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Examiner Editorial: If top 5% paid 40% of taxes, what is their 'fair' share?
Washington Examiner ^ | Sunday, November 25, 2012

Posted on 11/25/2012 5:22:42 AM PST by upchuck

Riding a wave of confidence after his re-election victory, President Obama is eager to collect scalps from the class war he appears to have won. Americans, Obama said in his postelection news conference earlier this month, "want to make sure that middle-class folks aren't bearing the entire burden and sacrifice when it comes to some of these big challenges. They expect that folks at the top are doing their fair share as well." House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., echoed this point in a fundraising pitch sent out on Monday: "Voters sent a clear message to Republicans in the election: we must stand up for the middle class and ensure the wealthy pay their fair share."

Although Obama and his fellow Democrats repeatedly call on wealthier Americans to pay their "fair share," they never specify what percentage of the nation's tax burden the wealthy would have to bear. As matters stand, the top 1 percent of American households paid 39 percent of income taxes in 2009, according to the most recent data compiled by the Congressional Budget Office, and the top 5 percent of taxpayers paid 64 percent.

But income taxes, taken in isolation, do not tell the whole story, because lower-income Americans do pay payroll taxes. But even taking into account all forms of taxation, the top 1 percent still paid 22 percent of federal taxes while earning just 13.4 percent of household income. The top 5 percent paid 40 percent of all federal taxes, despite earning only 26 percent of all income. No matter how you slice the numbers, it's hard to understand why anyone would think the wealthy aren't already shouldering a burden commensurate with their blessings.

In the next few weeks, Obama will keep repeating this "fair share" language as part of his call to raise taxes on those earning more than $250,000 per year. He also wants to close additional loopholes and limit deductions to increase their tax burden further. But bear this in mind: On top of whatever new taxes go into effect in the deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff, there will be additional new taxes due to Obama's national health care law. These include a 0.9 percent Medicare tax hike for individuals earning more than $200,000 per year and couples earning more than $250,000 as well as a 3.8 percent surtax on investment income.

Moreover, even if Obama gets his way on all of his tax hikes on the wealthy, it still won't make a dent in the $16.3 trillion national debt. Later in his term, once he has blown all of the new revenue with spending increases and goes back to this well for still more revenues, will the media let Obama get away with claiming the wealthy aren't paying their "fair share" once again, without specifying what constitutes fairness?


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: 40; fairshare; success; tax; taxes
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To: upchuck

Don’t even play that game. The problem is that the govt. is too big and spends too much. And they have mismanaged things like Social Security.


21 posted on 11/25/2012 6:35:35 AM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: econjack
We are just not clueing into the rules for life as the Democrats and liberals want it to be. Summarizing:

You are not allowed to distinguish yourself by your efforts, or have more than ‘the people’. If you have more, it is legitimate to confiscate it from you for redistribution, because after all - you didn't earn that. If you worked hard and put money away, that money isn't yours, and if you are allowed to keep some it should be taxed again when you save it, and then again if you try to give it to your children - even when you die. This is called ‘fair’.

There are, of course, a few allowable paths for distinguishing yourself as an ‘elite’. It is allowed to make oneself ‘better’ than others by being either a 1) successful politician, 2) entertainer, 3) sports star, 4) ‘news’ pundit (as long as you report the party line), and probably 5) attorneys (as long as they continue to vote democrat and give lots of money to the DNC). Occasionally exceptions will be made for some corporate people who tow the line.

The rest of us are supposed to accept our inferior status as an equal within the masses, and to idolize those in the select groups above - cheering and fawning over them, reading articles about them, etc. etc. We are also supposed to work hard for the ‘common good’ as defined by those in the elite groups, but to not have personal ambition.

Get it?

22 posted on 11/25/2012 6:36:23 AM PST by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: upchuck

To hear Nancy Pelosi the richest scumbag in the House say raise taxes on the rich is a damned insult.

Nancy the richest woman in the Congress gets a full retirement if she ever retires, perks we only dream about, does not have to belong to Obamacare, and writes her own loopholes into the bills.Nancy isn’t going to pay more. Nancy whose business dealings do not include the Union, but who gets the support of the Unions.

Listening to this crone light up about the rich paying more just pisses me off to no end.


23 posted on 11/25/2012 6:39:56 AM PST by Venturer
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To: upchuck

The bottom 50% that pays only 2.3% of the tax burden could care less what some ‘rich’ guy pays. Whatever it is, it should be more, because they’re still not ‘getting paid’.

This class of so-called Americans are nothing more than naive socialists that have not yet been compelled to feed the socialist machine with anything other than their votes.

The peasants in Russia 1917 later found out what their ‘commitment’ was - forced labor, directed housing, jobs chosen for them, pay rates chosen for them, etc.

The dirty little secret is that the liberal elite machine knows full well they cannot sustain their eventual utopia with a constiuency existing only to sponge off society - they will have to be compelled to work and live and think as they’re told for the good of the collective.

Garbagemen, sh!t shovelers, muck rakers and the like won’t be extinct jobs and some of these idiots will be selected for those jobs. It couldn’t happen to a more deserving group of self-serving, selfish, mean, unpatriotic, mindscrewed group of individuals that have no right to call themselves American.


24 posted on 11/25/2012 6:51:19 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: Pearls Before Swine

Spot on.


25 posted on 11/25/2012 6:52:23 AM PST by SueRae (It isn't over. In God We Trust.)
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To: upchuck

What’s their fair share? In his mind, about twice as much as they pay now. But he forgets that the rich are usually able to take their money and run. Many doctors are now retiring and are not being replaced. Physicians have prosperous, have saved and invested—so many of them—that they can now retire and enjoy. They can even choose the country of their choice, such as Costa Rica, Belize, and even places like New Zealand and Australia and Singapore. What is true of physicians is even more true of the truly Rich.


26 posted on 11/25/2012 6:56:07 AM PST by RobbyS (Christus rex.)
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To: ctdonath2
they can’t and won’t quantify and articulate what they mean - because the system is already fair, and they just don’t like it.

How dare you! The system is most certainly NOT fair!! The reason your friend cannot reply is because he knows this, and he knows it is unfair in the direction that HE prefers. The fact that you call the system "already fair" means that he has already won, and he is at least smart enough to know to not say anything to mess that up.

27 posted on 11/25/2012 6:57:31 AM PST by Teacher317 ('Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss.)
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To: Aevery_Freeman

tax the poor. let them pay their fair share.. overall flat tax. if you don’t pay income tax you can’t vote with provisions for retirees who may not have “income”.


28 posted on 11/25/2012 7:04:09 AM PST by bravo whiskey
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To: C210N

Well, maybe not as bad as that, maybe only as bad as Fabian Britain. Though the Labourites have not always held power since 1945, they have successfully left the native peoples permanently poor. While the Germans were rebuilding their country during the first quarter century after the war, and by 1970, were beginning to enjoy general prosperity, The Brits have not. Thatcher economics boasted the country, but the people had lost the work habit, which is one reason why the “coloureds” began to come into the country to do the jobs the people avoided because they could live as well on the dole.


29 posted on 11/25/2012 7:10:38 AM PST by RobbyS (Christus rex.)
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To: pepsionice

To a degree, this is what has been happening.


30 posted on 11/25/2012 7:12:32 AM PST by RobbyS (Christus rex.)
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To: sten

“either way, firing or not-hiring any/all liberals is an imperative”
*********
That may be a useful tactic but the deeper, more fundamental post-election problem we now face is the irreconcilable incompatibility between socialism, with its belief in government control, versus capitalism and personal freedoms. It appears that the voting alignments in this country no longer favor the latter. We need a solution that goes beyond “Going Galt”.


31 posted on 11/25/2012 7:18:57 AM PST by Starboard
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To: upchuck
We should have an entertainment tax and stick It to those Hollywood bastards who are so enamored with the Kenyan!! I'd say 50% so they could set the example!!
32 posted on 11/25/2012 7:23:48 AM PST by ontap
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To: Teacher317

It will never be “enough”.
******
That is an absolute truth. To liberals, there is no limit on the size of government or the amount of control it has. Bear in mind that many liberals do not even want a national debt ceiling. The government has never seen a program it didn’t like. Government expands; that’s what it does.


33 posted on 11/25/2012 7:27:04 AM PST by Starboard
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To: sten
in part, you would radically cut spending to hurt the beast as best you can

Right on. I won't say how much I make, although I made a damn' good living. For the past 4 years, we've pretty much only purchased food and clothing. When something breaks, we fix it - as cheaply as we can. If we can't fix it, we question whether or not we even need it before we replace it.

In the case of replacing something, it has to be something we require as part of our daily lives. In this instance, we've replaced TWO broken items in our home that I could not fix. Both of those items totalled less than $400.

My wife's vehicle, a Honda Odyssey minivan is a 2008 model purchased in August, 2007. My vehicle is a 2003 GMC Envoy Denali. Both are in good running shape (praying the GMC stays that way) and require nothing more than gas and oil changes at this point. One of them will need new tires in about a year, which I'll have to replace - as cheaply as possible.

In the last four years I've learned to repair TV's, Dishwashers, Washing Machines, Dryers, my Furnace, lawnmower, basic home repairs, and basic automobile maintenance. I don't know how much I've saved doing these things myself - probably well into the thousands. Previously I'd have replaced the dishwasher, dryer, washer, lawn mower, etc.. I'd also have previously called someone else to do the home repairs.

Not anymore. There's alot of satisfaction in becoming more and more self sufficient and keeping my own money while screwing "the man."

I forgot ... I purchased a few new weapons in the last year. Don't remember how much they cost but it was all for nothing as they were lost in a tragic fishing accident.

34 posted on 11/25/2012 7:33:52 AM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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Thanks Vintage Freeper for posting this:

Debt Ceiling Debate in a Nutshell | Creators.com | 07/29/2011 | Chip Bok | Posted on 07/30/2011 12:12:11 PM PDT by Vintage Freeper

35 posted on 11/25/2012 7:34:00 AM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks upchuck. Have a great day, all!


36 posted on 11/25/2012 7:34:00 AM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: ctdonath2

To a liberal, “fair” means assuaging their envy of people more successful than them which can never be satisfied.


37 posted on 11/25/2012 7:36:31 AM PST by garbanzo (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine)
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To: upchuck

I wonder when the list of exemptions will begin to appear? I’m sure there are some who will not see another die of their money go to the public coffers. They are the connected ones.


38 posted on 11/25/2012 7:37:53 AM PST by Shery (in APO Land)
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To: Gaffer

“The dirty little secret is that the liberal elite machine knows full well they cannot sustain their eventual utopia with a constiuency existing only to sponge off society”
*********
We have long since passed the point of being able to pay down the debt with taxes from the Makers. Can’t be done now. Spending HAS to be cut. And the Takers who are accusomed to sponging off society will be shocked when that reality bites them.


39 posted on 11/25/2012 7:40:00 AM PST by Starboard
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To: C210N

“With no upper class”

There would be an upper class, namely, those running the government. There’s always an upper class.


40 posted on 11/25/2012 7:43:02 AM PST by cymbeline
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