I find myself flat broke after paying taxes. Now that my wallet is empty, I must go back to work to fill it up again for next April’s fleecing. It is a good time of year to ask: Who pays the most in taxes, the wealthy or the rest of us?
Did George W. Bush’s tax cuts help the middle-class American taxpayer?
The richest 1 percent of Americans received about $491 billion in tax breaks between 2001 and 2008. I suspect most of us didn’t see anywhere near this kind of break.
According to Holly Sklar of the New York Times, “Tax cuts have helped the richest 1 percent–whose annual incomes average about $1.5 million–to increase their share of the nation’s income to a higher level than any year since 1928 on the eve of the Great Depression.”
Then who pays the most in taxes as a percentage of income? The answer lies in how wealth is distributed in our country.
In 2007, Forbes reported 946 billionaires in the United States, up from 793 billionaires in 2006. Due to tax shelters and offshore accounting, billionaires don’t pay taxes the way we pay taxes. CEOs of major corporations are making more in one hour than the average worker makes for a full year of work.
Of all Americans, the top 1 percent holds 47 percent of all the wealth; the next 9 percent holds less than a third of the total. The rest of us, 90 percent of the population, own the rest, whatever manages to “trickle down.” Another way of looking at this: The top 1 percent owns more wealth than the combined wealth of the bottom 95 percent.
So, who pays the most in taxes? Since the 2001 tax cuts, the top 1 percent received the largest tax cut.
Who picked up the slack? Answer: the middle class; those making between $34,400 a year and $97,400 a year are paying much more in taxes. For example, part of the tax burden has shifted from the rich to the middle class in the form of increased property taxes – in addition to increased state, county, local and some federal taxes – to pay for essential services that suffered from cuts in federal grants to the states.
For Americans living below the wealthiest top 1 percent, the Bush tax cuts have been a giant swindle.
What do corporations pay in taxes? Many multi-national corporations, such as Halliburton, have shifted their central offices out of the United States to avoid paying federal taxes. Halliburton moved to Dubai in the Persian Gulf.
Another large corporation, Exxon-Mobil, has had a very profitable seven years. Since George W. Bush took office, the cost of a barrel of oil has gone from around $30 to over $120 a barrel. Exxon-Mobil recently reported a profit of over $45 billion. What Exxon-Mobil does not tell us: A significant percentage of taxes paid by Exxon-Mobil are collected at the pump when consumers fill up their tanks. So, if you hear corporations whine about how much they’re paying in taxes, remember the examples of Exxon-Mobil and Halliburton in which you, the middle-class consumer, are paying for their share of the tax burden.
So, who pays the most taxes? If the Bush tax policy were made permanent, the richest 1 percent of Americans would receive nearly $1.2 trillion in tax cuts from 2009 through 2018, reports the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Consider this during the presidential campaign and vote for the candidate who will end tax cuts for the wealthy and end what amounts to corporate welfare.
C. Marcus Parr is a Sandy resident.
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[...] Auto Loan Tips wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt By C. Marcus Parr, Jun 4, 2008 At this time of year I find myself flat broke after paying taxes. Now that my wallet is empty, I must go back to work to fill it up again for next April’s fleecing. It is a good time of year to ask: Who pays the most in taxes, the wealthy or the rest of us? Did George W. Bush’s tax cuts help the middle-class American taxpayer? The richest 1 percent of Americans received about $491 billion in tax breaks between 2001 and 2008. I suspect most of us didn’t see anyw [...]