i think that you underestimate the # of rich that get relatively little of there $ from income. i suspect that the retention bonuses were heard so much about about a year ago falls in this category. financial managers and analysts will make $400k a year but get $1mil "bonus". dont forget, the rich dont pay the 6% (or whatever it is) payroll tax on most of their income and 8% sales taxes affect them very little.
so your contention is that the average rich person pays a lower percentage of their income in taxes than the average poor person, in spite of the higher rates for higher-income folks. basically you are saying that rich folks are better at sheltering income from taxes. i agree with that. but i would like to see some evidence that most rich folks are actually managing to pull this off to the extent that they are actually paying lower rates overall. what is you raolution, less loopholes? sounds good. higher rates? bad idea.
and your opinion is that the high tax rate he pays on this 400 grand is offset by his other techniques to shelter his other income, such that he is paying less percentage- wisethan the fellas making 50 grand?
That sounds like an alarming stat, but with no detail it can't be analyzed. I would assume that many of these corps had operating losses or were small businesses, or had no federal tax liability. And even if we were talking about only large Fortune 1000 sized corps, not paying Federal income taxes, and not paying any taxes are two very different things.
You cite an article that says that 66% pay zero in taxes and have 2.5 trillion in revenue. For all you know, they could have lost money. Just because they have large revenue doesn't mean they make any money. If a company has $100 million in revenue and zero profit, should they pay taxes?
Wouldn't that just support the notion that most businesses are S Corps or LLCs or some form of sole proprietorship of which the tax burden is passed onto the individual or shareholders?
By the way, one other thing. Many large companies purchase tax credits for participants of government programs. That becomes a spending problem, not a taxation problem. That article only advances you position to those who don't understand taxation.
That is a good point. About half of all corps or S corps and pay no taxes as all taxes are passed through.
I agree that it is original income that the investor paid income taxes on. The government is not going to pay him back the money if he loses it in bad investments, so why should they take a percentage from him if he does well? Investors have all of their own risk burden.
