Nearly half of US households escape fed income tax

Never said I couldn't afford it, merely stating the fact that a whole bunch of tax rates will increase for the top bracket.

 

Good. They are the ones who got the bulk of the last tax cut, they should bear the brunt of the coming tax increase. Given our current deficit, they are very lucky rates aren't being raised even more.

 

Maybe we can just have you pay back the tens of thousands in AMT relief that Democrats have gotten through congress in the last decade instead - preferable?

 

Well, they do have a huge share of wealth but you can't tax them again.

You can only tax them on the capital gain, the profit/ income they make from their wealth.

 

I don't really see a problem in this. All it is talking about is Federal income tax. All of these people pay state and local taxes don't they? If the federal government could balance its budget then this wouldn't be a problem. I see local and state agencies being forced to balance their budgets. Interesting stat none the less.

 

Nope, AMT changes didn't really effect my tax rate.

 

Then neither would the expiration of tax cuts.

 

Wrong, it would depend on how your income is structured and how much tax credits you can claim.

 

it depends on what deductions you claim if i'm not mistaken.

 

Yeah, it's strange to me how much people tend to overlook this fact.

 

That would probably depend on what income level you're considering for standard of living.

 

As long as your overall tax rate after all credits and deductions is above the AMT rate, then it really shouldn't effect you. (slightly more complicated than that in reality)

 

What might such a tax look like? Or are you speaking more generally (without any specific implementation in mind)?

 

Do you have the figures for payroll taxes?

 

I don't know the figures, but from my experience;

I got a tax return, but ended up paying around 18% net in taxes off my payroll. This is money going directly to the government, not benefits. I, by no means, make a lot of money so I'm not sure how revelation that article is if you don't include payroll. Why would the article NOT include payroll???

 

True, although the point was more about what is fair versus unfair. The implication of pointing out that a large number of Americans pay a small percentage of the taxes is that the tax system unfairly burdens the rich. However, if you compare the tax burden with income, it's less unfair. And when you compare tax burden with financial wealth, then it doesn't seem unfair at all.

 

You have to be clear. What part of the payroll tax are you talking about?

Some of the payroll tax goes to Social security which is a benefit.

 

Benefits as in insurance, dental and visual etc. The rest goes the government either state, fed or SS. Isn't SS considered tax also?

 

Payroll taxes are SS, Medicare, and any unemployment taxes. SS, in particular, is a highly regressive tax - it's only paid on the first $100k of income. As your income goes up beyond that, you pay nothing extra and your overall rate goes down.