A friend of mine suggested that we let everyone see the video that is included in the following link: http://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2?g=2&c=la3
Wealth distribution is tricky as it relies upon facts and interpretation of them. We welcome comments and look forward to hearing from each of you and getting your view of the issue.
Conservative Tom
Wealth distribution is tricky as it relies upon facts and interpretation of them. We welcome comments and look forward to hearing from each of you and getting your view of the issue.
Conservative Tom
The only thing missing is some historical context...
ReplyDelete"The top income tax rates have changed considerably since the end of World War II. Throughout the late-1940s and 1950s, the top marginal tax rate was typically above 90%; today it is 35%. Additionally, the top capital gains tax rate was 25% in the 1950s and 1960s, 35% in the 1970s; today it is 15%. The average tax rate faced by the top 0.01% of taxpayers was above 40% until the mid-1980s; today it is below 25%. Tax rates affecting taxpayers at the top of the income distribution are currently at their lowest levels since the end of the second World War.
The results of the analysis suggest that changes over the past 65 years in the top marginal tax rate and the top capital gains tax rate do not appear correlated with economic growth. The reduction in the top tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment, and productivity growth. The top tax rates appear to have little or no relation to the size of the economic pie. However, the top tax rate reductions appear to be associated with the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution.
As measured by IRS data, the share of income accruing to the top 0.1% of U.S. families increased from 4.2% in 1945 to 12.3% by 2007 before falling to 9.2% due to the 2007-2009 recession. At the same time, the average tax rate paid by the top 0.1% fell from over 50% in 1945 to about 25% in 2009. Tax policy could have a relation to how the economic pie is sliced—lower top tax rates may be associated with greater income disparities. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/business/questions-raised-on-withdrawal-of-congressional-research-services-report-on-tax-rates.html
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So, now we have every Republican in Congress swearing on his mother's grave that we can't afford to cut ONE DIME of the trillion in tax expenditures that the government lavishes on the 1%. Why? Because Wall Street now runs this country. People need to start recognizing this fact and stop waiting for Democrats/Republicans to solve the problem. They are not the solution; they are part of the problem. Nearly all of them bow to the wishes of the 1%.
--David (OWS)