Then why does Romney pay 13% and I pay 20%? Because the bulk of his income (like most of the extremely rich) comes from dividends, interest, and capital gains taxed at 15% rather than salaries or business profit taxed at 35%.
Romney is an outlier. They exist in any population. He also donated millions to charities. If you did that it would lower your effective rate too ya know. And just as Romney is an outlier, so are you. Most folks in your income bracket are paying effective rates in the 9-13% range.
Obviously these are subjective terms. For purposes of casual political comments on a message board, I would say annual incomes of . . . $0 - $12K = Abject poverty. many dependents, elderly, students, disabled people. Cannot live without food stamps, low-income housing, etc. $13K - $25K = Working poor. Just getting by, always in debt. $26K - $70K = Lower middle class. Younger workers or those who topped out early. Big families can be a struggle. $71K - $200K = Upper middle class. Successful older professional and blue-collar workers. Well-off, paying their bills. Some disposable income. $201K - $999K = Wealthy. Sufficient money for all their needs plus a lot of disposable income and few pressing debts. $1 million - $10 million = Super rich. Vast wealth enables lavish idle lifestyles and much political influence. $11 million + = Filthy rich. Moguls whose money works for them. Huge fortunes. Didn't even recognize that they had tax cuts.
Millions that I don't have. You describe another tax loophole that only the very rich can afford to take complete advantage of.
found it. it doesnt define how much income 1% is though. at least that i could find. id guess 99th percentile is less than a million a year. to me, regarding the philosophy of taxes, there is a big difference between $500k and $5M a yr. this analysis doesnt include sales taxes which is effectively a income tax on the poor. for some reason, these stats count benefits as income. like medicare and medicaid. i would think that would serve to inflate the incomes of the poor and decrease their tax rate.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=566&Topic2id=48 a third of the top 400 earners(AGI) pay less than 15% not sure that makes mitt an outlier. unless you say all the very top are outliers which i think is a big part of the issue.
Nonsense. To the extent that a middle class earner itemizes their deductions taxable income will be reduced. Anyone can take advantage of this regardless of income level. In fact charitable donations benefit guys like you and me who are in the 20 and 25% brackets more than they benefit the few guys like Romney who get the majority of their income from capital gains. When you and I donate it reduces the amount of income that is subject to our highest marginal rate. So if I donate 100 bucks to the United Way. It saves me $25 in taxes. If Romney makes the same donation it only saves him $15.
