“I rob banks because that's where the money is.”
– Willie Sutton
The Left thinks that the rich in America pay a pittance, but is that true?
On 01.01.13, the top marginal tax rate in the United States will automatically rise to 43.4%.
If you are wealthy and live in a state like New York, your combined, marginal tax rate is about 58%.
To put that into context, the top combined, marginal tax rate in COMMUNIST China is 45%.
In PROGRESSIVE Canada, the top marginal tax rate is 29%, the capital gains rate is 10%, and the dividend rate is 19%.
In PROGRESSIVE Canada, the top marginal tax rate is 29%, the capital gains rate is 10%, and the dividend rate is 19%.
The Left thinks the corporations in the United States have it easy (Some do. I'm looking at you, General Electric and Mr Obama's Chairperson of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness), but do they?
The United States has the highest combined corporate income tax rate in the world at 39.21%, which will rise to 46.2% in 2013 before any Obamacare taxes or new taxes under Obama.
To put that into perspective, COMMUNIST China's combined corporate income tax rate is 25%.
The average corporate tax rate in the "SOCIALIST" EU is 23.2% and the highest combined corporate income tax rate in the EU is 33.9% in Belgium, which hasn't even had a government in over a year.
In "PROGRESSIVE" Canada, the corporate tax rate is 16.5%.
According to the OECD, the United States has the most progressive individual tax system in the world. While it is true that tax rates on the uber-wealthy are certainly higher in some countries, the tax base is much wider. There isn’t a country in Europe where 47-52% of the working population avoids paying national income tax.
For example, a senior level nurse in a London hospital earns approximately $49,000. She will pay around $10,500 in income taxes, $6,039 in National Insurance taxes, a 20% VAT, council taxes, and other assorted taxes…in an area where it is more expensive to live than in Manhattan or San Francisco.
For example, a senior level nurse in a London hospital earns approximately $49,000. She will pay around $10,500 in income taxes, $6,039 in National Insurance taxes, a 20% VAT, council taxes, and other assorted taxes…in an area where it is more expensive to live than in Manhattan or San Francisco.
The wealthy in the United States shoulder a far, far greater “fair share” of the burden than their counterparts elsewhere.
Eventually, Obama must levy his tax increases at lower income levels because that's where the money is and there just aren’t enough millionaires and billionaires to pay for the Federal government that he wants. Truth be told, there aren’t enough middle class taxpayers to pay for it either.
In 2009, 237,000 taxpayers reported income above $1 million and they paid $178 billion in taxes. A mere 8,274 filers reported income above $10 million, and they paid only $54 billion in taxes.
But 3.92 million reported income above $200,000 in 2009, and they paid $434 billion in taxes. To put it another way, roughly 90% of the tax filers, who would pay more under Mr Obama's plan aren't millionaires, and 99.99% aren't billionaires.
Between 2007 and 2010, the number of those earning:
$200,000 per year declined by 13%
$1 million per year declined by 39%
$10 million per year declined by 55%
The more a government relies on a smaller number of taxpayer, the more it is setting itself up for a cataclysmic event when the market turns. Nowhere is this more evident than in places like California.
In 2006, for example, according to the Franchise Tax Board, Californians making more than $500,000 a year filed just 1% of all state income tax returns — and paid 47.2% of the taxes. When the recession hit, the wealthy saw their incomes drop sharply, which resulted in a dramatic drop in tax revenues.
In 1990, the highest individual income tax rate of our major economic trading partners was 51%, while the U.S. was much lower at 33%. It's no wonder that during the 1980s and '90s the U.S. created more than twice as many new jobs as Japan and Western Europe combined.
According to the OECD, over the past two decades the average highest tax rate among the 20 major industrial nations has fallen to about 45%. Yet the highest U.S. tax rate would rise to more than 43.4% no counting the proposed "Alternative Minimum Millionaires' Tax." To make matters worse, if we include the average personal income tax rates of developing countries like India and China, the average tax rate around the world is closer to 30%, according to a new study by KPMG.
The more a government relies on a smaller number of taxpayer, the more it is setting itself up for a cataclysmic event when the market turns. Nowhere is this more evident than in places like California.
In 2006, for example, according to the Franchise Tax Board, Californians making more than $500,000 a year filed just 1% of all state income tax returns — and paid 47.2% of the taxes. When the recession hit, the wealthy saw their incomes drop sharply, which resulted in a dramatic drop in tax revenues.
In 1990, the highest individual income tax rate of our major economic trading partners was 51%, while the U.S. was much lower at 33%. It's no wonder that during the 1980s and '90s the U.S. created more than twice as many new jobs as Japan and Western Europe combined.
According to the OECD, over the past two decades the average highest tax rate among the 20 major industrial nations has fallen to about 45%. Yet the highest U.S. tax rate would rise to more than 43.4% no counting the proposed "Alternative Minimum Millionaires' Tax." To make matters worse, if we include the average personal income tax rates of developing countries like India and China, the average tax rate around the world is closer to 30%, according to a new study by KPMG.
"You can't rob a bank on charm and personality.”
- Willie Sutton
Not even dictators can govern for long on charm and personality, Presidents' days of getting away with it are even shorter.
Only time will tell how long the middle class will stand for allowing the Great Leviathan to rob them with charm, personality, or anything else.
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