Welcome to this week's edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists. I'm sticking with my usual method of hosting a carnival -- listing a summary of each piece with the author's reason for submitting the post to the carnival (for...

Let’s do some simple math. I’ll use Buddy as my low income source since he already said what he made. I’ll assume state and local similar to my state PA.

Buddy’s taxes @45k income:
Fed – 5% - guess may be lower with all those kids
State – 3%
Local(wage) – 1%
Real estate – 3% - even if you rent you still have to pay in increased cost
Sales tax – 4% - pa is 6% but not for food/clothes
Sin tax – 1% - maybe you don’t smoke, drink or gamble but many poor do
Social sec+ medicare – 15%

Total tax burden – 32% plus or minus

Mine @150k income:
Fed – 11%
State – 3%
Local(wage) – 1%
Real estate – 3% - even if you rent you still have to pay in increased cost
Sales tax – 2% - pa is 6% but not for food/clothes
Sin tax – 1%
Social sec+ Medicare – 15%(two incomes)

Total – 37% plus or minus

Wealthy person, only income from non taxable bonds and similar
Fed – 0
State – 0
Local – 0(investment isn’t wages)
Real estate – 3%
Sales – 1%
Sin tax – 1% - generous here
Socials sec + Medicare – 0 not owed on non wages
Total tax burden – 5%

Dick Cheney – from 2004 income of 1.7M
Fed – 23% from 04 return
State – 3% again using PA
Local – 0.1 – wage only
Real estate – 2% assume 30k tax
Sales – approaching 0
Sin – same – 0
SS+MC – 1% remember caps on SS

Total burden – 29%

Now I agree that these aren’t exact numbers but they’re fairly indicative of what the true taxes are on different people. So, what do you think? Pretty cool huh? The wealthy actually pay a lower real proportion than you do! You can argue some of the numbers but you can’t argue the end result and that is that everyone from the middle down is getting screwed.

Cheers!

I'm not complaining for myself. As I said before, I'm not in your catagory. I'm frankly one of those who benefit disproportionately from the system. I just have this thing called morals coupled with a sense of fairness. Again, if you're ok with it then fine for you.

This discussion reminds me of one I had with a good friend this summer. He is an independent contractor, a small business unto himself. When I started talking about this he had a very specific response and it's perhaps how you feel. He said that he's perfectly happy to have a skewed system. He feels that it allows him to do great and if others are too stupid to take advantage of it, too bad for them. Gotta love the pure capitalism there eh?

My problem is that I am an egalitarian, I believe that the system should be fair - a level playing field. I pity the fools like you who believe it is as you grab your ankles.

RJN also doesn't believe in natural selection or the Holocaust ... or gravity, for all I know.

There's an obscure law of conservation in economics called the Say Aggregation Principle that requires the value of output to be equal to the value of factor payments.

Now suppose the unwritten rules of trading change so that women who participate in the labor market are no longer viewed as odd. Working mom is now a professional, not earning allowance money or covering for dad's failings.

One household with two incomes is going to do better than neigboring households spending only one. Turn all households into two-income households and the prices of things will adjust to reflect the additional incomes chasing them. (The additional resources also have the effect of making many things really cheaper, consider the Hummer or the bonus room or the mobile phone at any price 20 years ago.)

P.S. It ain't rape when the middle class is 'putting out' so to speak. You can't buy all their goods services, and then B*t(h and complain that you are being bamboozled. What do you think, the government is just manufacturing money to hand to the 'rich'? Seems to me they are making that money somehow, and they are making it from us, if we let them.

I don't think they really care too much about rich people other than trying to figure out how to get that way.

I am refering to the actual economic data! Not the party line spin on how wonderful things are.

You lose by violating the Paris Hilton corrolary of Godwin 's law.

The RISE of this class? Has Brad DeLong ever heard of the 19th freakin' century? Child labor? Union-busting? Railroad barons? The Kennedys?

Why is it that mostly liberals like to say they aren't part of either party, that they are "independent"? Then they try and act like that makes them great thinkers or something (it doesn't). First of all, most of them are liberals lying about it. Secondly, if u truly are an independent, then you are an idiot with no base for thinking.