[ Friday, January 09, 2004 ]
Discussion often centers around the question; do the rich pay their fair share of taxes?
A local pundit has taken on the State of Maryland's budget woes with some solid numbers.
"The study found that the richest 1 percent of Marylanders - those with average incomes of $1.1 million - pay 7.6 percent in state and local taxes. But it's 5.1 percent after federal itemized deductions. Middle-income families ($33,000 to $51,000) pay 9.5 percent, 8.8 percent after federal deductions. Poor families (earning less than $19,000) pay 9.4 percent and, according to Robert S. McIntyre, author of the study, "They tend not to itemize, so the rate stays the same. Essentially, it means the tax rate on the poor is over half again as much as the effective rate on the wealthiest."
Now, this is all about Maryland's state income tax, but thing ye that the fed tax is that much different?
Mr. Olesker's piece gives evidence to the oft heard assertions that the rich (defined here as those with incomes in excess of $1.1million) ride on the backs of the rest of us.
A piece in today's NYT looks at it from another view;
(stop whining. register. it's free)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/09/opinion/09HERB.html
"Even as the Bush administration continues its bizarre quest for ever more tax cuts, the states, which by law have to balance their budgets, are cutting vital social programs so deeply that tragic consequences are inevitable.
The cruel reality is that Americans at the top are thriving at the expense of the well-being of those at the bottom and, increasingly, in the middle."
"Maybe the nation itself needs a doctor. Shoving low-income people, including children, off the health care rolls at a time when the economy is allegedly booming is a sure sign of some kind of sickness in the society."
The rich, those with incomes in excess of $1.1 million, were the chief beneficiaries of Shrub's tax cuts. They are the chief causes of state and local budget woes and the suffering that follows.
We outnumber those rich folks.
Why can't we get them to play by the same rules as we do?
Because they keep hiring fast-talking flacks that lie to us.
gonzoliberal [8:25 AM]
