[ancient_geezer]

It relies on self reporting when gathering information and admits a significant margin of error.

Hmmm, ever wonder why large groups of people would not tell the government how much they make in income?

 

Table 2. Income before taxes:
Average annual expenditures and characteristics, Consumer Expenditure Survey, 2001

Complete reporting of income a/

Item	Total complete reporting	Less than $5,000	$5,000 to $9,999	$10,000 to $14,999	$15,000 to $19,999	$20,000 to $29,999	$30,000 to $39,999	$40,000 to $59,999	$50,000 to $69,999	$70,000 and over
Households (thousands)	88,735	4,100	6,829	8,099	7,014	12,075	10,508	8,737	12,480	18,892
Income before taxes b/	$47,507	$1,666	$7,675	$12,380	$17,282	$24,494	$34,456	$44,418	$58,943	$113,978
Income after taxes b/	$44,587	$1,528	$7,678	$12,388	$17,086	$23,924	$33,047	$42,362	$55,572	$104,685
Average annual expenditures	$41,395	$20,517	$16,625	$20,642	$25,028	$28,623	$35,430	$40,900	$50,136	$76,124
Net change in total Assets & Liabilities	-$3,853	$436	-$1	-$675	-$1,174	-$868	-$2,020	-$3,110	-$12,805	-$5,912
Net Change in total Assets	$4,144	$2,299	$2,746	$696	-$263	$2,665	$2,966	$5,656	-$238	$11,962
Net Change in total liabilities	$8,002	$1,863	$2,748	$1,371	$1,371	$3,533	$4,985	$8,766	$12,567	$17,874

 

Never mind, that's just a rhetorical question in a thread about reforming the income/payroll tax system ;O)

[Principled]

HTML king - nice job.

People DO spend up to the poverty level - even if they don't report near as much in earnings.

What does that say about the number of people who have negative tax rates under the income tax compared to the number that will have negative tax rates under the nrst?

Seems that the nrst will greatly reduce redistribution.