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For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate

nytimes.com

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Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate

#2
Wow, that chart shows tax rates on the wealthy dropping from 70% to 23% in the last 70 years. Now probably 70% was too socialist and may not fly in a globalised world where is a lot easier to move to a lower tax country or state (I'd move if I had to pay that.) But this seems ridiculously tilted to the other extreme now.

Edit: I don't understand the objections to my comment. If you have a problem with the data behind that chart, that's not my problem.

If you object to the usage of the word socialist - that's a common usage, don't be so pedantic.

Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate

#3
That is correct, the rich don't pay any taxes at all (whenever the can). The was a recent thread on HN regarding tax audits [0]. What I got from that is that the IRS cannot afford to audit the rich because their taxes are complicated and they don't have enough resources to do so. They choose to audit the poor instead because, it is simpler..

link [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21176705

Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate

#4
post #2

Wow, that chart shows tax rates on the wealthy dropping from 70% to 23% in the last 70 years. Now probably 70% was too socialist and may not fly in a globalised world where is a lot easier to move to a lower tax country or state (I'd move if I had to pay that.) But this seems ridiculously tilted to the other extreme now. Edit: I don't understand the objections to my comment. If you have a problem with the data behind…

[flagged]

Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate

#6
This article fails to account for exemptions and deductions. This post[1] by the Tax Foundation explains it:

> However, despite these high marginal rates, the top 1 percent of taxpayers in the 1950s only paid about 42 percent of their income in taxes.

Today the 1% pay a little over 36% of their income to taxes.

1. https://taxfoundation.org/taxes-on-the-rich-1950s-not-high/

Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate

#7
post #2

Wow, that chart shows tax rates on the wealthy dropping from 70% to 23% in the last 70 years. Now probably 70% was too socialist and may not fly in a globalised world where is a lot easier to move to a lower tax country or state (I'd move if I had to pay that.) But this seems ridiculously tilted to the other extreme now. Edit: I don't understand the objections to my comment. If you have a problem with the data behind…

There were a lot more exemptions, deductions and credits back then so the effective tax rate was not even close to 70% and was not much higher than it is today. Not sure why this article didn't mention this at all but I can guess, coming from the New York Times and all.

Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate

#8
post #2

Wow, that chart shows tax rates on the wealthy dropping from 70% to 23% in the last 70 years. Now probably 70% was too socialist and may not fly in a globalised world where is a lot easier to move to a lower tax country or state (I'd move if I had to pay that.) But this seems ridiculously tilted to the other extreme now. Edit: I don't understand the objections to my comment. If you have a problem with the data behind…

[flagged]

I thought workers owning the means of production was communism, whereas socialism has come to mean the distribution of value to society through highly general programs.

Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate

#9
post #6

This article fails to account for exemptions and deductions. This post[1] by the Tax Foundation explains it: > However, despite these high marginal rates, the top 1 percent of taxpayers in the 1950s only paid about 42 percent of their income in taxes. Today the 1% pay a little over 36% of their income to taxes. 1. https://taxfoundation.org/taxes-on-the-rich-1950s-not-high/

This article is looking at even smaller/higher percentiles than the article that you're referencing. I believe this explains the difference.

Re: For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans paid a lower tax rate

#10
post #7
post #2

Wow, that chart shows tax rates on the wealthy dropping from 70% to 23% in the last 70 years. Now probably 70% was too socialist and may not fly in a globalised world where is a lot easier to move to a lower tax country or state (I'd move if I had to pay that.) But this seems ridiculously tilted to the other extreme now. Edit: I don't understand the objections to my comment. If you have a problem with the data behind…

There were a lot more exemptions, deductions and credits back then so the effective tax rate was not even close to 70% and was not much higher than it is today. Not sure why this article didn't mention this at all but I can guess, coming from the New York Times and all.

I believe the nominal tax rate now is not ~20%, so then the graphs are all showing effective, not nominal, and their point stands.
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