Question about the 1% and taxes... (Poll Fixed)

[GabonX]

In your opinion, approximately what percentage of total tax revenue collected by government should be payed by the wealthiest 1% of Americans? The question pertains to the percentage of total taxes collected, not what percentage of income should be collected (ie if the government obtains 1 trillion dollars from taxes in a given year, what percentage of that trillion should com from the wealthiest 1% of American citizens).

Curious to see your responses...

** I made a mistake in the original poll by adding the option "20%-30% of all taxes should be contributed by the wealthiest 1% of Americans" twice. Participants of the thread may recast their votes as the poll has been corrected to only include the option once.

[Frigidus]

If I'm remembering right, the top 1% own something like 40% of the country's net wealth (that we know of, that is). That said, I'd say they should be paying at least that much in taxes. Personally, I'm opting for even more than that. More than 50%.

[saxitoxin]

1%

but that wasn't an option so I voted 10-20%

[comic boy]

What percentage do they currently contribute ?

[bedub1]

If I'm remembering right, the top 1% own something like 40% of the country's net wealth (that we know of, that is). That said, I'd say they should be paying at least that much in taxes. Personally, I'm opting for even more than that. More than 50%.

I agree. The internet states they have 40% of the wealth, so I voted for 40-50%.

[Frigidus]

The top 400 U.S. individual taxpayers got 1.59% of the nation’s household income in 2007, according to their tax returns, three times the slice they got in the 1990s, according to the Internal Revenue Service. They paid 2.05% of all individual income taxes in that year.

In its annual update of the taxes paid by the 400 best-off taxpayers, who aren’t identified, the IRS also said that only 220 of the top 400 were in the top marginal tax bracket. The 400 best-off taxpayers paid an average tax rate of 16.6%, lower than in any year since the IRS began making the reports in 1992.

To make the top 400, a taxpayer had to have income of more than $138.8 million. As a group, the top 400 reported $137.9 billion in income, and paid $22.9 billion in federal income taxes.

About 81.3% of the income of the top 400 households came in the form of capital gains, dividends or interest, the IRS data show. Only 6.5% came in the form of salaries and wages.

Over the past 16 tax years 3,472 different taxpayers showed up in the top 400 at least once. Of these taxpayers, a little
more than 27% appear more than once. In any given year, about 40% percent of the top-400 returns were filed by taxpayers who weren’t in that exclusive club in any of the 15 years .

The source the above quote was using came from http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/07intop400.pdf. Surely we want the richest households in the country to pay more than 17%?

[saxitoxin]

What percentage do they currently contribute ?

Top 1% - 37%
Top 5% - 59%
Top 10% - 70%

http://www.ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays- ... taxes.html

Those figures are deceptive, though, as they only include federal income tax, and not other taxes, like sales tax, which would necessarily be spread more evenly.

[Phatscotty]

I think the bottom 50% should at least account for chipping in 1% of the costs

[GabonX]

I made a mistake by adding the poll option "20%-30% of all taxes should be contributed by the wealthiest 1% of Americans" twice. Participants of the thread may recast their votes as the poll has been corrected to only include the option once.

[PLAYER57832]

In your opinion, approximately what percentage of total tax revenue collected by government should be payed by the wealthiest 1% of Americans? The question pertains to the percentage of total taxes collected, not what percentage of income should be collected (ie if the government obtains 1 trillion dollars from taxes in a given year, what percentage of that trillion should com from the wealthiest 1% of American citizens).

Curious to see your responses...

** I made a mistake in the original poll by adding the option "20%-30% of all taxes should be contributed by the wealthiest 1% of Americans" twice. Participants of the thread may recast their votes as the poll has been corrected to only include the option once.

First, you would have to sepcify the percentage of US income garnered by that 1%. I can google it, of course, but that is critical to answering this.

Second, the type of income matters. Currently, our systems basically says that if you plop down some money you have lying around and give it to someone else to use temporarily, then any income you gain is much more important, should not be taxes as heavily as wages people earn at any job.

Thirdly, before considering real income, you have to deduct basic costs of living.. but I mean BASIC. Just because someone has a million dollar house does not mean that their mortgage payment is a "basic" expense. The base rental/mortgage rate in an area, to contrast, is. You also have to add in various perks. This includes direct perks like tax deductions only available to certain groups, and more tangential benefits such as not having to pay for an armoured jeep because there are safe, reasonably secure highways, along with things like not having to fully train your workforce from scratch because there is a decent educational system in the country.

[GabonX]

First, you would have to sepcify the percentage of US income garnered by that 1%. I can google it, of course, but that is critical to answering this.

I don't have to specify anything, but it is your responsibility to find tangible answers if you wish to be informed.

Second, the type of income matters. Currently, our systems basically says that if you plop down some money you have lying around and give it to someone else to use temporarily, then any income you gain is much more important, should not be taxes as heavily as wages people earn at any job.

Thirdly, before considering real income, you have to deduct basic costs of living.. but I mean BASIC. Just because someone has a million dollar house does not mean that their mortgage payment is a "basic" expense. The base rental/mortgage rate in an area, to contrast, is. You also have to add in various perks. This includes direct perks like tax deductions only available to certain groups, and more tangential benefits such as not having to pay for an armoured jeep because there are safe, reasonably secure highways, along with things like not having to fully train your workforce from scratch because there is a decent educational system in the country.

If you wish to participate in this thread, please answer the question presented in the OP. You may use any relevant information you find to support your views, but please refrain from insinuation.

[Phatscotty]

If I may ask, what formula are people using to decide what the fair share of the 1% is? How are people deciding?

[bedub1]

If I may ask, what formula are people using to decide what the fair share of the 1% is? How are people deciding?

It was easy for me. They have 40% of the wealth, they pay 40% of the taxes. The 99% has 60% of the wealth, they should pay 60% of the taxes.

[Phatscotty]

If I may ask, what formula are people using to decide what the fair share of the 1% is? How are people deciding?

It was easy for me. They have 40% of the wealth, they pay 40% of the taxes. The 99% has 60% of the wealth, they should pay 60% of the taxes.

What kind of tax rate does that mean for the 1%?

[Phatscotty]

FYI, I cannot vote in the poll. I am a believer in equality.

I think everyone should pay the same rate (no discrimination), so I'm not sure what that would amount to as far as % of all taxes paid, but I would hope the rate would be between 15-18%.

[bedub1]

If I may ask, what formula are people using to decide what the fair share of the 1% is? How are people deciding?

It was easy for me. They have 40% of the wealth, they pay 40% of the taxes. The 99% has 60% of the wealth, they should pay 60% of the taxes.

What kind of tax rate does that mean for the 1%?

That's impossible to answer without far more information. What do you mean of "taxes"? Money collected each year? Money spent each year? Do you want to pay down the debt? Do you want to increase spending, or decrease spending? With or without a deficit? Are you excluding all taxes, and now the only taxes are these two numbers...the % the 1% pays and the % the 99% pays? Do corporations still pay taxes?

Reading your question again:

what percentage of total tax revenue collected by government should be payed by the wealthiest 1% of Americans? The question pertains to the percentage of total taxes collected, not what percentage of income should be collected (ie if the government obtains 1 trillion dollars from taxes in a given year, what percentage of that trillion should com from the wealthiest 1% of American citizens).

The answer is I have no clue. How about 0%. People shouldn't pay taxes, only corporations. How about 40% like I said before, corporations shouldn't pay taxes, only people. Oh wait..corporations ARE people. How about 100%.

EDIT: Do you want to narrow your question, to "taxes taken from US citizens" and exclude business's? When a sole proprietorship is taxed, do you consider that the person paying taxes or the business?

[Phatscotty]

How about I narrow it down to this.

How do we get to where you suggest we go?

[BigBallinStalin]

If I may ask, what formula are people using to decide what the fair share of the 1% is? How are people deciding?

It was easy for me. They have 40% of the wealth, they pay 40% of the taxes. The 99% has 60% of the wealth, they should pay 60% of the taxes.

Hahaha, that was good!

Thank Allah you're not in the public policy circles.

[bedub1]

I think what would help the most, is to modify the way "capital gains" are taxed. If you work, then you get taxed at income tax rate. If you let your money work for you, you pay capital gains tax. What should happen, is if you let your money work for you, you pay capital gains tax, and THEN you pay income tax. That way a rich person that works for their money pays 35% tax rate, and a rich person that doesn't work for their money pays 15%+35%=50%. That would fix most problems.