Saturday, October 08, 2022

Who is rich, and who pays the taxes in the USA?

In response to a Democrat on Facebook who slavishly follows his party line about taxes, border, religious freedom, education, political motives, abortion, etc. here's the truth about federal tax cuts in 2017 (aka, Trump presidency and his keeping his word to the voters)

"Income data published by the IRS clearly show that on average all income brackets benefited substantially from the Republicans' tax reform law, with the biggest beneficiaries being working and middle-income filers, not the top 1 percent, as so many Democrats have argued.
A careful analysis of the IRS tax data, one that includes the effects of tax credits and other reforms to the tax code, shows that filers with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $15,000 to $50,000 enjoyed an average tax cut of 16 percent to 26 percent in 2018, the first year Republicans' Tax Cuts and Jobs Act went into effect and the most recent year for which data is available.

Filers who earned $50,000 to $100,000 received a tax break of about 15 percent to 17 percent, and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 in adjusted gross income saw their personal income taxes cut by around 11 percent to 13 percent." (From Yahoo news via The Hill, Dec. 24, 2021)
 
Although any tax cut benefits the rich since they pay over 70% of the federal income tax and the lowest income receive wealth transfers and 50% don't pay any federal taxes. With the Trump administration tax cut the top 1% who pay over 40% of the taxes saw their average rates fall to 25.4% from 26.8%. 

They make the most money--it's incredible how well millionaires can do in the USA, but they pay far more than their "fair share" and Democrats just want to drive them out of the country. Every president since I've been voting (JFK, 1960) has brought in more taxes to support some pretty odd and bizarre programs by reducing taxes, not punishing the successful. Biden wants to punish success, and although he puts "rich" at $400,000, we know he lies and doesn't keep his word.

"Rich" is a relative term. But if you're talking income from salary and not "wealth" you need to be earning $350,000 to be comfortably rich in an expensive or coastal city. (That's virtually all of Congress and "think tank" CEOs in DC.) And if you do and you are a family of 4, contribute to a 401k, pay federal and state and local taxes, plus FICA and take a child credit, you're paying $92,160 (32%) in taxes. And you can see the upward creep in taxes at https://www.financialsamurai.com/how-much-income-do-you.../ 

Democrats in Congress, the most overpaid and underworked Americans, lusting for more money to fund their socialist programs like climate change and woke capitalism, are mad that the rich actually made a lot more money with a tax cut that was smaller than the middle class. Duh! They didn't get rich by being stupid. Maybe they took that savings and invested it in stocks, or bought a new income property or paid off some high interest loans, or started a small company. The tax cuts made no difference to the low income or the no-income. You can't take away from zero. In the USA you can earn over $50,000 a year yet with Earned Income Tax Credits, the government will give you another $5,000 if you have 2 children and you pay NO taxes. No wonder people jump the border to get here.

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