That would be interesting.

A Kennedy v/s US Steel moment.

Do people realize that it isn't just the (5.00 / 1) (#7)
by Anne on Mon Jul 09, 2012 at 12:09:27 PM EST

so-called middle class that gets the break in this scenario?

I mean, it sounds good now, but if Joe, who makes $50,000 gets a tax cut, does it matter to him if Bob, who makes $350,000 gets a tax cut too?

I mean, what would the deficit hysterics get hysterical about?  

These figures cover only the federal income tax and ignore the substantial amounts of other federal taxes -- especially the payroll tax -- that many of these households pay.  As a result, these figures greatly overstate the share of households that do not pay federal taxes.  Tax Policy Center data show that only about 17 percent of households did not pay any federal income tax or payroll tax in 2009, despite the high unemployment and temporary tax cuts that marked that year.[5]  In 2007, a more typical year, the figure was 14 percent.  This percentage would be even lower if it reflected other federal taxes that households pay, including excise taxes on gasoline and other items.

Most of the people who pay neither federal income tax nor payroll taxes are low-income people who are elderly, unable to work due to a serious disability, or students, most of whom subsequently become taxpayers.  (In years like the last few, this group also includes a significant number of people who have been unemployed the entire year and cannot find work.)

Moreover, low-income households as a group do, in fact, pay federal taxes.  Congressional Budget Office data show that the poorest fifth of households paid an average of 4.0 percent of their incomes in federal taxes in 2007, the latest year for which these data are available -- not an insignificant amount given how modest these households' incomes are; the poorest fifth of households had average income of $18,400 in 2007.[6]   The next-to-the bottom fifth -- those with incomes between $20,500 and $34,300 in 2007 -- paid an average of 10.6 percent of their incomes in federal taxes.  

Moreover, even these figures greatly understatelow-income households' totaltax burden because these households also pay substantial state and local taxes.  Data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy show that the poorest fifth of households paid a stunning 12.3 percent of their incomes in state and local taxes in 2011.[7]

When all federal, state, and local taxes are taken into account, the bottom fifth of households pays about 16 percent of their incomes in taxes, on average.  The second-poorest fifth pays about 21 percent.[8]

When we discuss taxation, we need to examine the entire tax structure, and resist our temptation to segment that structure and silo various population demographics accordingly, because it can offer us a very misleading picture.

Yes, the bottom 20% don't pay much in federal income taxes, if they pay anything at all. But they also pay a vastly disproportionate share of their income in state and local taxes, i.e., sales taxes and user fees, compared to wealthy people, because a far greater share of their income is used to purchase life's staples.

When we examine property tax revenues, we see similar inequties. On average, the value of one's principle (or only) place of residence accounts for only 9% of the wealthiest 1%'s overall assets, but accounts for 62% of all assets for those in the bottom 80%. Thus, middle-class or working class homeowners like me pay tend to a far greater proportion of our income in property taxes than do the wealthy.

When we talk about federal capital gains taxes, which tend to run about 15% on average, we should also note the following:

• The wealthiest 20% of Americans own 91.1% of all common shares of stock in this country, while the rest of us own only 8.9% of all shares.
  
• The wealthier you are, the less proportion of your income is going to be derived from wages and salaries, which are taxed at a much higher rate than capital gains.

When we talk about federal payroll taxes -- which everyone pays, even if you don't have to pay federal income taxes -- again, the wealthy pay a much lesser proportion of their income on payroll taxes than do working schlubs like you and me, because payroll taxes are capped at about $106,000.

So, when you say that you want people to pay their fair share, you really need to look at all taxes in the aggregate, not just federal income taxes.

Reports from Gallup now show that the Dems' ads are having more effect...mu h more effect, to the detriment of Romney

He's gotten no bounce from his immigration policy change.

His approval rating on dealing with immigration issues is no better (nor worse) than it was two years ago, and he runs evenly with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney on who people trust to handle the issue. Fewer than one in five voters -- 18 percent -- say immigration is an extremely important issue in their vote.

The Bain attacks aren't working:

For all the attention paid to the effectiveness of President Obama's Bain-themed attacks, it's remarkable how Obama has been stuck right around 47 percent for a very long time. As the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza documented, the president's team has handily outspent Romney and his allied super PACs, pouring in $91 million into eight swing states in an early spending barrage intended to make Romney seem an unacceptable challenger. But for all that effort, the numbers haven't moved much at all: The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll out today shows the race deadlocked at 47 percent. Yesterday'sUSA Today/Gallup swing state poll showed Obama statistically tied with Romney, the exact same result the survey showed one month ago.

Americans see more economic harm than good in the health care law.

Views of the economic impact of the ACA are, as is true with everything else about the legislation, bound up with politics. Republicans, who generally oppose the ACA, overwhelmingly think it will hurt the economy, while Democrats, who generally favor it, think it will help. Independents tilt toward the "hurt" rather than the "help" position.

Democrats are a little less likely to say the ACA will help the economy than Republicans are to say it will hurt it. The fact that independents are more likely to say it will hurt than help the economy -- by a 14-percentage-point margin -- is important in the context of the current presidential election.

"he might instead let those tax cuts expire as scheduled in 2011, effectively delaying any tax increase while he gives his stimulus plan a chance to work."