Why are you voting or not voting for Barack Obama?

[Tispower1]

HappySqurriel said:

Paul_Warren said:

 

"In the United States the "Wealthy" pay a disproportionately large ammount of the taxes, which means that you can raise taxes without rasining them for people under a certain income level."

 

Perhaps, but do they pay the same proportion of the income that they  do receive in taxes as do the poor?  eg.  If I'm making $15,000.00 a year as  my total salary, but I have to pay close to $3,000.00 a year in taxes which is 1/5 of my total income, then are the wealthy also paying 1/5 of their total income each year in taxes?  Do Bill Gates or some of these oil barons pay $5-6 billion each year in taxes?

This is the tax rate by income level for a single person in the United States:

$0 to $8,025: 10%
$8,025 to $32,550: 15%
$32,550 to $78,850: 25%
$78,850 to $164,550: 28%
$164,550 to $357,700: 33%
$357,700 and above: 35%

So as I said before, they pay a disproportionately large portion of the taxes already.

Now, there are no oil barrons left in the world! Oil companies are large publicly traded corporations that are heavily used by pension funds and retirement investments; the constant attacks on oil companies is really attacks on your Grandmother's retirement income. As for Bill Gates and other CEOs of large corporations, they are taxed on their income just like everyone else who earns a similar income ... He doesn't pay taxes based on his investment's value unless he sells it for a profit; in which case he pays capital-gains tax on the profit he earned.

 

Man, when I leave university I have to go to the US, we have to pay 40% income tax over £36k