Posted on 10/02/2011 2:16:05 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
It's official: America is at class war, and President Barack Obama proudly leads the charge against this country's wealthy.
``If asking a millionaire to pay the same tax rate as a plumber makes me a class warrior ― a warrior for the working class ― I will accept that," Obama shouted Tuesday at Denver's Abraham Lincoln High School. ``I will wear that charge as a badge of honor."
``Middle-class families shouldn't pay higher tax rates than millionaires and billionaires. A teacher or a nurse or a construction worker making $50,000 a year shouldn't pay higher tax rates than somebody making $50 million."
Obama's assault on the affluent rests upon a sky-high stack of lies. Obama is too well staffed and too well informed not to know otherwise. So, maddeningly, he straight-out lies to the American people.
For days before Obama opened his mouth in Denver, multiple news accounts and opinion pieces annihilated the casus belli of his War on the Wealthy. Nonetheless, Obama keeps spouting falsehoods, perhaps hoping that his smooth voice will hypnotize Americans into believing his words.
``Fact check: The wealthy already pay more taxes," read the headline above a September 20 Associated Press. ``President Obama says he wants to make sure millionaires are taxed at higher rates than their secretaries," Stephen Ohlemacher wrote. ``The data say they already are."
Nationwide, Ohlemacher and others dismantled Obama's soak-the-rich thesis. The rich are soaked today.
In 2008, its latest data indicate, the Internal Revenue Service harvested $1.0315 trillion in income tax ― of which the top 10 percent of earners paid $721.4 billion. The top 5 percent shelled out another $605.7 billion, and the top 1 percent relinquished $392.15 billion. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent collectively paid just $27.9 billion. Thus, the top 1 percent of taxpayers furnished 14 times the income taxes that the bottom half of filers supplied.
In 2009, the IRS reports, those who made at least $1 million average 24.4 percent of adjusted gross income in federal income taxes. Those who scored $200,000 to $300,000 paid 17.5 percent. Between $100,000 and $125,000: 9.9 percent. From $50,000 to $60,000: 6.3 percent. Those who earned between $20,000 and $30,000 saw income taxes devour 2.5 percent of AGI.
Income, schmincome, Leftists chirp. What about payroll taxes that lower-income Americans pay? Counting other taxes still shows that higher earners pay more, Obama's dark fantasies notwithstanding.
The Tax Policy Center ― a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution ― reported August 24 that Americans who receive $1 million or more will average 29.1 percent of earnings in 2011 federal income, payroll, corporate, and death taxes. Those clearing between $50,000 and $75,000 will pay 15 percent, while those from $40,000 to $50,000 will average 12.5 percent. Those federal taxes will extract 5.7 percent from earners between $20,000 and $30,000.
Dry? Yes. But these figures demonstrate that Americans who earn more money pay more federal tax. Those who see less pay less. If Obama finds this unfair, he should define fairness.
True, the IRS notes, 1,470 households produced at least $1 million but paid no federal income tax in 2009. Still, this is just 0.62 percent of the 236,883 returns that millionaires filed. This reinforces the bipartisan idea of closing loopholes and lowering tax rates ― but not Obama's crusade against ``millionaires and billionaires" and his American Jobs Act's tax hikes on people earning as little as $200,000.
When Obama accepted the 2008 Democratic nomination in Denver, he espoused national unity. The USA would ``come together as one American family," he declared. The nearby Continental Divide might become this republic's only rift, if Barack Obama secured the presidency.
How disappointing that the eloquent man who millions hoped would heal this land now actively pits Americans against each other ― not by race or creed, but by income. As London's arson-scorched victims of mob rule learned last August, there is nothing cute about class war.
My CPA told me that when you do this,look for every loophole that exists, you get audited. When they audit you if they don’t find anything they come back year after year so why bother.
You haven’t lived until you make as little as I do and wind up paying a huge sum,10% of sales, to the IRS for excise tax.Then it really sucks.
It's like dating Dracula. You are OK unless he gets hungry.
There is class in this administration. It’s all low class.From the flotus on down.They are all street people spending our money with reckless abandon.
I'll have to concede that this poll may be correct, but I'm wary of all polls done by the NYT and CBS.....And, if the question were changed to ask if the people would consider raising taxes on those making over $250k to be a good way to create jobs, I believe the answer would be different.
When voters go to the polls in 2012, they'll be more concerned with jobs than the deficit, IMHO. My evidence is anecdotal, I admit it.
I love Sarah too.
Its social mores, class,values vs. street thuggery.
He’s a warrior, and he’s got his “army.”
This is all focus tested BS by the left. They live/die by the polls. They always know just how far they can go to destroy everything we hold of value. whether it be money, mores, class or virtue.Political power trumphs all for them.
Terrible, isn’t it? And “the rich” are paying even more than you are in income taxes. Only socialists wouldn’t give a damn about it. The fact that you only care about yourself says it all. Conservatives care about ALL the people being overtaxed.
see it how you like, I truly don’t care. I don’t care trade insults with you either.
You’ve made it clear that you care about no one but yourself. I have agreed with you that your taxes are horrible. Mine are even worse than yours, but I understand it’s all about you. As I said, a very socialist mentality.
it’s all very capitalist actually.
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