Democracy Has Prevailed.

July 12, 2012

Hey, Tea Partiers! Guess What?

From the Washington Post:
Americans paid the lowest tax rates in 30 years to the federal government in 2009, in part because of tax cuts President Obama sought to combat the Great Recession, congressional budget analysts said Tuesday.

A sharp decline in income — especially among the wealthiest Americans, who pay the highest tax rates — also played a role, according to the report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Household income fell 12 percent on average from 2007 to 2009, with income among the top 1 percent of earners decreasing by more than a third.

Still, at the very moment anti-tax protesters were emerging as the most powerful force in American politics, handing Republicans landslide control of the U.S. House, the data show that people were sending the smallest portion of their income to the federal government since 1979.

During Obama’s first year in office, the average tax rate paid by all households fell to 17.4 percent, down from 19.9 percent in 2007, according to the CBO. The 2009 rate was significantly lower than the previous low of 19.4 percent in 2003 and well below the 30-year average of 21 percent.
Something to chew on for a Thursday Morning.

11 comments:

Social Justice NPC Anti-Paladin™ said...

Check out page 29 of the linked report.
If you increase the number of people at the bottom paying 0%, the overall tax rate will go down.

Conservative Mountaineer said...

@HTTT..

And, if Barack Hussein Obama keeps it up, the rate will continue to fall... because we'll ALL be out of work and pay no taxes!

Blue Number 2 said...

Those folks at the bottom are paying less thanks to the tax cuts you guys love that Bush put into place. So hate on the poor all you want but your guy put the cuts in place that have absolved them from federal income tax.

But that's an aside and you know it. Tax rates are at their lowest. Contrary to your protestations, Obama hasn't raised taxes on anyone. He's decreased rates thanks to that so called stimulus bill. Everyone got a reduction in taxes and there were additional targeted tax breaks (I availed myself of one when I bought a car in 2009).

And, payroll taxes were cut which reduced the tax burden yet again for everyone.

So scream all you want but the facts show that federal income tax rates are lower now than they were under Bush and even Reagan.

Social Justice NPC Anti-Paladin™ said...

B#2
I don't hate the poor. I just want everyone to pay lower tax rates.
CBO Report Confirms Rich Already Pay Their “Fair Share”

EdHeath said...

HTTT, the Republican party does not want everyone to pay lower tax rates, they only want the rich to pay lower tax rates. They want the middle class and the poor to pay more, and get less from the government. The Republicans (and you) want to abolish all unions, including but not limited to public service unions. The Republicans then want to abolish all worker safety rules, and at least according to Newt Gingrich bring back child labor. Certainly Republicans want to eliminate publicly regulated college loans and presumably in fact all banking regulations; they want to make usury legal again. Thus college education will once again be something only the rich can afford (maybe its something that will allowed for "party members", much like things were done in the Soviet Union). In point of fact, the Republicans (still) want to do away with the Democratic Party; maybe they will allow the hollow shell of the Democratic Party to exist, but it will have no money and forever be a minority party (the minority being the bottom 90% who have the minority of the money).

It's interesting how income can be parsed in so many ways. Mitt Romney had income of 21 million in 2010, or income of zero. He didn't draw a paycheck, but there those interest carryover thingies and dividends, and so on. Mitt Romney's effective tax rate was something like 14%. He may or may not pay property taxes and state and local taxes, depending on some of his investments and local rules (also his "income" may not have been taxable for state and local purposes). So a Garfield resident pays at least 6 more percent of his/her income in taxes than Mitt Romney.

Then there is the corporate tax rate, which Republicans routinely intone is the highest in the industrialized world. The next highest is maybe a percent less, but whatever. And Exon doesn't pay any corporate taxes, and gets subsidies from the government. But whatever, it's not fair.

You can say you want everyone to pay lower tax rates. To do that we will have to abolish a lot of the government, including Social Security and Medicare, but I am sure the elderly will happily give up these programs so that everyone can pay lower tax rates. We could "privatize" the programs, then the elderly would be forced to pay insurance companies for those programs, giving the companies higher profits even while Republicans reduced their tax rates. And the names Social Security and Medicare would still exist, even though now they would be a forced transfer of money from the elderly to the rich.

But I think you would find that in order to keep are huge military, you would have to keep some taxes higher. Let's see, whose taxes to raise? Well the rich already pay too much, let's keep the old tax rates for the poor and middle class (or even raise them). Oh, wait, that's the Ryan budget. Well, then we're set. Will just flip Obama's plan, and let the Bush tax cuts expire for everyone making less than $250,000. It's the patriotic duty of the poor and the middle class, just as "Avoiding Taxes Like Mitt Romney Is ‘Really American’" according to a senior Republican.

Social Justice NPC Anti-Paladin™ said...

The Republicans (and you) want to abolish all unions, including but not limited to public service unions.

A Cop's Life (Through An Arbitrator's Eyes)
And why wouldn't he be? The sanctity of public sector unionism remains untainted by the firing of a bad cop.

EdHeath said...

Yeah, HTTT, this guy Denton should be fired, and stay fired. And because he is one bad cop protected by one FOP union, all public service unions and also all unions period should be disbanded. That is apparently your position (since your response to my comment was to link to that one post). And apparently you don't disagree with anything else I said, you really do want to raise taxes for the poor and middle class, end all government aid for the poor and middle class, lower taxes for the rich and corporations (how low? 10%? 5%? 0%?) and continue or perhaps increase subsidies to the rich and corporations.

EdHeath said...

Just to be clear, I really do think this cop Denton should be fired, based on the post HTTT linked to.

Conservative Mountaineer said...

@Ed..

You missed a few -

Republicans want to bring back slavery. Honest. We do! /sarcasm

Republicans want to take away the woma's right to vote. Honest. /sarcasm (Actually, that would be a good idea as it relates to liberal women. Like Maria. /snort)

Oh, you missed "dirty water", "dirty air", "no OSHA", and "no EPA".

As for elimination of public-sector Unions, including ALL government Unions (e.g., AFSME) and teacher's Unions - RIGHT ON! I'm IN for that. No doubt.

Conservative Mountaineer said...

Waiting for Ed and Maria's heads to explode. You liberals are so much fun tgo make fun of.. you must think you are serious mainstream-types. NOT.

EdHeath said...

Hey CM, at least I don't tell people I am an authority because of my degrees and experience in finance ... and then lie about tax rates.

Typical conservative financial calculations?