The Conservative Rant

Wrong-way Obama, does it again!
Taxes, even if proportioned to share of wealth, are already too high on the best and brightest.

I keep seeing articles and posts related to taxes, and how the rich somehow get unfair tax write-offs and deductions. They claim the rich are the cause of our governments deficits and debt. They claim government cut-backs are due to tax cuts passed during the Bush era. Well, they never backed it up with real numbers, so I spent the day looking and found a Department of Labor chart showing real taxes collected, who they were collected from, and what their share of the wealth pie really is.

Below is a 2006 chart of the the American workforce in percentile groups, followed by each groups percentage of all adjusted gross income(AGI) earned in the United States, the adjusted gross income threshold of that group, and their percentage of all the income taxes collected by the government.(the federal tax structure has not changed much since 2003)

Percentile----------% of income----------Threshold-------% of income tax
Top 1%................... 21.8%...........(above $388,806)..…......39.9%
95-99%................... 15.4%.........($153,542 - $388,806)...…20.3%
90-95%................... 10.8%.........($108,904 - $153,542)......10.6%
75-90%................... 20.6%.........($64,702 - 108,904)..........15.5%
50-75%................... 18.8%.........($31,987 - $64,702)......… 10.7%
Bottom 50%............ 12.6%...........(below $31,987)..….........3.0%

Now you would think with the progressive income tax scheme we currently use, people would pay the same percentage of the income tax burden, as their percentage of all American income earned. If you make all the income, you pay all the income taxes. If you make half the income, you pay half of the income tax burden. That's fair in a liberal mind, right? All people, rich..poor...everyone who earns a certain percentage of the nations income, should pay that same percentage of the total income tax collected by the government.

The poorest, as a group, make 12.6% of all of the income in this country, and to be "fair", they should pay 12.6% of all of the income taxes. (But they don't, they only pay 3%)

The richest, as a group, make 21.8% of all of the income, and to be "fair", they should pay 21.8% of all of the income taxes. (They don't, they pay 39.9%)

So, let's be radically progressive!!, and move the "unpaid portion" of the poorest 50% of peoples taxes, and send it up to the richest 1%. It's kind of socialist, but lets call it compassionate conservatism. That tax-shift would move the richest 1% from a 21.8% income tax burden, up to 31.4%. Now!!, lets tax-shift the "unpaid portion" of the 2nd poorest group. That would bring the rich tax to 39.5%...........Still less than they are currently paying!

O.K., forget about the richest 1% of Americans. I think I've showed how they are already providing tax relief for more than three quarters of the country.

Lets look at the 2nd richest group. They pay 4.9% more of the income taxes of this country, than their percentage of the income earned in this country. Why? Because the 75-90% group falls 5.1% short of their "fair" share. So if you tax-shift the "unpaid portion" of the 4th richest group to the 2nd richest, you get 20.5%......well that's a little more than they currently pay, but close enough for radical progressives.

The 3rd richest group almost hold their own and should be left alone. They fall a little short, but as we saw above, the 2nd richest took care of that.

The numbers above indicate that, even with the most extreme form of radical, progressive, tax shifting, they believe is fairness, where the richest 1% pay the unpaid taxes of three quarters of the country, and the next richest 4% pay the unpaid taxes of people making between $64,000 and $108,000, there is actually need for a tax cut for the richest 5% of income earners. This, even after moving all of the "unpaid tax burdens" up from the bottom.

I know what your thinking. The wealthy don't properly report their income, or, the wealthy pay a lower percentage of their income toward other taxes. Well, that may be true, but that's an issue concerning the governments tax enforcement and the design fairness of those other taxes imposed. I'm all for rounding up tax cheats and scraping all those other taxes, so long as your for making taxes owed directly related to wealth earned, without the tax-shifting!

I think I have properly explained that our federal income tax system is not fair, it is not just progressive, it is radically progressive. Liberals will not be happy until the two lowest groups, 75% of our workforce, pay none of their "fair share". If they achieve this on the backs of the 6 million most successful Americans, our economy will be doomed and our government will be bankrupt. They will have created a society where 90 million people, of our 120 million man workforce, will be deadbeats in the eyes of fair people everywhere.

Again, I know what your thinking. More tax cuts to the rich? Wont that create even larger deficits and debt? Wont that make matters worse? The answer is no. You could just as easily change all of the numbers above by raising the taxes on the 75% of Americans that are currently not paying their fair share, but the amount of money taxed out of our economy is already too high. If government can't make budgets to match high taxes, we need a new government. If government does decide to impose higher taxes, take cover!!

I truly believe historians of the future will be studying this point in American life as the start of the peoples revolt, leading to either a second revolution or an all out civil war. The people are angry! And the budget, along with all the bailouts and unrestrained spending since the housing collapse, has done nothing to ease that anger. Obama had an opportunity to really bring change, but traded it off for misguided political ideology and party harmony. The time for reducing governments size, cost, and its drag on our economy is now. Before events grow out of control, beyond the current non-violent marches, protests and rallies. Unlike most liberal groups, conservatives will not just wave signs for years on end. We are a results-oriented people, and if speaking out does not work, acting out is the next logical step.