31–40 of 54 posts
FWIW, the only way Pro Publica could derive the 3.4% figure was by pretending that the value of a stock going up is income, and then dividing the amount of tax paid by that amount. Warren Buffett is worth $100B. So if Berkshire Hathaway stock went up 10% in 2022, they'd say Warren Buffett made $10 billion in income, even if he didn't sell a single share. Obviously extremely misleading and if I were more cynical, I'd…
Reading the article, it says that the figures are looking at actual income, not changes in asset prices. It says the low figures come from a) lower tax rates from realized capital gain and b) deductions through charitable donations. Capital gains in the US are taxed at a maximum rate of 20%[0] for long term holdings, vs income tax rates, which can go up to 37%. Donations are also something that anyone can use to lowe…
“As we showed last year, the richest avoid income when they can. Then they pay very little in tax when it’s measured against their growing wealth. The top 25 wealthiest Americans got $401 billion richer from 2014 to 2018, but paid just $13.6 billion in federal income taxes, a “true tax rate,” as we called it, of 3.4%.”
Earlier quoted context omitted.
3.4% of their income in taxes. Not 3.4% of all income taxes paid in the country. They paid $13.6 billion from 2014-2018. Total income taxes were about $1.5 trillion per year or about $7.5 trillion over the same timespan, so they paid about 0.18% of total income taxes.
So 0.001% of people paid 0.18% of income taxes? How the fuck is that fair?
So 0.001% of Americans pay 3.4% of income taxes? How the fuck is that fair?
You, like so many, vastly under-estimate how much richer the ultra-wealthy are than everyone else. Vastly.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
3.4% of their income in taxes. Not 3.4% of all income taxes paid in the country. They paid $13.6 billion from 2014-2018. Total income taxes were about $1.5 trillion per year or about $7.5 trillion over the same timespan, so they paid about 0.18% of total income taxes.
So 0.001% of people paid 0.18% of income taxes? How the fuck is that fair?
The only thing that upsets be about this everyone should be paying 3.4%. The government wastes nearly everything that is handed to it. The old "oh but what about police and fire" compromises a micron of the what is sent to the government. All of it ends up in the pockets of Senator's friends.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
3.4% of their income in taxes. Not 3.4% of all income taxes paid in the country. They paid $13.6 billion from 2014-2018. Total income taxes were about $1.5 trillion per year or about $7.5 trillion over the same timespan, so they paid about 0.18% of total income taxes.
So 0.001% of people paid 0.18% of income taxes? How the fuck is that fair?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's reasonably fair to point out that, sure, while these people don't have the extra wealth as income , they did indeed grow wealthier, and significantly so. And generally we tax when things make money. A couple points about common rebuttals: "It's not liquid so it's hard for them to pay taxes on it" - we already tax illiquid things like property taxes and when people get income that's not cash, like having…
What this does to John Smith, Dirt Farmer, is that his land went up $500/acre, and he's got 1000 acres, and now he's got an "income" of $500,000 this year, which he can't actually get until he sells the land, which he doesn't want to do until he retires. So the options are: - He sells some of the land to pay the taxes. - He takes out a loan to pay the taxes. - We make a special carve-out for people in that situation…
Tax law does that all the time. Maybe you've heard of tax brackets. It's so that people who earn less pay a smaller tax rate. I don't see the trouble with that. It's applied in the other direction as well, e.g. with a maximum dollar value with medicare.