John said: >That is incorrect. In 2007, the top 1% paid 40% of the federal income >taxes, the top 5% paid 61%, and the top 10% paid 71% of taxes. If the >middle class is 25%-75%, then the upper class, top 25%, paid a >whopping 87% of federal income taxes.
>http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/250.html I saw that, but since it was a polemic site, I went to the source they quoted. They contradict that source, by a wide margin. At http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/article/0,,id=96981,00.html we have the IRS figures. The top 1% of all returns paid 20% of the total income tax on 13% of the total reported income. But, of course, they paid only a small fraction of other federal taxes (biggest one is FICA where they are capped at about 16,000, capital gains don't count and are taxed at a special low rate (which mattered in '07), offshore income doesn't count, etc. And, the total number of returns includes all the returns by kids who make $600/year and get $20.00 back....the income on about a third of the returns is so small taxes aren't owed. If you look at the top 1% of folks who did pay income tax, the fractions become smaller. But, what is critical is the site you quoted contradicted their stated source. This sorta stuff happens all the time; that is why I try to get to the real source. I'm not calling _you_ a liar, BTW. There are two reasons for this. I don't think you'd lie about this....so I guess I do make personal judgements after all, huh? :-) Second, I wouldn't call someone out as a liar unless I had proof. But, I will say that you are someone who believed liars. Now, if my arithmatic is wrong, then I gave the source for you to check me. But, there was something fishy about that number. Dan M. -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web LIVE – Free email based on Microsoft® Exchange technology - http://link.mail2web.com/LIVE _______________________________________________ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
