“The difference between death and taxes is death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets” — Will Rogers
There’s no secret that America’s tax system is convoluted, confusing accountants, tax consultants, lawyers not to mention the public. Who can forget Mitt Romney’s tax issue questions during his presidential run? Even though “Corporations are People” they are not taxed at the same rate as human ‘people’, if taxed at all. Tax shelters, safe havens, overseas corporate headquarters, the loopholes are endless for these corporations and the Rich.
We’ve all seen the headlines “refuting” rich pay more than their fair share. Here’s a quote from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/21/poor-americans-state-local-taxes_n_1903993.html:
Nearly every U.S. state taxes the poor more than the rich, according to a 2009 report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Overall, the poorest 20 percent of households paid an average 10.9 percent of their incomes in state and local taxes in 2007, while the top 1 percent on average paid just 5.2 percent of their incomes in state and local taxes, according to the study.
Most state and local tax systems are regressive, the study found: that is, tax rates become higher as income becomes lower. This regressiveness hits the middle class, too: The middle 20 percent of families paid a 9.4 percent state and local tax rate in 2007, according to the study.
If taxes feel like they are gobbling more of your take home pay, there’s a reason for it. City, County, Local, state, federal taxes take more and more, then there is sales tax, different ranges, depending on your location/city/county. Then you pay ‘fees’ for different accounts, cards, stores and so forth. The Rich have those waived, sort of the ‘good ole boy’ network, if you will.
The http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/07/taxes-and-rich-0 also points out how social security and medicare are taxed:
However, federal income taxes account for just 27% of total government revenue collected in America. And the remaining three-quarters of the tax pie is quite regressive. The middle class may not pay much federal income tax. But they sure pay the payroll tax for Social Security
and Medicare, which the rich can mostly skip out on since it only applies to the first $110,000 of wage income. (The Medicare levy, unlike its bigger Social Security counterpart, is not capped). The masses also pay a much greater share of their income in sales and excise taxes than the rich do, because they cannot afford to save.
So if you’re feeling the pinch, you’re in good company, fellow Americans.
Brick ONeil 