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[Phys-l] taxes (was SOLAR , NUCLEAR ENERGY etc.)




I was referring to the federal proceeds from income tax data from 2005:

top 1 % of wage earners paid 39.4 %
then 2-5 % paid 20.3 %
then 6 - 10% paid 10.6 %
then 11-25 % paid 15.7 %
then 26-50 % paid 10.9 %
and the bottom 50 % of wage earners paid the remaining 3.1 %

As far payroll taxes, it is a flat rate across the incomes, but the
benefits received decline rapidly as a percent of income with increasing
income.

Everyone also pays sales tax, but people that spend more pay more sales tax.

Then, there's property tax, people that have more expensive homes in
wealthy pay more in property taxes than those that live in poor areas in
inexpensive homes.

If you add up all of the taxes you pay, you'll find that it is a very
significant amount compared to your income.

I do fail to see proof of your points #1 and #2 below. Perhaps, I missed
that in an earlier message.


On Apr 14, 2009, at 12:53 PM, marx@phy.ilstu.edu wrote:

The progressive tax system has been in place from a long time, but
it's gotten to be where the bottom 50% of income earners pay little
or zero tax.

I'd like to see your evidence for this (and, of course, it would
necessarily take into account the effects of payroll and sales
taxes.) But let's go ahead and suppose that it is so. There are
only two possible ways that this could have happened:

1. Taxes in general have become much more progressive.

2. Wealth has been massively "redistributed" (I'm warming to that
word) FROM low income people TO high income people.

It is a simple demonstrable fact that #1 is false and #2 is true.
Indeed, I provided the evidence just yesterday.

So what, precisely, was your point? Really.

John Mallinckrodt
Cal Poly Pomona
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