Fed. Income: 25%
Soc. Security: 15%
State Income: 5% (avg)
Health Insurance: 15%
Property tax: 15%
In fact, I think the author understates the tax rate by not including sales tax, gasoline tax, phone tax, occupational license fees and, undoubtedly, still more I’ve forgotten at the moment. Our taxation and spending structure is designed to keep the poor subservient and dependent, the middle class lower middle class with no opportunity to amass savings or capital and the rich happy. Fortunately for politicians, they’re part of the rich.
surely fed income is much lower w/ deductions
Not for this single tax payer, and that’s on a modest income
and how is this different than europe ?
except for their much healthier food options (read: better and cheaper healthcare) and better educated population
My ancestors fled Europe to escape its fate. You want to bring it here.
CF, you cant really score health insurance as a tax – regardless of what justice Roberts says and if you are, then score it as $695.
Otherwise, I agree on your broader point. We have a tax bonanza ahead, FF should be thrilled.
you need a new accountant
25% may be your marginal tax rate, but your total tax/AGI is most likely less than 25%.
Mitt Romney made $22 million in 2010, and paid only $3 million of tax (14%). That’s a lot lower than you and I pay, CF. I blame all those malingering food stamp recipients and illegal immigrants for this.
Have someone read my post to you again DB – I’m sorry I don’t have picture capability or I’d put it in a form you could grasp without assistance but then, you do so love dependence that perhaps you’ll be grateful for the opportunity.
america had a nice run for a hundred years or so.
my ancestors fled too, and it was the right thing to do then. Otherwise i’d still be a peasant.
But 2012 is a whole new ballgame and it is survival of the most adaptable
Dollar Bill- How many people kicked in $3 million to the IRS? I would say Romney is more than pulling his weight. Oh yes, he didn’t take much back from the system. When he gets to be 65 plus he’ll also pay taxes on his S.S. and Medicare because he’s a high income person.
to all the liberals who don’t understand capital gains, dividend and corporate income tax:
the owner of the corporations (investors) pay tax twice: once via the corporate income tax, then again when after-tax profits are distributed either via dividends or capital gains
if you want higher dividend and capital gains tax to match personal income, then need to abolish corporate tax rate and vice versa
True Mitt Romney only paid $3mm in taxes, but he also gave $4mm to charity. Would you prefer he pay $7mm in taxes and give zero to charity?
Of course he would – charity allows the donor a choice (in this case, $1.5 million to a foundation that works with epileptics, $1.5 to the Mormon Church), while taxes are distributed as people like Dolar Bill sees fit. It’s about control, pure and simple.
How did Mitt rack up a $100 million IRA when annual contributions are capped at $6k? Sounds pretty fishy to me.
How did Obama supporter Zuckerberg become a billionaire in just one day?! How could that happen?! Your knowledge of investments is as dim as the rest of your world view. This is what happens when you take a degree in victimhood studies and never engage in thoughtful inquiry, Bill, you come out of school even more ignorant than when you first set foot on the Vassar campus.
I wish Romney would do some straight talking about his money, say exactly what anon@3:05 said, in those simple terms for people to understand. For people who don’t have it, money has such a mysticism. Wealth is always perceived as a bad thing, rarely in terms of charity and how organizations benefit. Look what Bill and Melinda Gates do with their foundation. It’s remarkable with a shitload of money can do to help the world.
Or, in the case of the government, how little good it can accomplish.
And there’s Romney’s victory in a nutshell – compare and contrast private sector money and what it accomplishes with government spending and how the national debt can get to 16 trillion. There’s not one billionaire I know who hasn’t set up a family foundation – sure, to save on some taxes, but to do some good on this planet too.
Really good article in The Atlantic today about wealth – How the 400 Richest people Got So Rich.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/07/how-the-richest-400-people-in-america-got-so-rich/259520/
Don’t forget excise taxes, gasoline taxes, airline taxes, hospitality taxes, bed taxes (especially for John Edwards/Bill Clinton types)- the list goes on and on. Utility taxes? Say it ain’t so…when you add back all those “deductions”, don’t forget to add these back in…