Daring Anyone To Be Surprised By This
Salon's Andrew Leonard
posted a short piece in the vein of one of my favorite rants -- that America's extremely wealthy have done so very, very well, while the rest of us can live on Alpo -- if we can afford it -- for all they care.
Or, not: This useless level of human
traif "doesn't give two fucks" (as Bela Lugosi [Martin Landau] in the film 'Ed Wood', noted) whether we live or die.
Leonard's post was prompted by another article,
Tax Rates for Top 400 Earners Fall as Income Soars, from
Tax.com, by David Cay Johnston (former tax reporter for the
New York Times and a member of the faculty at Syracuse University College of Law). Apparently, Johnston noted, the top 400 families in America, "who boasted an average income of $344.8 million, paid an effective tax rate of 16.2 percent".
The long-term data show [Johnston said]
that under current tax and economic rules, the incomes of the top earners rise when the economy expands and contract during recessions, only to rise again.
Their effective income tax rate fell to 16.62 percent, down more than half a percentage point from 17.17 percent in 2006, the new data show. That rate is lower than the typical effective income tax rate paid by Americans with incomes in the low six figures...(An amount in the low six figures, incidentally, "is what each taxpayer in the top group earned in the
first three hours of 2007. [
emphasis added])
What this means is, on an
annual income of $345,000,000 (rounded up, this was the median earnings of Our Elders And Betters), these, uh, people paid roughly $37,000,000 in taxes. Leaving them with
Three Hundred and Eight Million Dollars (about $26,000,000 a month, or a net $162,500 per hour @ 20 working days/month).
Now, let's look at another income: A family of two, earning $71,000 in straight, wage income, will pay a roughly 33% tax rate -- or, about $23,400. Leaving them with roughly $47,500 (about $3,964 a month, or a net $24.77 per hour @ 20 working days/month).
What would be fairer; a Flat Tax? No; not at all. A progressive tax, with a 50% upper limit for the useless, parasitical, inbred scum? Well... that would be a good start...
But, all that wasn't the really fun part of the
Salon article:
The annual top 400 report was first made public by the Clinton administration, but the George W. Bush administration shut down access to the report. Its release was resumed a year ago when President Obama took office.
Because you know [Leonard said],
if you are going to reward the richest Americans with tax cuts, it's best if you keep the rest of us in the dark as to just how much money they're making, and how little they are paying Uncle Sam.This is an impressive crowd of the haves, and -- have mores.
[laughter] Some people call you the elite; I call ya my base.
-- George W. Bush, 2002
