The only problem with this claim is that it's completely false. In fact, the exact opposite is true: the rich already pay all of the taxes. A recently published study by the non-partisan Tax Foundation demonstrates this: the nation's wealthiest taxpayers now pay a higher percentage of the tax burden than ever before. As of 2006, the wealthiest 1% of wage earners paid a whopping 40% of the nation's tax burden, up from 36.9% in 2004, while earning only 22% of the country's income. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal goes into greater detail.So the liberal redistributionists are correct to say that a plurality of the gains made during the last 7 years have gone to those at the top, but they conveniently fail to mention how those at the top are now forced to pay a percentage of the tax burden that nearly doubles their share of the national income.
The scariest part of all of this new data goes left unstated, however: the bottom 50% of wage earners now pay only 2.7% of the federal tax burden. This, of course, allows them to vote themselves benefits they won't have to pay for and to support tax increases that won't affect them.
Senator Obama claims he'll raise taxes on the rich so he can give more cut taxes to "the people that actually need them" (i.e., lower income earners). But how do you cut taxes on people that don't pay any in the first place?
7 comments:
Come on, Patrick, there has to be a way we can help people like this woman and her family:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92592545
Shame on the wealthy not wanting to share their taxes with people like them. I mean, any of us can get in a car accident and be so depressed over it that 17 years later we still can't work!
Jesus. Why do we have to keep propping up NPR with our tax dollars again? Oh wait, I forgot, the positions taken there don't hold up in the private marketplace so we have to subsidize them.
Pat I'm not sure funding 2% of NPR's budget is "propping them up". There are probably better examples of wasteful spending out there (evangelical broadcasts). NPR ia a pretty thoughful radio station and I enjoy listening to it at times. Plus, Car Talk on Saturday mornings is great if you're on the road.
Don't hold up in the private marketplace? Morning Edition and All Things Considered consistently rank as some of the most listened to programs in the country.
If they're so successful then they definitely don't need any more of our tax dollars. The same goes for PBS. Completely unnecessary.
Are you serious Joan? I don't think you are by the looks of the article's subjects.
Can you explain the relation between the family's predicament and their obesity? I'm not trying to be offensive, but the family looks very well fed considering their plight.
The whole thing about not finding a job is horse%&*$.
In American anyone can grab a broom, mop, and bucket and start a self proprietorship.
Hank, of course I was sarcastic...I hoped my note that she was still depressed 17 years after a car accident and couldn't work was the indicator!
Something tells me that family spends much more than their small welfare allowance on twinkies and cheetos.
I find it obnoxious that their story of self-wallowing in laziness deserved any journalistic merit.
What a shame that the educated minds at NPR blame $4/gallon gas on these people's problems.
Self-admittedly, they have not even a high-school GED, yet the expensive gas is destroying them? Lord, those people were lazy-poor when gas was 95 cents a gallon, and will be until the day they die. Welfare mentality.
Sorry didn't mean to rant...a co-worker told me about this blog a week ago...I stared watching it looking forward to Walken Wedensdays but found I am enjoying the smart discourse and observations even more. Keep it up!
By your use of the term "lazy-poor," I can tell you've come to the right place.
Welcome, Joan.
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