OK, this requires a bit of study on your part. Read the numbers below and then re-read them.
Percentiles Ranked by AGI
Percentage of Federal Personal Income Tax Paid
Percentile % of taxes paid
Top 1% 39.38%
Top 5% 59.67%
Top 10% 70.30%
Top 25% 85.99%
Top 50% 96.93%
Bottom 50% 3.07
Note: AGI is Adjusted Gross IncomeSource: Internal Revenue Service
For Tax Year 2004 (the most current year with statistics published)
Got it? What did you read? One of the most popular mantras of the left is "tax the rich". Since almost no one thinks of themselves as rich, this statement is rarely found offensive or challenged. When talking about an income tax, it is only natural that those with income pay the tax. But in the U.S. (as in most of the developed world) the "rich" pay a very large percentage of the total taxes. If you paid attention to the above you will see how big this disparity is. The top 1% pays just shy of 40% of ALL INCOME TAXES COLLECTED! The top 10% pay over 70%! The next time you hear someone mention that something about taxing the rich, you might want to tell them WE DO!
The other side of taxes that I wanted to make sure you were aware of is the collection of taxes, expecially in light of one of the other tax lies told by the left about the tax cuts. The income tax revenue collected has INCREASED almost 10% a year since 2004. And for the first three quarters of this year revenues are up even more. The garbage about the tax "cuts" being a problem with revenue collections is an outright lie. As I said, the IRS has reported record income tax collections. The real problem with the deficit has been spending. Federal spending has increased even faster than revenues. But that is the fodder for another blog. The tax "cuts" have increased tax revenues (and it has every other time it has been done!). So, when you hear a politician talking about needing to repeal Bush's tax cuts to balance the budget or whatever; just remember that is a load of B.S. What needs to be done is to reduce spending.
I was going to do a lighter post. I really did not intend this to always be so darn serious, but these topics are what has been on my mind lately. Later.
You may get this more if you read (or re-read) these older posts: "A Serious One" from 4/6/08 "Alphabet diseases" from 11/13/07 and "Questions" from 1/20/08 I am still trying to get answers to the Questions asked in the post above. I have not found any that are worthy of printing. I have come up with more questions: How does one handle seeing the continual decline of their spouse and not being able to do a thing about it? How do you take the inability of your 53 year old wife to get out of bed, or in and out of the shower unaided? How do you answer questions that beg not to be asked, like: will I see Bailey (our daughter, a rising senior)graduate; will Hannah (our granddaughter - almost 3) remember me; or will I see Landon (or grandson - 6 months) walk? How do you comfort your bride of 35+ years when she looks at you with tears streaming down her face? Most of all, how do you offer support and help when you are so damn mad at the world and the situa...
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