commentaries

Great stuff. The facts that add up to the truth always are.

The real problem isn't that 47% don't pay taxes for whatever reason, it's that incomes of the wealthy have grown far more than the incomes of the average person. 30 years ago, CEOs made 42 times the average worker; today, it's 380 times. This is, what's that word, oh yes, redistribution. The 1% pays far less taxes than it should and it's created a huge mess. If we want to get back on track, they need to pay more. Lots more.

"The most pernicious misconception about people who don't pay federal income taxes is that they don't pay any taxes."

No one is suggesting that.

True or false: People that receive money and services from the government are more likely to vote for those that give it to them? Case closed.

I think that #3 is not quite correct, because it only factors the number of high wage earners, not the overall amount of their tax burden. In 2010, there were 10 people who were paid, for that year, between the high of 4 billion (yes that is billion with a b), and the low of 980 million (Falcone from Hibbing by the way). out of the 10, 6 were hedge fund managers, so their tax rate was at a max 15%, but a small percent of a big number is still a big number, so with just these 10 people, the dollars lost because of the loophole for cap gains as income, is substantial. Of the top 400 wage earners in 2011, in which they averaged 215 million per person. Out of that 400, 6 paid no tax, 0%. Another 72, paid between 1-15%, and another 100 paid betwen 16-28%, nobody paid more than 35%. The wealthy game the system, and though legal, the playing field is so slanted towards helping those folks as to be silly.

"True or false: People that receive money and services from the government are more likely to vote for those that give it to them? Case closed." Everybody receives services from the government. And if everybody who received money from the government only voted for Democrats then Romney wouldn't be leading with seniors. Case Closed.

"Everybody receives services from the government" Lets play word games! 49.1% pay NO net FIT and use the services the rest of us pay for! Get it now?

drichmn.. Thank you for being a classic example of the gimmie class. Romney paid in 1.9 mil Yes he uses the roads, Firefighters, Police, Schools.. but how much of his 1.9 Million carried you do do the same?

In any household, the dollar figure that counts is the amount it costs to pay for shelter and utilities, food, clothing, health care, transportation, and education. For a family of 4 in Minneapolis, that's about $1000 a month for shelter, $300 a month for utilities, $750 for food, $100 for clothing, $750 for health insurance and co-pays (in whatever combination), $200 for transportation, and $50 for elementary education costs. We can quibble about what number goes in what category, but there's no arguing that you can't live in Minneapolis with a family of 4 on less than $3,150 cash to spend every month.

That's $37,800 a year, net. That requires income of around $41,000 just to pay Payroll tax; never mind any other withholdings.

That's not far below the national median household income. Some areas are more expensive to live in, and some less, but we're talking about broad strokes here.

There's no way this hypothetical family of 4 has any savings, any retirement plan contributions, any balance in an HSA, any college fund, any way to get a car fixed or replace a furnace or water heater. If one of the wage-earners gets sick, or a kid gets sick and a parent has to miss time at work, these people are toast.

It's ridiculous to talk about making this family pay taxes. They hardly need an incentive to keep their heads in the game; every bill that comes in the mail induces a sharp intake of breath.

The problem in America is declining incomes in a time of falling purchasing power of the dollar, and stealthily rising cost of living. As the balance of wealth slides ever farther toward those already wealthy, the economy stagnates, because the economy is 70% consumer spending. The economy requires that this family spend. And they have nothing left over after the necessities. No tax cut to business or the wealthy is going to solve this. We have to re-vamp the tax code and the Finance structure to make it more worthwhile to pay workers in America a living wage than to play abstract paper-pushing casino games in the global finance markets, or to arbitrage cheap labor in foreign countries. If we don't, our economy will collapse.

"Everybody receives services from the government" Lets play word games! 49.1% pay NO net FIT and use the services the rest of us pay for! Get it now?" .... perhaps you need to re-read myths #1 and 2.