Via cnn.com there's a Fortune Magazine Article about "high earners" getting taxed too hard. The short summary is that people earning $250,000 plus a year are paying a heavier tax burden than the rest of us, and that they'll suffer more under upcoming tax plans.
They give us some families as examples. Some are putting more than $100,000 per year into retirement savings. Others are "pouring money" into their 401(k)s. Others are spending $50,000 per year per kid to send their kids to Cornell University.
Apparently there's hardships for each of them if their taxes go up. You know, like retiring at 57 maybe instead of 55. Or maybe making the kids pay for some of their college.
As the sole "breadwinner" in a single-income family struggling to afford good schools for our own kids, you'd think I'd have deep sympathy for their struggles.
But these are dual income families. Attourneys, CEOs, engineers, senior managers, financial planners. Families with more than $250,000 in cash savings.
The same article shows a table comparing tax burdens by income bracket. The $200-500,000 bracket they're focusing on is 2.3% of all taxpayers, but 17% of all taxes paid. They highlight that on their table. There are two lines they don't highlight. At the top of their table. 66% of all tax payers are in the under $50,000 bracket. They pay 8% of the total tax. 22% are in the 50-100,000 brakcet. That's 88% of taxpayers at 100,000 or less per year.
Take everyone above 200,000. They're 2.93% of the taxpayers. They pay 54% of all taxes. That is quite a disparity.
Do those people pay more than their "fair share"? Yeah, probably.
Do I have any sympathy for them? I don't think so. Then again, we haven't finsihed unpacking all the boxes in our living room, so I guess you never know. Not long ago I found the iron we'd been looking for for months...
Posted by fictionman at October 27, 2008 12:05 PM | TrackBack (0)