Stimulus package? uhh what

You may not have paid income taxes but you paid payroll taxes unless you were employed "under the table". When you factor in that only the first $106,800 in 2009 pay, the economic chasm grows wider and deeper.

 

That is going to take me some time to dig up the stats on again. And yes you are right about overpaying taxes, but depending on their income they were paying after their refund they are probably coming in well below 30% tax paid. I know that I did, and I have very few deductions and what I think is an average income. So the point stands that the wealthy are still paying the majority of the tax burden for the nation, over 75% of it.

The fair tax is proposing that every resident of the country pay a 25% tax based on consumption, every purchase would have your tax assessed from it. Under that system every person in this great country would be paying their share of the burden, based on their respective consumption, the rich will continue to pay a higher dollar amount because they tend to consume more, but the percentage would be the same across the board.

 

Not sure what you mean by the first $106,800. Can you expound a bit?

 

2 facts.

1. lowering taxes increases consumerism which helps the economy
2. I really like pizza.



now send me my $17,000 stimulus check. Papa needs some new toys.

 

Found the stats in 2006 107 million people received a tax refund, that is roughly 33% of the population.

Source: http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/0,,id=102886,00.html

 

Payroll taxes are only paid on the first $106,800 for the 2009 tax season. If you make $1,000,000,000 you would only have a payroll tax liability on $106,800.

 

That may be true but like JoAnna said they may still pay taxes and receive a refund if they withheld more than necessary. Many low income people use this as a defacto savings account. I know I sometimes have more with held than needed so I can receive a refund,

 

Ya I got ahead of myself on the logic there, I am still digging through stats but I believe that the majority of the US pays well below 30% total tax for the year, so the wealthy are still paying 75% of the tax burden.

 

Sounds good but the poor consume more in proportion to their incomes than the rich. Sort of like how a sales tax hits the poor more.

 

I don't know enough about the tax code to discuss this at length (it is currently about 60,000 pages) but I believe that payroll taxes are automatically deducted for that amount. At the end of the year they are still liable for their entire earnings for tax purposes. Like I said I could be wrong but that is my understanding.

 

Okay it still does not justify the point of the rich having a greater responsibility to support the country in relation to everybody else. Simply being rich is not enough of a reason.

 

It is wikipedia so take it with a grain of salt.

The maximum amount subject to Social Security withholding is adjusted for inflation annually.

Year Amount
2001 80,400
2002 84,900
2003 87,000
2004 87,000 (no change)
2005 90,000
2006 94,200
2007 97,500
2008 102,000
2009 106,800

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payroll_tax

 

I think that ceiling refers to Social Security Tax. I believe that all of the income is taxed for federal tax, only SS has a income cap. I could definitely be wrong, like I said the current tax code is over 60,000 pages..

 

I'm not a tax lawyer, man what a crap job that would be.

"The FICA tax is considered a regressive tax on income (with no standard deduction or personal exemption deduction) and is imposed (for the year 2008) only on the first $102,000 of gross wages. The tax is not imposed on investment income (such as interest and dividends)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Insurance_Contributions_Act_tax

So it seems as if the cutoff is the same for Social Security and FICA. Don't know about unemployment tax but I doubt the rich pay that, they can afford to be unemployed for centuries.

 

Interesting.

I stull have to believe that their entire income is taxed in the end, there is no possible way the govt could generate enough revenue only taxing on the frist $102,000. It has to be accounted for the the 1040 at some point, income from every other source is. Basically I don't make enough to tell you defenitively one way ro the other..nowhere near enough..

 

I was talking about payroll taxes above which hit the poor disproportionally.



Income tax is taxed on what you report, or your employer reports.

Income tax rates for singles:

# 10% on income between $0 and $8,025
# 15% on the income between $8,025 and $32,550; plus $802.50
# 25% on the income between $32,550 and $78,850; plus $4,481.25
# 28% on the income between $78,850 and $164,550; plus $16,056.25
# 33% on the income between $164,550 and $357,700; plus $40,052.25
# 35% on the income over $357,700; plus $103,791.75

for married (heterosexual?) couples filing jointly:

# 10% on the income between $0 and $16,050
# 15% on the income between $16,050 and $65,100; plus $1,605.00
# 25% on the income between $65,100 and $131,450; plus $8,962.50
# 28% on the income between $131,450 and $200,300; plus $25,550.00
# 33% on the income between $200,300 and $357,700; plus $44,828.00
# 35% on the income over $357,700; plus $96,770.00

married and filing separately:

# 10% on the income between $0 and $8,025
# 15% on the income between $8,025 and $32,550; plus $802.50
# 25% on the income between $32,550 and $65,725; plus $4,481.25
# 28% on the income between $65,725 and $100,150; plus $12,775.00
# 33% on the income between $100,150 and $178,850; plus $22,414.00
# 35% on the income over $178,850; plus $48,385.00

head of household:


# 10% on the income between $0 and $11,450
# 15% on the income between $11,450 and $43,650; plus $1,145.00
# 25% on the income between $43,650 and $112,650; plus $5,975.00
# 28% on the income between $112,650 and $182,400; plus $23,225.00
# 33% on the income between $182,400 and $357,700; plus $42,755.00
# 35% on the income over $357,700; plus $100,604.00


http://taxes.about.com/od/2008taxes/qt/2008_tax_rates.htm


I believe capital gains is a flat 15%

 

So I guess I don't pay as much in percentage as billionaires do. Sorry Mike you were correct, my apologies. It sure seems like I did especially now when I need to get cracking on 'em!

Of course the rich have tax havens, shelters. writeoffs, etc..

 

It would be nice if capital gains was 15%, last time I had to pay it it was 33%. Which was a real pisser, I was had to pay capital gains on a bonus, that year with the bonus I made $45,000..

 

Well, I think many of us are going to have to agree to disagree.

But I don't care what your party or position on the the stimulus, this is just funny:

"Every month that we do not have an economic recovery package, 500 million Americans lose their jobs. I don't think we can go fast enough." -- "San Fran" Nan Pelosi

Current US population estimates as of today from the official US Census office:
305,750,543

http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en