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Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Boomer with Attitude / News IRS: Richest Americans pay 1/3 what they did 50 years ago
Posted By John Grooms on Tue, May 17, 2011 at 2:36 PM
With so many people freaking out over the possibility of higher taxes, we want to point out one relevant fact, primarily pertinent to the federal budget: The wealthiest 400 Americans, whose income averages $270.5 million per year, pay next to nothing in income taxes.
That’s what the IRS revealed in a report last week, according to an eye-opening story from Alternet. The article shows that although the richest Americans today, when incomes are adjusted for inflation, make more than 20 times the incomes of America’s wealthiest citizens 50 years ago, they only pay about one-third, in terms of percentage of income, of what the super-wealthy paid in taxes a half century ago.
Another fact from the IRS report: “After taxes, and after adjusting for inflation, 2008’s top 400 had a staggering $85 billion more left in their pockets than 1955’s (wealthiest Americans).” These 400 Americans alone can’t make up for national debt problems on their own, of course, but they’re certainly the best place to start — as well as the best way to improve the mood of the average American who is justifiably feeling he or she is, to put if frankly, getting screwed left and right these days. For other ideas to cut the deficit without gouging the Average Joe or Jessica, you may be interested in reading “Be like Ronald Reagan, and raise corporate taxes,” and our lengthier “Serious deficit reduction: a liberal plan.” Here is a chart, comparing taxes paid by the super-wealthy since 1955.
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