Economic stimulus

[demsformd]

I think that every instance in which the government offers help to the poor...conservatives will find a way to demean it as abuse.

 

[demsformd]

Five prominent Senate Republicans, including John McCain, have come out against against President Bush's "stimulus" plan because of its large size, lack of emphasis on acutal stimulus, and its benefits for the rich. Unless Bush decides to bully more Democrats, his plan is toast.

 

[Tonio]

Re: who pays the taxes

Originally posted by Makavide
The Bush Tax Cut Program – Feeding the Goose …
Phil Brennan
Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2003

If you cut taxes across the board by 10 percent, for example, the person who pays the most in taxes gets the biggest break. That's called fairness, except on the battlefields of the class war, where it is called "tax cuts for the rich."

Who pays income taxes? According to the IRS, using figures from the year 2000:

The top 1%: those with Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of more than $313,469 pay 37.42 percent of all income tax collected.

The top 5%: Those with an AGI of $128,336 pay 56.47 percent of all taxes.

The top 10%: Those who earn $92,144 or more pay 67.33 percent.

The top 25%: Those with an AGI of $55,225 or more pay 84.01 percent.

The top 50%: Those earning $27,682 or more pay 96.09 percent.

The bottom 50%: Those with and AGI of less than $27,682 pay a mere 3.91 percent of all taxes.
Consider the fact that those in the top brackets are, for the most part, the people who do the most investing, start the most new businesses and produce the most jobs – the so-called rich the NSDP wants us to hate and insists should be penalized by depriving them of part of the very income they use to help create a booming economy.
This is called killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

The full article
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/1/7/211424.shtml

Although I appreciate those figures, Makavide, I think it's irrelevant which group has a bigger share of the total tax burden. I'm more interested in looking at the individual taxpayer.

If the US had a flat income tax, each taxpayer would pay the same percentage regardless of income. The problem with the graduated income tax is that the brackets don't go high enough--why treat someone earning $300,000 and someone earning $50 million as though these amounts are equal?

By the way, what does NSDP stand for?

 

[demsformd]

Re: Re: who pays the taxes

Originally posted by Tonio
The problem with the graduated income tax is that the brackets don't go high enough--why treat someone earning $300,000 and someone earning $50 million as though these amounts are equal?

Damn, now that's a progressive idea!