It’s Not A Taxing Problem

It’s a spending problem.

Even taxing the top 1% at a 100% rate, you still couldn’t close the budget deficit. Think about that for a minute.

According to 2007 IRS data, there were about 391,000 taxpayers with income greater than $1 million, and they had aggregate taxable income of about $1 trillion. Taxing them at a 100% rate would still not close the annual budget deficit, and if the government did tax them at 100%, the following year there would be no income to tax.

The top 1% of federal taxpayers footed the bill for 38% of all federal personal income taxes, according to IRS 2008 data.

• The top 5% paid more than half of federal income taxes, 58.7%.
• The top 10% paid 69.9%.
• The $50,000-$75,000 crowd will pay an average 15%.
• The $40,000 to $50,000 crowd will pay an average 12.5%.

Of the roughly 391,000 taxpayers who reported income exceeding $1 million, more than 300,000 of those had business income and met the Treasury Department’s definition of business owner, says the NFIB (National Federation of Independent Business).

So if over 76% of the “wealthy” in this country are the textbook definition of business owners, why are the true job creators constantly targeted? The government says they’re not paying enough taxes (see above if you think that’s accurate). Groups like Occupy say they, the 1%, are responsible for the income inequality befalling the rest of the 99%.

And somehow I’m left with the feeling that everyone is so consumed with their own idealogy — on both sides of the aisle — that there is absolutely no desire to look at the facts, at understanding that our financial problems are no more one group’s cause than they are going to be solved around one ultimate solution.

John had it best, and Jim echoed the point…