The Bottom 50% of earners pay almost nothing, and the Top 1% pay close to 40% of the income tax collected.
The Bottom 90%, which in 2008 included all returns with adjusted gross income of up to $114,000, were paying 30%, down from 44% in 1987.
The Bottom 90%, which in 2008 included all returns with adjusted gross income of up to $114,000, were paying 30%, down from 44% in 1987.
That means that the Top 10% pay a whopping 70%!!!
Are the Bottom 90%, at only 30%, paying their fair share?
Very high incomes are produced not so much by wages and salaries but by capital gains and bonuses, which rise and fall with booms and busts.
In good years, the government gets a windfall and can't resist the urge to take on new spending commitments. In bad years, revenues collapse, but the spending can't be so easily rolled back.
Are the Bottom 90%, at only 30%, paying their fair share?
Very high incomes are produced not so much by wages and salaries but by capital gains and bonuses, which rise and fall with booms and busts.
In good years, the government gets a windfall and can't resist the urge to take on new spending commitments. In bad years, revenues collapse, but the spending can't be so easily rolled back.
As the tax system has grown more top-heavy, its revenues have also grown more volatile. The income-tax take spiked to an all-time high in 2000, hitting 10% of GDP for the first time ever. In 2010, it sank to 6.2%, its lowest level in more than 50 years.
Source: IRS and Investors Business Daily
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