Friday, May 8, 2009

A Few Pay a LOT (sound familiar? Redistribution)

….. this is how the situation looks in Germany. The upper 20% of taxpayers earn 47% of the corresponding income and pay 70.4% of the total income tax.

What this shows, BTW, is that the curve in Germany is flatter than in the U.S. the redistribution is far more progressed in the U.S. than in Germany (in the U.S., the upper 10% pay 72%) – and Obama wants to make it even more top-loaded.

Mr. Z (from the German papers today)
z

9 comments:

Ducky's here said...

When you do a chart on TOTAL taxes paid by individuals in America, all sources, then you might have something.

Z said...

just pay attention to what's there, ducky, it helps, it really does.

Anyone who doesn't know that the rich pay inordinately huge a portion of all of America's taxes isn't on this planet. Anyone who doesn't know what will happen when they're paying even more doesn't care what happens to our planet.

Always On Watch said...

All in the name of "fairness," right?

Z said...

Always, spoken like a TRUE LIBERAL. !!

Anonymous said...

Everyone who works should pay income taxes, even if it's a nominal amount, because everyone should have a stake in their government.

Why? Because everyone would be forced to consider that there is a cost to the people for everything the government does and they have to pay for it.

It used to be so, until politicians decided that if a segment of the population was free of this obligation, they would look to the government for more and more of their needs. After all, they don't have to pay for them.

Meanwhile, politicians were only too happy to throw them just enough crumbs to keep them on the victocrat plantation, or reservation, take your pick.

Of course these people would forever be kept in their place, relying on government favors, because they are told over and over again, that they can't make it without their master, the government.

The left especially has become proficient at being poverty pimps, or, 'how to get votes without really trying'.

The more "victims" the more votes, and to hell with human incentive, and individual autonomy. If everyone believed what was accomplished by themselves as individuals, they would know it would pay off if they worked hard and did their best, and they would disdain help.

They would owe no one but whom they choose, to gain from their labors.

Of course they would pay taxes, but with a wary eye. They would consider what they're paying for and vote according to what they thought the priorities should be for the welfare of their country, and their families.

Furthermore, there would be fewer poor people, and more people with too much dignity and pride to take anything they didn't earn.

The worst part of all this is, the politicians, especially those on the left, don't care about the people per se. The people are, in their eyes, merely pawns in a power struggle. Ignorant dupes who are a means to an end.

It didn't have to be this way.


Pris

Law and Order Teacher said...

Z,
Taxes after the 16th amendment were bad enough. The good news was you paid your tax bill all at one time at the end of the year. Payroll deduction made it not so painful to raise taxes.

The insidious expansion of government. That's the problem.

Anonymous said...

I’m going to agree with Pris, but with this caveat; everyone should pay income taxes to their states. The Federal Government can apportion the states on a per capita basis, providing that the states actually agree.

IMO, the same principle of incorporation prohibits the federal government from imposing individual income taxes upon citizens of states; if the states had any courage, they’d send the federal government packing.

One interesting note from more than a year ago; Ducky once bragged that he pays more in taxes than most people earn (and you don’t hear him complaining about it). This statement lends itself to several possibilities. Ducky is full of crap, is an idiot, a raging communist, or all of the above.

We forget that the federal government’s unlimited access to our money is why the government spends far too much money; why they cannot limit spending to reasonable revenues. Øbama and company have tripled Bush’s debt; they’ve not only deigned to redistribute “our income” to people who haven’t earned it, they’ve also redistributed debt to unborn generations. It is more than incompetence; it is criminal negligence.

Anonymous said...

I have basically nothing to add to the comments by Pris and mustang, since I agree fully with all mentioned items.

One of the reasons I brought this graph to Z's attention is the much flatter curve in Germany where I believe (but I haven't verified the number) about 10% of the employed persons pay no taxes. Of course, this is one of the issues the Left tries to change (in addition to loading more on the higher earners), but up to now it is a fact that almost everybody pays taxes, even it is little for the lower earners.

The policy by the Left to make only the higher earners pay taxes, and at higher rates, is destructive for any social system and does not make economic sense. So, it can only be a matter of power grab in this triangle which Obama knows all so well: community organizers - unions - government. That kills companies, the economy and ultimately the country, since now the power is in the hands of non-performers who have never contributed anything measurable to the country.

This strategy, aka as communism, has never ever worked in any country, there is no reason why it would work here. What these people don't recognize that this is a vicious cycle: Increasing the "social load" on companies will drive them (including their managers) out of the country, causing ore unemployment, causing more government support to unemployed, leading to even higher charges on companies and the wealthy, and you can continue yourselves.

For everyone who believes that this is or a serious scenario it is recommended to study the case of Venezuela very closely. You will find some eerie resemblances.

Mr.Z

Chuck said...

Duck, think about the numbers. Yes the poor and middle class pay a higher percentage of their income for fuel taxes, sales taxes, etc. But in sheer numbers, the upper 10% pay more in taxes than most of these people make. Finally I notice you, as usual, have no back up for your assertions. Until I see numbers, I think your assumption that the lower income people pay a higher percentage of taxes is untrue.

Again, look at the numbers. My income is probably a little above mid range middle class. I pay a total of an estimated 23% in taxes or about $14,000. This includes Federal, FICA, state, local, property, fuel, and what I estimate we pay in sales tax. The top tax rate in the US is 35% and they still pay property taxes (on bigger houses), etc.

This whole regressive tax system is a fantasy perpetuated by the far left to enable them to wage class warfare when the real irony is that while they are doing this, they are cheating on their damned taxes.