Sunday, June 05, 2005
No Rich Person Left Behind
Here are some statistics that should make any non-millionaire who voted for Bush ask themselves WHY:
--Under the Bush tax cuts, the 400 taxpayers with the highest incomes - a minimum of $87 million in 2000, the last year for which the government will release such data - now pay income, Medicare and Social Security taxes amounting to virtually the same percentage of their incomes as people making $50,000 to $75,000.
--Those earning more than $10 million a year now pay a lesser share of their income in these taxes than those making $100,000 to $200,000.
--The alternative minimum tax, created 36 years ago to make sure the very richest paid taxes, takes back a growing share of the tax cuts over time from the majority of families earning $75,000 to $1 million - thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars annually. Far fewer of the very wealthiest will be affected by this tax.
"The analysis examined only income reported on tax returns. The Treasury Department says that the very wealthiest find ways, legal and illegal, to shelter a lot of income from taxes. So the gap between the very richest and everyone else is almost certainly much larger.
The Times analysis also shows that over the next decade, the tax cuts Mr. Bush wants to extend indefinitely would shift the burden further from the richest Americans. With incomes of more than $1 million or so, they would get the biggest share of the breaks, in total amounts and in the drop in their share of federal taxes paid."
It's good to know that during times of increasing costs of the Iraq war, increasing gas prices, increasing health care premiums, unprecedented loss of jobs and pensions, The Bush Administration has their priorities straight--making the rich even richer (what this article dubs "hyper-rich"). This administration's policies are hyper-illogical.
Richest Are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind - New York Times
--Under the Bush tax cuts, the 400 taxpayers with the highest incomes - a minimum of $87 million in 2000, the last year for which the government will release such data - now pay income, Medicare and Social Security taxes amounting to virtually the same percentage of their incomes as people making $50,000 to $75,000.
--Those earning more than $10 million a year now pay a lesser share of their income in these taxes than those making $100,000 to $200,000.
--The alternative minimum tax, created 36 years ago to make sure the very richest paid taxes, takes back a growing share of the tax cuts over time from the majority of families earning $75,000 to $1 million - thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars annually. Far fewer of the very wealthiest will be affected by this tax.
"The analysis examined only income reported on tax returns. The Treasury Department says that the very wealthiest find ways, legal and illegal, to shelter a lot of income from taxes. So the gap between the very richest and everyone else is almost certainly much larger.
The Times analysis also shows that over the next decade, the tax cuts Mr. Bush wants to extend indefinitely would shift the burden further from the richest Americans. With incomes of more than $1 million or so, they would get the biggest share of the breaks, in total amounts and in the drop in their share of federal taxes paid."
It's good to know that during times of increasing costs of the Iraq war, increasing gas prices, increasing health care premiums, unprecedented loss of jobs and pensions, The Bush Administration has their priorities straight--making the rich even richer (what this article dubs "hyper-rich"). This administration's policies are hyper-illogical.
Richest Are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind - New York Times
