Comment by peacetreefrog
9 years ago
What are you talking about? I suppose there's technically wiggle room because you said "raise" taxes on the rich (implying that regardless of whatever rich people pay now it should be more). But it's an absolute fiction that rich people don't pay taxes. The top income tax rate is about 43%, and the new GOP tax bill doesn't change that.
Did you know the richest 2.7% of all earners pay > 50% of all receipts collected by the government(1)?
Or that -- when asked explicitly whether the rich should pay more -- most (3/4) people, like you, say "yes", but when asked what the tax rate should be for top earners, precisely 3/4 of respondents said it should be 30% or below(2). Again, the top rate is 43% right now.
(1) http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/13/high-income-...
> Or that -- when asked explicitly whether the rich should pay more -- most (3/4) people, like you, say "yes", but when asked what the tax rate should be for top earners, precisely 3/4 of respondents said it should be 30% or below(2). Again, it's 43% right now.
That's comparing a question people likely answered with a total effective income tax rate with the current nominal marginal income tax rate.
Not sure what evidence you're basing that off of. An alternative explanation would be people calling for taxes on the rich to be "raised" aren't really sure what they currently are.
It's literally what the question asks. It asks what rate high earners should pay: “should pay” is effective not nominal, because it asks what should be actually paid; “high-earners”, without limitation to some subset of their income, is total, not marginal.
Of course, this is reinforced by the fact that people don't even generally understand marginal tax rates all that well, but that's secondary.
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