The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[scaeagles]

A serious question. What does "Pay their fair share" mean? As I listen to the President say it for the Nth time, I wonder, and I'm not just speaking rhetorically. I really want to know what it means. I did a quicksearch and found this -



Table 1. Summary of Federal Individual Income Tax Data, 2008(Updated October 2010)

Group's Share of Income Taxes
Top 1% 38.02%
Top 5% 58.72%
Top 10% 69.94%

Source: Internal Revenue Service
Should the top 1% be required to pay more than 38% of all fed income taxes? Should the top 5% have to pay more than 59% of all fed income taxes?

The chart (I didn't include it) also shows that in 2008 the bottom 50% paid 2.7% of all federal income taxes.

That data makes it seem to me that thew ealthy already are paying their fair share.

So what is "their fair share"?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Source: Internal Revenue Service
Should the top 1% be required to pay more than 38% of all fed income taxes? Should the top 5% have to pay more than 59% of all fed income taxes?

Is the top 1% earning more than 38% of the country's income? I don't have time to find a complete answer for that, but here's a partial answer.

While total reported income in the United States increased almost 9 percent in 2005, the most recent year for which such data is available, average incomes for those in the bottom 90 percent dipped slightly compared with the year before, dropping $172, or 0.6 percent.

The gains went largely to the top 1 percent, whose incomes rose to an average of more than $1.1 million each, an increase of more than $139,000, or about 14 percent.


The new data also shows that the top 300,000 Americans collectively enjoyed almost as much income as the bottom 150 million Americans. Per person, the top group received 440 times as much as te average person in the bottom half earned, nearly doubling the gap from 1980.

In my opinion, yes. If that top 1% is earning waaaaaay more than the bottom 99%, then yes, they should be paying waaaaay more in taxes.