[MediconStop]

Based on 2008 IRS income data.

Power Line - Where the Money Is

[Ikrleprl]

Based on 2008 IRS income data.

Power Line - Where the Money Is

Not a good chart.

Need to know how many filers there are in each category-inter alia.

[newpiknicker]

There needs to be a middle class tax credit for paying accountants and lawyers for hours to go over the Tax Code and find ways for the middle class to pay less taxes. If they can't find anything, then there needs to be tax credits for middle class lobbyists.

[wmzeto]

And yet if you add up all the segments from $500k and up, it would be very close to the $100-200k line ($1.1 trillion with conservative rounding). Throw in the $200-500k section and it'd be off the scale.

[pprropeciaaa]

Don't like posting and commenting here much anymore since it's become a bit too ideological and partisan but on the Middle Class theme of being the beast of the tax burden found this piece that provides some good insight. Johnston has been covering U.S. tax code as a beat writer for some time now. Won a Pulitzer Prize

For three decades we have conducted a massive economic experiment, testing a theory known as supply-side economics. The theory goes like this: Lower tax rates will encourage more investment, which in turn will mean more jobs and greater prosperity – so much so that tax revenues will go up, despite lower rates. The late Milton Friedman, the libertarian economist who wanted to shut down public parks because he considered them socialism, promoted this strategy. Ronald Reagan embraced Friedman’s ideas and made them into policy when he was elected president in 1980.

For the past decade, we have doubled down on this theory of supply-side economics with the tax cuts sponsored by President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003, which President Obama has agreed to continue for two years.

In 2008, the average income for the bottom half of taxpayers was $15,300. Millions of the poor do not make enough to owe income taxes, but pay federal payroll taxes, gas taxes, sales taxes, utility taxes and other taxes.

You would think that whether this grand experiment worked would be settled after three decades. You would think the practitioners of the dismal science of economics would look at their demand curves and the data on incomes and taxes and pronounce a verdict, the way Galileo and Copernicus did when they showed that geocentrism was a fantasy because Earth revolves around the sun (known as heliocentrism). But economics is not like that. It is not like physics with its laws and arithmetic with its absolute values.

Tax policy is something the Framers left to politics. And in politics, the facts often matter less than who has the biggest bullhorn.

The Mad Men who once ran campaigns featuring doctors extolling the health benefits of smoking are now busy marketing the dogma that tax cuts mean broad prosperity, no matter what the facts show.

As millions of Americans prepare to file their annual taxes, they do so in an environment of media-perpetuated tax myths. Here are a few points about taxes and the economy that you may not know, to consider as you file your taxes. (All figures are inflation adjusted.)

Tax Facts Hardly Anyone Knows | MontereyCountyWeekly.com

[VomsVomaMew]

Don't like posting and commenting here much anymore since it's become a bit too ideological and partisan but on the Middle Class theme of being the beast of the tax burden found this piece that provides some good insight. Johnston has been covering U.S. tax code as a beat writer for some time now. Won a Pulitzer Prize

I think the tax code needs to be reformed in a revenue neutral way to make it flatter, less complex, helpful for the working poor, and less burdensome for compliance. From there, we can figure out how to raise revenue from there. In other words, it has zero chance of being passed from Washington.

[SpeavaJap]

Don't like posting and commenting here much anymore since it's become a bit too ideological and partisan but on the Middle Class theme of being the beast of the tax burden found this piece that provides some good insight. Johnston has been covering U.S. tax code as a beat writer for some time now. Won a Pulitzer Prize

You are correct.

[tLO0hFNy]

I, for one, have been missing Dr.Doom's posts and commentary. Good to see you on here.

If you've got a facebook account, perhaps I can friend you so I can follow the articles/posts you read... most are interesting though I don't agree always.

[MarlboroCig]

I think the tax code needs to be reformed in a revenue neutral way to make it flatter, less complex, helpful for the working poor, and less burdensome for compliance. From there, we can figure out how to raise revenue from there. In other words, it has zero chance of being passed from Washington.

Helpful for the working poor? 47% of US households don't pay any federal income tax now. How could it be more helpful to the poor than it is now?

[career-builder]

Don't like posting and commenting here much anymore since it's become a bit too ideological and partisan but on the Middle Class theme of being the beast of the tax burden found this piece that provides some good insight. Johnston has been covering U.S. tax code as a beat writer for some time now. Won a Pulitzer Prize

What's particularly damning to me is the $15,300 line. I am certain this number has declined in the past 30 years--but is it a decline due to not keeping up with inflation? Or one due to layoffs and new blue-collar hires being forced to take pay cuts? Or a combination of the two?

In any event, that number alone explains in a nutshell what the problems in our country are. I challenge any libertarian--anybody, for that matter--on this board to attempt to live on a budget of $15,300 a year. Even existing at $20k/yr is exceedingly difficult.

I would not want to be one to attempt it...I am escaping it.

[Gymnfacymoota]

Don't like posting and commenting here much anymore since it's become a bit too ideological and partisan but on the Middle Class theme of being the beast of the tax burden found this piece that provides some good insight. Johnston has been covering U.S. tax code as a beat writer for some time now. Won a Pulitzer Prize

Doom please do not stop posting stuff like this.

Your independent voice, and your links to knowledgeable writers and economists, are needed on this forum.