Taxing the Rich

Tax reduction thus sets off a process that can bring gains for everyone, gains won by marshalling resources that would otherwise stand idle—workers without jobs and farm and factory capacity without markets. Yet many taxpayers seemed prepared to deny the nation the fruits of tax reduction because they question the financial soundness of reducing taxes when the federal budget is already in deficit. Let me make clear why, in today's economy, fiscal prudence and responsibility call for tax reduction even if it temporarily enlarged the federal deficit—why reducing taxes is the best way open to us to increase revenues.

—President John F. Kennedy,
Economic Report of the President,

January 1963

If only more of today's leaders thought like JFK. Sadly, in the debate over whether to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, and if so whether the cuts should be extended to those people who are in the highest tax bracket, there is a false presumption that higher tax rates on the top 1% of income earners will raise tax revenues.

Anyone who is familiar with the historical data available from the IRS knows full well that raising income tax rates on the top 1% of income earners will most likely reduce the direct tax receipts from the now higher taxed income—even without considering the secondary tax revenue effects, all of which will be negative. And who on Earth wants higher tax rates on anyone if it means larger deficits?

Since 1978, the U.S. has cut the highest marginal earned-income tax rate to 35% from 50%, the highest capital gains tax rate to 15% from about 50%, and the highest dividend tax rate to 15% from 70%. President Clinton cut the highest marginal tax rate on long-term capital gains from the sale of owner-occupied homes to 0% for almost all home owners. We've also cut just about every other income tax rate as well.

During this era of ubiquitous tax cuts, income tax receipts from the top 1% of income earners rose to 3.3% of GDP in 2007 (the latest year for which we have data) from 1.5% of GDP in 1978. Income tax receipts from the bottom 95% of income earners fell to 3.2% of GDP from 5.4% of GDP over the same time period.

read the WSJ article

Taxes Paid by Top 1 Percent

Indeed, the IRS data shows that in 2007—the most recent data available—the top 1% of taxpayers paid 40.4% of the total income taxes collected by the federal government. This is the highest percentage in modern history. By contrast, the top 1% paid 24.8% of the income tax burden in 1987, the year following the 1986 tax reform act (see chart above).

Remarkably, the share of the tax burden borne by the top 1% now exceeds the share paid by the bottom 95% of taxpayers combined. In 2007, the bottom 95% paid 39.4% of the income tax burden. This is down from the 58% of the total income tax burden they paid twenty years ago.

source

Income Taxes

The Rich Are Paying Their "Fair Share" and Then Some

The chart shows that the difference between the top 1%'s tax share (about 25% in the late 1980s) and the that group's income share (about 14% in the late 1980s), which increased from 11% in the earlier period to 18% by 2006, when the tax share had increased to about 40% for the top 1% compared to that group's income share of 22%. Stated differently, the income share of the top 1% increased by about .55% per year from 1986 to 2006, compared to the tax share of the top 1%, which increased by about .75% per year.

source

Top 1% of Taxpayers

The top 1% of taxpayers earned $1.79 trillion (22.06% of the total) in 2006 and paid $408.4 billion in taxes (about 40% of the total). The bottom 95% of taxpayers earned $5.14 trillion (63.34% of the total) and paid $408.1 billion taxes (about 40% of the total).

from Carpe Diem

The Wealthy are Paying More

"Under the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, the data show that the tax shares of the top 1% increased between 2000 and 2005 to historically high levels," ranking member Jim Saxton of the Joint Economic Committee said today. "Despite the contention that the tax cuts would unfairly reduce the tax burden of the rich, their share of taxes has in fact gone up," Saxton concluded.

from Carpe Diem