Stop Coddling the Super-Rich

[mrstickball]

scottie said:

irstupid said:
I don't get this article

if the rich paid more taxes that won't fix out debt problem at all. WE are tooo far in debt. hell if the rich all paid 100% of their taxes this year, no exception, the debt still would not be even dented.

US deficit is ~15 T, increasing at ~2T a year

 

The top 1% of US earns an average of $380 354/year http://www.financialsamurai.com/2011/04/12/how-much-money-do-the-top-income-earners-make-percent/

These pople pay on average 23.27% tax (same source). Assuming that in this top 1% they all pay that 23.27% rate, then increasing their taxable amount to 100% would give an extra $380 354 * 0.7673 /person/year = $291 845.6 /person/year.

 

With a population of 307 006 550, the top 1% is 3 070 065.5 people. Multiplying these two numbers together gives 0.9 Trillion/year. This is nearly half the increase in deficit. I would certainly describe 45% as a dent.

 

Note. I am not suggesting that this is a sensible idea, please do not assume I am. My point was merely that the statement quoted in this post is incorrect.

Your numbers are way off.

You can't multiply US population by 1% because the 'Top 1%' are actually income earners, and not among the entirety of the general populace.

How many people are actually in the 'Top 1%'? According to The Tax Foundation, an un-biased source of tax information, there are actually 1,400,000 people that filed and were in the top 1%. They paid $392 billion USD in income taxes, or 23% of earnings after all deductions were considered. Therefore, assuming the rest of your math is correct, the actual dent made would be about 20%, not 45%.