I spent this summer engaged in the back breaking work of my lawn. Between leveling out pavers and planting, I become a personal friend of pain as little used muscles protested quite vociferously and frequently. And I still needed to do some ongoing general clean-up through much this summer, with temperatures in Iowa often in 90's.
But it occurred to me as I engaged in the really, really hard work of planting, that many people in this country have to work this hard every day for a paycheck. Like my neighbor, who goes to work in the wee hours and sometimes doesn't get home until after five in the afternoon.
I spent this summer engaged in the back breaking work of my lawn. Between leveling out pavers and planting, I become a personal friend of pain as little used muscles protested quite vociferously and frequently. And I still needed to do some ongoing general clean-up through much this summer, with temperatures in Iowa often in 90's.
But it occurred to me as I engaged in the really, really hard work of planting, that many people in this country have to work this hard every day for a paycheck. Like my neighbor, who goes to work in the wee hours and sometimes doesn't get home until after five in the afternoon.
And yet the people that have to do the least for their money, those that have invested their money, pay a lot less in taxes than you'd think. Which can be especially galling for those engaged in hard labor every day for a wage.
Many of the very wealthy, or the 1%, have monies in trust funds, investments and off-shore bank accounts. Of the top 400 wage earners in 2008, 88% did not have work for wages. The top 400 income earners in the U.S. earned an average of $270.5 million dollars in 2008. And these 400 only paid 18.1% of their total income in taxes.(1)
Only 8% of income came from salary and wages of the 400. About 66% of income came from dividends and capital gains; both categories are subject to a tax rate of only 15%.(2)
The Republicans have long shown a preference for those who have to work the least for the most amount of cash. Recently, the GOP filibustered the Buffet Rule, making it unlikely for the rule to ever reach a vote.(3) Surprising, since in a recent CNN poll, 72% of the population favored increasing the income tax rate for the very wealthy to 30%.(4)
Despite Republican claims, increasing taxes on the super-rich, would not affect job creation. Remember that the top 400 wealthiest Americans derived almost 66% of income from investment income. Investments do almost nothing to fuel an economy, investments only exist to take advantage of the performance of existing economies. The very rich are less likely to start business and hire employees even in a good economy, because the risk is much greater than reinvesting money, and quite frankly starting a business is a lot more work than just reinvesting one's money, a lot more. To be quite honest, if tax cuts were a long term solution to an economic downturn, then the Bush tax-cuts which are still in effect, should have done more to offset the current recession.(5)
By the time you figure in payroll taxes, sales taxes, and state and federal taxes, everybody pays about the same percentage of income in taxes; giving lie to the claim that the poor pay less than the rich.(6)
Existing companies only increase hiring as a last resort and only do so when an increasing demand for their goods or services forces them to do so; the increase in consumer demand is what will grow the economy. Until that happens, lessening the tax burden for the very rich will only do one thing: lessen the tax burden for the very rich for an income that they didn't even break a sweat for.
1: http://inequality.org/...
2: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
3: http://www.dailykos.com/...
4: http://i2.cdn.turner.com/...
5: http://www.hugdaily.org/...
6: http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Fri Aug 03, 2012 at 9:55 PM PT: I owe a big shout out to the Rangers who highlighted my post. This was my first post ever here, so it took me a bit to figure it out what it was all about. Thanks again.
-The Noob