Subsidy System for Super-Wealthy Americans, IRS Winks at Rich Deadbeats

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/04/11/INGV560VO41.DTL&type=printable

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0411-05.htm

Published on Sunday, April 11, 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle
Stroke theRich

IRS has Become a Subsidy System for Super-Wealthy Americans
IRS Winks at Rich Deadbeats

by David Cay Johnston

The federal tax system that millions of Americans are forced to deal with before April 15 is not at all what you think it is. Congress has changed it in recent decades from a progressive system in which the more one earns the more one pays in income taxes. It has become a subsidy system for the super rich.

Through explicit policies, as well as tax laws never reported in the news, Congress now literally takes money from those making $30,000 to $500,000 per year and funnels it in subtle ways to the super rich -- the top 1/100th of 1 percent of Americans.

People making $60,000 paid a larger share of their 2001 income in federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes than a family making $25 million, the latest Internal Revenue Service data show. And in income taxes alone, people making $400,000 paid a larger share of their incomes than the 7,000 households who made $10 million or more.

While millions of Americans in the last quarter-century debated about who shot J.R. and scurried for news about who would be Jennifer Lopez's next lover, Congress quietly passed tax laws that shift the tax burden from the 28,000 Americans in households with incomes of $8 million per year or more.

..more..
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(speaking of taxes)

Check your returns: your taxes weren't cut, just shifted.

Shell Game

Chuck Collins is program director at United for a Fair Economy and co-author, with Bill Gates Sr., of Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes (Beacon, 2003).

http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/10222

<snip>
Tax Shift #1: From Federal Taxes to State Taxes. Since 2002, state governments have closed $200 billion in budget gaps by raising taxes and cutting services. During those same years, newly enacted federal tax cuts delivered about as much money—$197.3 billion—in new tax breaks for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans (households making more than $337,000 a year). In essence, Bush chose to force tax hikes in the states in order to give tax breaks to multi-millionaires.

Tax Shift #2: From Progressive to Regressive Taxes. President Bush has focused on reducing income tax rates. But 71 percent of us pay more in payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare) than in income taxes. Payroll taxes are regressive: high-income people pay a lower tax rate than low-income people. The opposite is true of progressive taxes, such as federal income, corporate and estate taxes. Since the early '60s, this trio of progressive tax rates has dropped precipitously. But the regressive payroll tax rate has risen.

Tax Shift #3: From Taxes on Wealth to Taxes on Work. Politicians talk about the virtues of hard work, but their tax policies speak otherwise. Between 1980 and today, the main tax rate on work income—the payroll tax—has jumped 25 percent. In the same period, top tax rates on investment income and large inheritances have been cut between 31 and 79 percent.

This tax shift from wealth to work means that a person who derives millions of dollars in dividend income solely from his investments now pays a marginal tax rate of just 15 percent. Compare that with a schoolteacher with an adjusted gross income over $28,400 who pays a payroll tax rate of 15.3 percent, plus a marginal income tax rate of 28 percent, for a total marginal rate of more than 43 percent!

Tax Shift #4: From Corporations to Individuals.....
<snip>

May they never sleep.

This is what I have been talking about here on DU for MONTHS--the loss of our progressive tax system. And precious few people here seem to care about it, or even be aware of it. This is a vicious and treasonous betrayal by our elected leaders, a betrayal most grevious and foul. This is a truly heinous crime, perpetrated upn us by our own elected leaders.

I say we begin working now to take back our country. I propose that we set a goal of trying by rule of law the politicians who were responsible for this disaster, for this treasonous betrayal. And if they are found guilty in a court of law, then they should be sentenced appropriately, all by rule of law, in a recognized court of law. Yes, you heard me right--I want to try our Presidents, present and former, for this treasonous betrayal, this destruction of our tax system. Dare to say it, to dream it, DUers! You and I...we can do this together. It is not against our current laws to propose and plan such lawful actions. It starts here and now.

We have the right under the Constitution to do this. And the blood of our ancestors, who built this country, demands that we recognize these wrongs committed against this country, and that we must act to right such wrongs.

Serving as President of the United States is PUBLIC SERVICE, just as serving in the Army or working as a cop is public service. And when you do public service, you are held to a higher standard. Our Presidents have betrayed us, betrayed us most deeply. And we the people must make sure that this betrayal stops, and that it does not happen again.

Working to try these Presidents for the destruction of our taxation system is what we must do. This is our duty as citizens.

George Bush and his father are obviously partially responsible for this fiasco, this treason, but Clinton is also reponsible, as this quote from the sfgate article shows:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
Since 1993, the income tax burden on the 400 highest-income Americans has been cut 40 percent when measured the way that President Bush prefers, which is by counting how many pennies out of each dollar go to income taxes. In 1993 the top 400 paid 30 cents out of each dollar in federal income taxes. By the end of the Clinton administration in 2000 they were down to 22 cents.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I say we set a goal, that we shall try Bush I, Bush II, and Clinton by rule of law for these crimes against the people, under the rights given the people by the Constitution. And if they be found guilty, they shall be sentenced appropriately for such crimes of high treason. If the laws as now extant do not support these actions, this goal, then I say we vote into office legislators who will give us such laws and politicians who will act upon our desires.

What say ye?

that it's highway robbery.

TIME TO SHIFT THE TAX DEBATE
Stan Cox, AlterNet

In demanding even more 'relief' for taxpayers at the top of
the economic pyramid, the Right is hacking away at one of
the most important pillars of our democracy: progressive
income taxes.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18372

They promote bullshit like a national 20% sales tax.

Gee, let's stop and think...

who does that hurt?


Most of America.

But most Conservatives and FReepers are too fucking stupid and too caught up in the fun of fascism and nationalism to really care.

Look at me, for example: up until just a decade ago or so, back when Forbes was running for POTUS, when they talked about going to a flat tax, I actually thought it was a good idea. And I was lower middle class by income at that time. And I was certainly not uneducated at the time. I was very well read and had many courses in math and some in business. Heck, I was about 30 or so then. And not stupid, either, by any means (Mensa material, in fact). And yet I just ate it up.....

Just ignorant, that is all.

What we need is an edutainment crusade. One that will make people realize the mathematical realities. I only see one way of getting there: via progressively themed movies made and distributed via cheap broadband access. THat was a big part of what made Europe what it is today--the movie people in Europe were real hardcore liberals. Here in America, the movie industry was mainly controlled by a clique of wealthy people who were either European immigrants or who were descended from wealthy European immigrants. And they were quite conservative. ANd they really controlled most of the movie industry. And it reflected the viewpoints of the wealthy.

But in Europe, many movies reflected progressive themes. THat is what we need here: movie entertainment with a progressive theme. But that is non-existent for the most part in America.




So broadband has to get cheaper and ubiquitous. Until then....

Washington- Most American and foreign corporations operating in the US paid no income tax between 1996 and 2000, government auditors said Friday.
Using data collected by the IRS, the auditors found that 71% of foreign corporations paid no federal income tax. During the same time, 61% of American corporations paid no income tax.
Among the largest corporations, American businesses were more likely to avoid taxation than foreign businesses.
The study was done by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress.
Investigators also looked at companies that paid less than 5% of their total income in tax.
In 2000, the most recent year for which data was available, an estimated 94% of American corporations and 89% of foreign corporations paid less than 5% of their total incomes in taxes. ...............................

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markets for us, entitlements for them

sickening, and on top of all this worker's salaries are decreasing.

and focus on the "flavor of the month" distraction. How do we get Americans to understand how they are beind fleeced?

I don't know. Not until their wallet's are empty will they wake up and notice.

I'm thinking in my next letter to the editor I will take some of these figures and attempt to give people something to think about.

giving this thread a kick....

tonight.

Can you tell us what he said?

guy who wrote the book describing what a crock the taxation system is now. This guy is going to appear in O'Reilly this week also.
But it was excellent: it really benefits the people at the top/top (20 million and more a year income). It is really aggravating.

and economic opportunities for all. A rising tide lifts all ... damn, I can't say it with a straight face.

"Is the rich person you work for better off than they were four years ago?" - Jay Leno

LOL