Taxes: Top US earners pay MORE than their share

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The Wall Street Journal's Stephen Moore has just come out with a new book titled Who's the Fairest of Them All?: The Truth about Opportunity, Taxes, and Wealth in America and he reveals some interesting information about how much the top ten percent of income earners in the United States pay in federal income taxes as opposed to any other industrialized nation in the world.

According to Moore, these earners pay almost half (45 percent) of the country's total taxes. This conclusion flies in the face of the liberal concept that top earners in the U.S. are not paying their "fair share" in taxes.

Moore explains:

"The United States is actually more dependent on rich people to pay taxes than even many of the more socialized economies of Europe. According to the Tax Foundation, the United States gets 45 percent of its total taxes from the top 10 percent of tax filers, whereas the international average in industrialized nations is 32 percent. America’s rich carry a larger share of the tax burden than do the rich in Belgium (25 percent), Germany (31 percent), France (28 percent), and even Sweden (27 percent)."

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Additionally, more tax revenue went back to the federal government each time the taxes were lowered. So does it really make sense to strip the upper income earners of their keep? Liberals have yet to answer how that ever improves the lives' of the middle class or lower income earners in the long run.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2012/oct/9/picket-new-book-shows-us-top-earners-pay-larger-sh/

[_krose]

According to Moore, these earners [the top 10%] pay almost half (45 percent) of the country's total taxes.

Whoop-dee-freakin-doo.

I realize your practice is to troll this forum by dropping a steaming load and leaving without presenting a defense, moving on to the next dump, but I'll ask a question anyway.

Moore is not exactly a reliable source, but let's assume this number is correct. So... what percentage of the nation's overall income do those of us in the top 10 percent rake in? The number I have seen is around 31%. Just comparing 10 to 45 and crying about the difference is completely misleading. The comparison is between 31(?) and 45.

By the way, we have a system of progressive tax rates, which means the more money you make, the higher your tax rate. So of course the upper income earners pay a higher percentage. That's how it's supposed to work.

The debate now is whether to make the rate structure a little more progressive, which most people think is "fair." So instead of 45%, perhaps we in the top 10% will pay 50% of the total.