Ever wonder how much money do the top income earners make? Once you know how much the top income earners make, then you can better shoot to be a top income earner yourself. After all, everything is relative when it comes to money.
Americans are rich by world standards. With a median household income of roughly $70,000, America consistently ranks in the Top 20 richest countries in the world. Many of the world’s top income earners live right here in our great country.
Other rich countries that have a higher GDP per capita than America include Liechtenstein ($139K), Qatar, Monaco, Macau, Luxembourg, Bermuda, Singapore, Isle of Man, Brunei, Ireland, Norway, Falkland Islands, UAB, S. Maarten, Kuwait, and Gibraltar. Countries with similar GDP per capita to America include Hong Kong, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia.
If at birth, you had the mental capacity to choose where you’d like to live for most of your life, living in a top 20 richest country will more than likely help you become a top income earner as well.
Even if you end up being the most mediocre producer, you are still miles ahead of much of the world. Too bad many of us can’t pick where we want to grow up and earn a living. As such, it’s nice to understand how we compare against the rest of the world to give us some perspective.
Let’s take a look at what the top income earners make in America. Once you know the income figures, you can then strategize on how to get there.
What The Top 1%, 5%, 10%, 25%, and 50% Income Earners Make
Based on the Internal Revenue Service’s database, here’s how much the top Americans make for 2022. These are estimates due to rising inflation. Since the previous financial crisis in 2008 – 2009, the top 10% have significantly widened the wealth gap.
- Top 1%: $500,000+
- Top 5%: $180,000+
- Top 10%: $130,000+
- Top 25%: $80,000+ $67,280
- Top 50%: >$40,000
The rich have gotten much richer during the pandemic. Therefore, the top income earners are making even more than ever before. Sadly, the wealth gap has widened as we continue through a K-shaped recovery.
Summary Of Top Income Earners Tax Data
Here is data from the IRS that highlights what the top income earners made back in 2015. A top income earner is considered someone who makes a top 10%, top 5%, and top 1% income. Notice how much the top income earners are making today, partially thanks to inflation.
There is not a lot of data about the mega-rich, those in the top 0.1%. However, I also write a huge post highlighting people who make over $1 million a year and how.
Based on a previous 1000+ survey study on Financial Samurai in Fall 2020, about 80% of readers are in the Top 25% income earners ($67,000+). Good to know that many of you are doing well.
The table also tells us a number of things about equality or inequality, namely that the top 1% of tax payers pay 38% of all income taxes yet only have a 20% share of total AGI.
Further, the top 50% of tax payers pay practically all of the nation’s federal taxes (97.3%) while commanding 87.25% of total AGI. This table from the IRS is the source for the often politically bantered argument that 47% of American income earners pay zero federal income taxes.
If you do another little exercise and compare the top 25% of American income to the Top 10 per capita income countries in the world, you can once again see how lucky most of us are.
Broaden Tax Collection Beyond Just The Top Income Earners
If only we could get all American wage earns to pay some taxes. It would go a long way to help shoring up our budget. Congress constantly holds the nation hostage by bickering over whether to cut $10 billion here, $50 billion there. All we have to do is encourage those who earn above the poverty line to pay some tax. We’d raise billions a year right there for example!
Let’s have everyone contribute to the welfare of our country. We are all in this together! For those who are just struggling to keep their heads above water, let’s lend them a helping hand.
The top 1% income earner in 2022 is now earning at least $500,000 a year. But in some states, like Connecticut, the top income earners make over $580,000 a year.
Who Are The Majority Who Pay No Federal Income Taxes?
Back around 2015, roughly 47% of Americans pay no income taxes. In 2022, roughly 60% of working Americans didn’t pay any federal income taxes, largely due to the pandemic. As the pandemic becomes endemic, the likelihood is that more Americans go back to work, make more money, and pay more taxes.
The Americans who pay no income taxes fall into three groups:
The working poor. The earned income tax credit and the child credit can help families making $50,000 or more pay no taxes or get money back. About 60% of those not paying income taxes do contribute to payroll taxes. Meaning they must have some source of earned income.
The elderly. An increased standard deduction for those over 65, and an exemption on part of Social Security earnings, means that many older Americans pay no income taxes. Please remember though that the elderly have paid their dues through decades worth of federal taxation during their careers.
The low-income. A family of four claiming only the standard deduction and personal exemptions pays no federal income tax on its first ~$26,000 of income. The standard deduction per person is now $12,550 in 2021. Further, each family gets a $500 child tax credit.
Not Everybody Has The Ability To Make A Top Income
As you can see, being poor or elderly likely means you don’t pay net federal income taxes. We’re all going to grow old one day, so let’s give this group a pass. The elderly paid into the system, so let’s take care of them. I don’t think any of us would rather be poor so we can pay no federal taxes. Therefore, let’s give them a pass too.
This leaves us with a low-income group that may have made some suboptimal decisions. Some of these decisions include having children while not being able to support themselves. Children are estimated to cost roughly $250,000 from the ages of 1-18. Perhaps having multiple children on a low income is not ideal. But, how do you deny passion?
Living In America Is Rich
If you work in America, you can see from a top down and bottoms up perspective you’re doing fantastic. If you are in the bottom 50% of Americans who earn less than $33,048 a year, know that you can earn more if you want to.
Part of battle to making more money is moving to areas where there are more opportunity. Earning a top one percent income for your age is a numbers game that also requires a lot of luck.
Billions of dollars are flowing through cities like San Francisco due to technology innovation. It’s not like you have to brave the high seas to reach America to get rich. It’s not like you need to ride a horse for three months to get from New York to California. All you’ve got to do is hop on a bus or a plane to be where the action is.
25 years ago, I remember making $550 a month working at McDonald’s for $3.75/hour. With wages 3X higher now, I’d be pulling in $1,650 a month or $20,000 a year! Heck, tack on driving for Uber for 20 hours a week part-time at $36/hour. You’ll make another $2,000 a month and be in the top 50% of income earners no problem.
There’s an entire gig economy out there for freelancers to make extra money after work, or freelance full time. Why not take advantage to become a top income earner yourself?
Please Put In The Work To Grow Your Income And Wealth
If you are only working 40 hours a week or less and complaining why you can’t get ahead, you need to seriously re-evaluate your work ethic and expectations. Anybody can do it. You just can’t be delusional enough to think that you’ll be able to compete when everybody in the world who wants to get ahead is working 60+ hours a week and getting paid much less to boot!
Spend some time online understanding global wages from our biggest competitors in China and India. In order to maintain our incomes, we must constantly be updating our skills.
There are plenty of six figure jobs out there for the taking. You just need to have the desire, motivation, work ethic, and perseverance to get there. Did you know the San Francisco police chief makes $320,000 a year? Further, when he retires, he’ll get a $200,000 a year pension for life! It’s not just doctors, lawyers, venture capitalists, bankers, movie stars and athletes who make healthy sums of money.
A Variety Of Jobs Pay Well
Even my friend who is a union electrician makes $120,000 a year. He also gets a $5,000 a month pension when he retires at 55. What’s more, he isn’t allowed to work more than 35 hours a week. Let’s not count the $30,000 a year he makes doing side jobs with all that free time. There are six figure earners in practically every single industry, including the non-profit industry!
Back to my point where if everybody earns a million dollars a year, nobody is rich. Living in San Francisco, it certainly feels like most are in the top 5% of income earners ($159,619). Train janitors and elevator technicians in the Bay Area can make over $250,000 a year with overtime.
I’m sure many who live and work in Manhattan, and potentially LA and Chicago feel the same way. The cost of living is expensive out here, and that’s predominantly driven by high wages.
Combine two income earners with these amounts, and you can really start understanding why surpassing what the government deems as wealthy ($250,000) is not too difficult. Thankfully in 2022+, President Biden only wants to raise taxes on households making over $400,000 a year.
In fact, I argue that in many of the larger cities in America, you’ve got to earn closer to $300,000 a year just to live a middle class lifestyle. It sounds crazy. But it’s true if you take a careful look at the budget I put together. A middle-class lifestyle means owning a home, being able to raise two kids, and save for retirement.
The Top Income Earners Pay The Most Taxes
The top 1% of income earners will likely continue to pay a higher percentage share of overall income taxes than their share of income justifies. If things were fair, the top 1% would only have to pay 20% of total income taxes since 20% is their share of total income. Alas, the rich pay almost double what they owe.
Therefore, it’s not worth constantly demonizing the rich for “not paying their fair share.” The rich donate the most and employ the most people.
On the flip side, the bottom 50% who earn 12.75% of total earnings only pay 2.7% in total taxes. But, as we learned above, most of the bottom 50% are elderly or poor. Nobody is asking the bottom 50% to pay more taxes.
It’s impossible to create a fair tax system that everybody will agree on. But we can look at the data to understand who is making the most and least income. We can see who is paying the most and least in taxes.
It’s great to be a top income earner. However, it’s even greater to be happy. Find your balance!
Here are three things top income earners do below.
Top Income Earners Invest In Real Estate
Real estate is one of the favorite asset classes to build wealth by top income earners. Real estate is tangible, provides utility, and generates valuable income. With mortgage rates staying at record-lows and more people working from home, the growth of real estate will likely be strong for years to come.
Top income earners invest in rental properties for cash flow. Given interest rates have plummeted, the value of rental income has gone way up because it takes more capital to generate the same amount of income. Top income earners who really cherish their time also invest in real estate crowdfunding to earn income 100% passively.
Best Real Estate Platforms
Fundrise is the best real estate crowdfunding platform where investors can invest in private eREITs that invest in hundreds of properties across America. By investing in a diversified fund, investors gain real estate exposure in a low volatility way. Fundrise is free to usign up and explore. With inflation picking up, it’s a good idea to invest in real estate to ride the inflation wave.
For accredited investors who like to invest in individual deals, take a look at CrowdStreet. CrowdStreet focuses on commercial real estate opportunities in 18-hour cities. 18-hour cities have higher growth rates, lower valuations, and higher cap rates than 24-hour cities. Think Charleston, South Carolina versus New York City, New York.
Due to demographic shifts to lower cost areas of the country, the closely vetted CrowdStreet deals in 18-hour cities look attractive as well. CrowdStreet is also free to sign up and explore. With CrowdStreet, you can build your own select real estate fund.
Personally, I’ve invested $810,000 in 18 real estate deals across the heartland of America. The income is completely passive. Further, I get to diversify my real estate holdings away from expensive San Francisco.
Top Income Earners Own Businesses
We are in the technology and internet age now. If you really want unlimited earnings potential, you might as well be your own boss someday. It costs so little now to just start your own website so you can brand yourself online.
You will connect with like-minded people, find new jobs and consulting opportunities, and potentially make a healthy living online. Take a look at this income statement example of a friend with a simple personal finance blog.
I started Financial Samurai in 2009 as a hobby to help make sense of the financial destruction back then. Today, Financial Samurai is one of my most valuable assets.
You can start your WordPress site like this one with Bluehost for as little as $2.95 a month. Come up with a unique and memorable domain name. Find a free website theme. Then connect your hosting and you’ll be up and running in 30 minutes.
The best thing you can do while you have a job is work on your side hustle during off hours. You never know what might happen if you just start.
Top Income Earners Track Their Net Worth
Finally, top income earners religiously track their net worths. You can only truly optimize your wealth if you know where all your money is going. Sign up for Personal Capital, the web’s #1 free wealth management tool to get a better handle on your finances.
I’ve been using them since 2012 and have made much wiser financial decisions since. In addition to better money oversight, run your investments through their award-winning Investment Checkup tool. The tool will show you exactly how much you are paying in fees. Further, it will give you insights into your asset allocation. I was paying $1,700 a year in fees I had no idea I was paying.
After you link all your accounts, use their Retirement Planning calculator. It pulls your real data to give you as pure an estimation of your financial future as possible. Your financial future is too important not to take it seriously. You don’t want to end up old and not have enough money because there is no rewind button!
Join 50,000+ others and subscribe to my free weekly newsletter. Since 2009, the newsletter has helped people achieve financial freedom sooner, rather than later. If you want to be one of the top income earners, you need as much actionable advice as possible.
To be a top income earner, you’ve really got to want it! And to help you get there, pick up a hard copy of my new book, Buy This, Not That: How To Spend Your Way To Wealth And Freedom. The book is your unfair advantage for getting rich and making optimal decisions.
If in principle you accept a 50% flat tax, then why not a 100% flat tax? Then everyone’s income is equal. And everyone is a volunteer. If housewives, househusbands, can do it, then so can you.
Yep. That’s why I argue for Socialism As a Means To A Brighter future. Check out the post at the end of the post. Thx!
Socialism. When you are not willing to do it yourself. When you are a coward and are not willing to try. When you just do not care about individual freedom. Solialism is just a way to say life is too difficult so I just do not care to put in the effort to be self sufficient. As I stated it is the way of Cowards.
Individual
something to think about. if you gave $1 mill to the 47%, who don’t pay taxes, how many of them would be worse off after a year???
Probably most especially if they didn’t find/hire a good lawyer or two to protect
their new found wealth! All of them if they put the money into the stock market!
or http://www.lukegarrison.intuitwebsites.com until march 7th 2012
I loved this information. I live close to Tyler Tx barely graduated high school in 1989 and always felt dumb in school or of lesser intelligence than average. and until today I thought you had to make millions per year to be in the top 10% I worked my first job for $3.35 hr in 1986 it took me 16 years to get to $14 an hr and to realize that I was not the dumb one and that me and everyone around me was no different than a slave trapped in poverty bringing home $419 a week 22,000 a year. so I quit that job and started my own carpentry business and within 2 months my pay checks where $ 1200 a week and growing.Plus with my wife’s 35,000 ( she went to a university ) we where making 98,000 evidently thats real close to the top 10% HERE IS THE PROBLEM WITH AMERICA all the time I see people who are capable of working getting disability ,also the state of Tx and the city of Tyler giving away free houses nicer than the house I live in to people for free and pay me to build and work on them THAT JUST PISSES ME OFF . and there proud to get it liked they earnd it or worked for it . I would be both embarrassed and ashamed but there not. It seems to me that we are teaching are children that if you cant be a great success just be a total frailer you will get provided for just fine and a lot better than a lot of those people out there working there ass off . PLEASE DON’T ARGUE THESE ARE THE FACTS. But I am now more motivated than ever to get into that top 5% and the 1% is in my grasp . THANKS FOR THE KNOWLEDGE. and I need 30,000 investment to make my millions which we will split 50/50 for whoever is interested.
Sir, imagine if you (a top earner) and the government were to get in on the 50/50 thing, where as a result over maybe five years, perhaps you two make a billion each somehow, then this is a good reason to let Bush tax cuts expire on the top few percentage of earners, agreeing they’ll return half of what you both make off this contract of splitting earnings from a $30,000, a billion dollars to you and a billion to them. The idea is, the government will have a hearty amount to invest, access to all sorts of investments, and you could stand to lose our $30,000 for five years. Now, since we got more than a million people who earn more than a million, and they all sign up to begin investing $30,000 and after five yers whatever they earn they split with the gov, and let’s say each make a billion, I think that works out to be a grand total of $1 trillion to the government. That’s a lot of “ifs” but the point is, who has the most money in the world, who can we get money from, and since I think it’s the government, this is one way for the top earners to make more money and the goverment to pay down on the debt and eventually chop up the deficit too. Some economists said if only Bush had used the surplus he was geting from the Clinton administraion to pay down the debt, we would have had zero deficit when he completed his two terms. I know, we had two wars and many other variables, and it’s probably impossible to raise a billion in five years off 30,000, but these are big points to make several small points for purposes of illustration. Maybe you should run the numbers, get a correct investment profit on, say, $30,000 over five years, and so forth, could be this contract thing might be something the whole Congress would like to do. Just a little imagination here. I know nothing of these matters, except WHY DO PEOPLE BUY GOLD when the graphs show it’s a whole lot cheaper if you just wait around for another Republican to ruin the economy? No answer needed. I’m just saying…
The economic problems in the US stem from reduced demand and taxing the bottom 50% – besides resembling the blood from a turnip approach– will suppress demand even more.
That’s the point. We aren’t taxing everybody. Let’s have skin in the game for all and improve this great nation of ours!
This post is false information. The poster should do more research before ranting false accusations. As a single 19 year old male I work 60+ hours a Week at 11.25$/hr I can submit proof tha I pay around 35-40% taxes on overtime pay and 21% taxes on regular pay. I can tell you I work longer and harder from the time I started working then this reporter ever has if he worked at my job he would in no way be able to complete the tasks that are required. To say we are lazy and feel entitled is a slap in the face. I say you are lazy. You are entitled. Your work is not worth what you are paid you are a leech to society filling peoples heads with lies about what hard work is you wouldn’t last a day in my shoes I make 20000 a year. I struggle to survive I’ve gone hungry for weeks with no money but I’ve never to a handout.
Please pshow where I write you are lazy and entitled? Are you sure your guilt is not speaking for you?
You do not pay 30-40% in effective federal taxes at your income. If you try and do your own taxes you’ll see at year end exactly what you pay and it’s not even close.
The government needs to stop spending. We dont have an income problem. We have a spending problem!! Ed
Forgetting the fact that the “average’ American is indeed well off when compared to some, income distribution in the United States is comparable to that of Iran and Russia, while upward mobility is less than that of most industrialized nations including England (which is essentially a class system). Meanwhile, the concentration of wealth in the US continues to skew badly in favor of the top 1% due to remarkably low Capital gains tax rates. Bottom line – this is not a sustainable paradigm. The economic problems in the US stem from reduced demand and taxing the bottom 50% – besides resembling the blood from a turnip approach– will suppress demand even more. Ben Stein, hardly a liberal, had it right — it is class warfare and guess which class is winning?
How many times have we heard: “The rich don’t have enough. The poor have too much.” Pretty impressive propaganda. Forty years of that philosophy has left us in pretty sorry shape.
A 15% flat tax is arbitrary. Why not 50% flat tax? Someone making a million dollars a year will still have 500,000. Hardly a sacrifice. Someone making 33,000 will have 16,500. Not much to live on for half the population of this country. If all the millionaires actually got just half a million it wouldn’t be so special would it, to paraphrase the author. If that high tax rate brought in more than government spends now, then rebuild the bridges, dams, rails, schools that are decaying, move the economy into sustainable mode. To do the jobs hire the millions the economy has thrown out of work resulting from the self-serving decisions of the billionaires and their government employees. And pay sufficient wages that no one is left out in the cold. Oh yeah, and stop the rich from buying the government.
In the 1950’s, when the U.S. economy was growing rapidly, the rich paid up to 90% marginal tax rates. So for the rich to pay high taxes is hardly an unbearable burden on the economy or on entrepreneurship. In fact I’d argue that the economy grew in part because the rich were made to pay more.
I’ve actually never heard that quote before.
So long as everybody is paying a 50% flat tax, I’m down with it. It’s all about equality.
Eibner – I can’t recall a single stereotype you may have missed. If only life were as simple as the bumper-sticker mentality you seem to have embraced.
I am a 1percenter. My dad went to night school on the GI Bill after Korea. I went to public school. I studied hard in High School. I worked and studied hard in a State College, and though my parents paid for my first year at Purdue, I paid for the rest of my undergraduate education myself. I worked at least one job thru college and sometimes more. I continued working all thru medical school, which I also paid for myself with savings and loans. I paid off my school loans, ahead of time, without complaining about it. As a physician, I work 7 days a week and when I’m at home, I am on call for my patients all hours of day and night. I work at my office, clinic and multiple hospitals. I pay my taxes, other than standard deductions, i have no tax shelters or use any loopholes. So, my question to all the 99 preventers is this, here I am, a 1 percenter, what do you want from me? I have worked hard all my life, don’t I deserve to benefit from this and enjoy the fruits of my labor? Isn’t that the American dream, that someone who comes from working class stock can succeed? My success was not at any of your expense, so why do I owe more than I already pay? I’ll leave with a quote paraphrased from Margaret Thatcher-” The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”
Thanks for sharing that quote. Never heard of it, and it rings true.
I love how politicians like to decide how to spend OTHER PEOPLE’s money on their own desires and redistribution policies.
It’s very interesting to read so many people complaining why they can’t get ahead. If you live in America, we have no excuse not to live a good life. We have so many opportunities, we’d have to be a lazy, knucklehead not to be able to make at least $33,000 a year!
Janitors make $60,000 a year, and so do trash men. Why can’t you?
Lol, a little melodramatic don’t you think? I like it though!
I’m pretty certain Obama will win again 2012, sorry. Anybody who would like to bet me, I’m open!
Your description of what the top Americans make based on the Internal Revenue Service’s 2010 database as $380,354 doesn’t seem like what most people think of as the 1%. I know “take it up withe IRS”, but it would be interesting to hear your comments after reading the following article:
How the GOP Became the Party of the Rich By Tim Dickinson.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-the-gop-became-the-party-of-the-rich-20111109
The article describes a much different income strata than those making under half a million.
Nobody has the exact figure. $380,000 sounds about right, and $1 million sounds wrong. Feel free to survey a thousand people around you and see if you can find 10 people who make over $380,000?
$380,000+ is the beginning of the top federal income tax bracket of 35% as of 11/17/11. When people enter that bracket, they will really start feeling the pain of taxes. And when all they see in the news are people who pay much less to zero taxes say they are bad people, that’s when things get out of hand.
Protesters are protesting the top 0.1%, not the Top 1%. However, don’t expect the protesters to care. Anything more than them is bad.
One of the problems I have with reaction to the protests is presumption.
Here in my neck of the woods there were plenty of everyday working people
there that are fully aware of the taxes paid by people in that income range and
certainly don’t think of them as bad people, or that making more than they do is
bad. An observation of the status quo shouldn’t be construed as “a sense of
entitlement”, or get a job and stop leaching off the system”, etc. There’s a real
danger in blanket generalizations. But again, I would like to hear your
observations of the article mentioned when you have time.
“Financial Samuri” my ass! you are an idiot! Did you actully hve to live off of yuour incomre at mcDonalds in that long past job? If so, how would you do thatyt in todays economy? How would you pay for just basic rent, food, medical care, and transportation costs? Why don’t you go and work at McDonals in San Francisco for $10.00 an hou for at least 6 months, and survive on just that income! If they give you health insurance as part of the benefits, see how that works out when you have to pay the copay and deductables out tht income! See if you can actually manage to eat a healthy diet on that income? Are you actually saying that if someone is poor, they should not have a child? Should onlythe rich reproduce? Perhaps you and hitler could have worked out a deal about the Master Race, to include income requirements, and not just ethnic genetics! HOW DARE YOU THINK THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE IN THE LOWEST INCOME GROUP IN THIS COUNTRY CHOOSE TO BE THAT WAY! You are social class bigot!!! I have worked from the time I was 14 years old! I have had to struggle all of my life just to get past the idiots like you who want to mke sure the rich get rticher, and fuck the poor! THE RICH LIVE OFF THE WORK, OFF THE SWEAT and struggles of the middle and low income individuals in this country! Who do you think build the roads, the houses, empty your garbage, process your sewage (not the feces you dump on this site, sorry to say)! The highest income people in this country who do not want to pay more in taxes (and there are huge number who are actually goin to congress to beg to hve their taxes increased to help their country); well those who don’t want to go back to the previous rates they paid and give up the pay off tax break increases they got from their buddy Bush; just what are they doing to contribute to the stability in this country? Perhaps by buying 9 houses, two yachts, and a helicopter; or paying $10,000 for a dress to wear to some social eventy, they are what; giving some jobs to the people who clean, cook, and drive for them? What about the fact that instead of a trickle down effect, they export as many jobs as they can to third world countries, so that they can increase their own coffers even more; while making sure that those countries increase their abuse of the environment through pollution, and who treat their workers worse than your dog is probably treated! Then, the theory is supposed to be that people in those other countries will have more income, then start to fight for their own rights as human beings… Well, that would all be great, exce that then the Big Company fat boys will just move on to the next third world country to abuse so they can continue to get things made cheaper and increase their own income! never mid the facty that this practice has also led to the importation of extremely poorly made and often unsafe merchandise; as long as the rich keep getting richer here, then all is well! If the tax breaks actually did result in an increase in jobs, don’t you think that would have happened by now, since the Bush tax give aways to the rich have been in effect about ten yeats now, but we are suffering the highest unemployment rates and the highest gaps in income equality since just before the greaty depression!
I realize that my comments will not phase in the slightest, and that you will rem,ain oin your little self centered world with the delusion thatg everyone can just “get a better job” if they want to make more, etc… By the way, hope you don’t claim Christianity as your religion, because if so, you certainly forgot to read the most prominent guidelines that were supposedly given by the Messiah of thaty religion!!! FEED THE POOR, CARE FOR THE WIDOWED AND THE SICK, and oh yeah.. It is harder for a camel to get through the eye of a needle; than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of heaven! Perhaps that last statement from the “son of God” was referring tyo the fact that those who become so self centered and focused on their own successes as the most important things in their lives; even when those things come at the expense of others, are certainly missing the boat with the other instructions about being a just and caring person in this life!
Let me get clarification, are you against equality and helping pitch in to help our country?
What is it that you do in Seattle?
@Reverened White Eagle
Rev
Hmmmm, I own my company, and I work outside with the rest of the crew, doing everything and more than they do. I get there before them and leave after. I do all the bidding, paperwork and business end. I do physical work, and administrative. And it has been rewarding.
By the way, 12 hours a day isn’t much; 5AM to 5 PM, big deal, the kids are at school most of that time. I spend tons of time with my kids and even more with my wife.
This is pretty ridiculous. First off if it is so easy to be rich, then giving some of that money back into social programs shouldn’t be that difficult. The truth is, and this may come as a total shock to some of you, some people actually are given more opportunities. Sure if you earn more money you deserve to be able to spend it. If you followed the outlined plan and had work ethic and worked 80 hours a week and your only concern in life is piling up money because it is the only way you know how to measure success than you deserve to be able to spend your money on things you don’t have time to use. But at the same time you should be smart enough to realize that not everyone has the same opportunities, work ethic, intelligence, father etc. as you and therefore paying a higher percentage shouldn’t be that awful. The point of everyone putting in their fare share shouldn’t be measured as an absolute but rather measured relatively. If you make more money you should pay a higher percent of taxes. A higher percent IS your fare share. I don’t think that everyone should be able to live off of your money or that it is your responsibility to take care of everyone, but making sure that basic needs are met is beneficial for everyone (https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson.html).
If someone doesn’t have the same work ethic as me then why should I have to pay more in taxes to help him. I understand, accept and am perfectly willing to help those unable to help themselves, but not those who are unwilling to work hard and defer gratification on luxuries until they have covered the basics. As far as paying my fair share, I’m already in the top tax bracket, how much more do you want?
I’m 17 (I know I am young and don’t pay income taxes but whatever I will in a year) I am concerned about the inequality that exists in the world, specifically North America. I am aware of the occupy movement and its values, I also know some of my fathers more wealthy friends who told me how they found out how to pay less taxes. I have to say it’s quite disgusting how greedy some adults get. Hard work has always gotten people far, but to cheat the system that balances our financial lives is wrong. I heard on the news today how my municipality (Westside) Is seeing a large tax spending growth 8x larger than the population growth (Tax payers) and where was all this tax money being spent? definitely not my community. infact 82% of that tax revenue went towards the council and government officials Benefits and increased salaries. This is a sickening truth since we are forced to pay taxes to help make the lives of our leaders better. in all, not much in terms of equality has changed since the days of King Henry.
Very, very good. As a young and future tax payer, you need to get with others like your self and figure out what yo must do to save your selves. The old greedy generation that has control now must go down some how. Its your generation that must take control. I know a place where there are 14 million un parented children waiting for organization to run this world in the next twenty years. With you and you intelegent friends you can make this happen. With out violence. You just need a plan!
Interested?
yeah, i’m going to law school and running in elections. that’s the only way to make change in a country with a democratic system.
Why should someone struggling to get by, pay as much money as a man who owns a vineyard and flies to Hawaii and is sending their children to private schools. The fact right now is that the rich are paying less than their fair share.
. . . .
The problem is that rich people control the media, and the media controls what people believe.
Your logic is flawed. You assume that taxation, etc. is the problem. The problem is not how much tax each entity pays. I am a capitalist but and I am entitled to a reasonable effort for my SUCCESSFUL efforts. But if my windfall profit far exceeds my reasoned projections, that value is the added value that synergism with all elements of a cooperative economy provides. The windfall value inherent in that synergism means the GDP belongs to all of America. There is NO Need for taxes for ANYONE or anything if you view the economic situation correctly and act accordingly. Want more detail, say please!
Wolakota!
(peace)
Whats you plan Fred.
LIE!
LIE is lakota for light incase someone is reading it wrong.
Excuse me I meant to say ILE is lakota for Light. Sorry for the poor translation Fred. Fingers and key boards are not one of my strengths.
Very interesting converstion. Thanks for the real tax info sam.
Just a thought, but the top 5% are there by hiring the lower 50% that work their butts off so the top 5% are the top 5% because they don’t pay much more then minimum wage? Thus making it hard for those of us to even think of making into the top 50%.
Making money hand over fist by running a business must be way harder then the guy who has to shovel dirt that makes that business.
What if income was based on how hard a body has to work, the income charts would be the opposit. Sure some of the upper 50% put in 80 hours. I would like to see that in physical labor.
First, your thinking is flawed from the get go. Minimum wage makes up for a VERY small percentage of jobs in the work force. Heck, go to McDonalds and more than likely starting pay is higher than minimum wage.
Next. How much does it cost to open a McDonalds. You can’t buy into the franchise unless you can prove you have $1-$1.9 million in liquifiable start up assets.
Land costs money. Building costs money. Equipment costs money. Stock costs money. Then you must have money for payroll upfront. When the store opens, it might not have enough business to sustain itself for a few weeks or a few months.
All that money upfront before one hamburger is flipped.
Now, if this is the store owners first store, he/she is probably going to be working at the store for 40-60 hours a week. (HIGHLY unlikely its 40)
The average McDonalds has about a 10% profit margin. The average McDonalds does about $2.3 Million in sales.
Lets say an owner has $1.5 mil invested and works 60 hours a week, does $2.3 million in sales a year and has a 10% profit margin, or $230,000. Does that seem outrageous?
As owner/manager he’s working 60 hours a week. Whats a good pay for his labor? $75-$100k. Lets use $100k, that leaves $130k for return on a capital investment of $1.5 million. Just under 9%
Now lets look at wages. It doesn’t matter what the actual wages are for the discussion. If we are assuming the store has an average gross income of $2.3 million and a profit ration of 10%, or $230,000, we know that $230,000 is potential wage pay increases.
So, lets look at hours worked. Most McDonalds are now open 24 hours a day. At night staff is low 2-3 workers. During the day, 8-10-12. For discussion lets say the store averages 6 people on. Thats 6 people x 24 hours x 365 days a year.
6 x 24= 144.
144 x 365= 52,560 man hours.
In other words, raising the income of each employee $1 per hour would cost $52,560 JUST in pay. It would cost another $4,020.84 in added FICA taxes. Depending on the state and how it figures unemployment taxes, that could be another $10,000 in unemployment insurance.
Thats a total of $66,580.84 for a $1 an hour across the board raise.
Whether we are talking minimum wage or $10 an hour at McDs or the like, $1 an hour isn’t going to substantially change ones lifestyle.
On the otherhand, the added cost of $66,000 could make the difference of whether someone opens a McDonalds or not. Why would anyone invest $1.5 million into something where they’re not allowed to make a decent return on their investment?
Now theres another way of looking at it and that would be to raise prices to pay higher wages. I’d have to know what the percentage of payroll is to other costs to get a good idea. But if we use a 1 to 3 ratio, 1/3 of overall costs are labor, then we could ROUGHLY say that a 50% raise for everybody would be about a 17%-20% price hike.
A family of 4 that might be spending $20 at McDs now must spend $24.
If a family went to McDs once a week, thats an extra $208.
That $4 is going to hit a lot of people VERY hard.
Sales will drop.
Here’s the next problem. IF we increase pay at McDs to raise living standards, other places will also raise their pay. Thus, as McDs prices rose to pay its employees more, so would the prices of McDs suppliers. To the point where pay would eventually be back to the 1 to 3 ratio of payroll to material.
Mcdonalds would still be at a 10% profit margin.
And as costs for everything would rise, the pay raise for the employees would be negated by inflation.
Cool. Real quick on that calculator.
Just a couple of things. Inflation is happening with out the pay raises. McDonanalds is a multi-million, dare I say billion dollar corperation. And why do they have to make a 10% profit margin. Doesn’t the corperation have more money than God at this point?
Sure it has its stock holders that all make from what I can tell even with inflation, a decent gauranteed dividend without raising a finger. So why couldn’t they settle for 9% profit.
I can see the reasoning for new business’. But well established gauranteed income corperations.
There are a few things we can gauranty we will always have. Death, Taxes, Politics, Poor and Mc “D”s . I have a feeling China’s not gonna go away real soon. Oh and Wal-Mat so the poor can have TV’s, Refrigerators and Microwaves.
Can’t believe your a real mountain man. I don’t want to offend and please don’t take this wrong but it sounds as if you could have a mansion in the hills. Please say it isn’t so. Say you got this wisdom from pondering a fire late at night in the mountians. By a cabin. Or a lake.
Inflation is happening because of the government devaluing it. The printing presses are at full speed.
Look up the Wiemar Republic.
McDonalds itself might be a billion dollar company, but franchisees are seperate from the corporation. They buy franchise and licensing rights. It costs these INDIVIDUALS $1 to $1.9 million to start up.
On the other hand, lets look at corporate. Every corporation is owned by stock holders. So basically the same principal applies whether I own the franchise myself or I own stock in the corporation. Either way, the owner/shareholder wants and deserves to make a legitimate profit from his investment.
Now whether that profit is $100,000 or $100 million, makes no difference. The profit MARGIN stays the same.
The individual owning the franchise might have to put up $1.5 million, but as a stockholder, I can buy a portion of the company for $1,500. I can get the same margin of return that the franchise holder would get, but for ALOT less invested.
Thats where stock ownership is great for the little guy.
Now you might have a problem with corporate McDonalds yielding the return because its a billion dollar company. The issue is there are THOUSANDS of “little people” who own shares of McDonalds. I can buy $1500 worth of McDonalds stock and get the same return as someone else, who buys $15 million in stock. My 10% margin is the same as his.
That means YOU too can go and buy stock in McDonalds, and don’t need a million dollars to do it. Current stock price for McDs is $94.56. 100 shares would cost $9456.
That might be too much for a beginner to bite off. There are many good companies selling in the $5-$10 range. A person could buy 100 shares for $500 to $1000, and IF the company makes a 10% profit, you as a stockholder share in that profit, proportional to your investment.
The problem with your question on why companies can’t settle for 9% profit, is assumption.
Meaning this. There is no guarantee of profit. Businesses shoot for a profit margin, but market conditions affect things. Sometimes profits are high, sometimes low.
Never invest in the market money you can’t afford to lose.
I was 26 when I bought my first stock shares, about 20+ years ago. Paid $1000. Sold them for just under $900. A loss of $100, no biggy. That company isn’t in business today, and if I would have stuck with it, I would have lost my entire investment.
I did an investment partnership with some friends about 11-12 years ago. 8 of us put up $2500 each. Over time our investment fizzled and we all lost everything we put in.
These were in the days when I was making $25K to $50k a year respectively.
Today, my 401K is still about 20% under value from 3 years ago. Of course stock value and dividends are 2 seperate things.
Lets go back to your 9% comment. My earlier post I list out man hours, and how a simple $1 an hour raise would affect profit margin vs improving employee lifestyle.
I demonstrated that a simple $1 raise for every employee would drop profit from $230,000 at 10% return, to about $164,000. If $230k is 10% then $164k is 7.5%
That $1 raise was a 2-1/2% hit.
Now 2-1/2% percent overall doesn’t sound like much, but in the world of investing, thats a 25% loss.
10% is the profit margin, but it is 100% of income or capital gains.
Lastly, my name. I’m Mountn_Man because I LOVE mountains. Summer, winter, makes no difference to me. I’m VERY adept in a mountain environment. If you’re lost in the mountains with somebody, I’m the type of person you want to be lost with.
UNFORTUNATELY, I currently live in the boring state of Illinois.
Another reason why I’m Mountn_Man. I work in construction with some pretty big or hardened type guys, and commonly my coworkers make comments about my size. I might be only 6′ but wear a size 54 jacket. And when I wear a beard people say I look like a lumber jack. When something needs a little extra muscle, I’m the one people get. When weather gets cold and brutal, I’m the one slugging through. Snow, I love snow.
I don’t live in a mansion. Far from it. I live in a 1500′ ranch home in a VERY middle class neighborhood. I do have a little cottage about 1/2 mile from a small lake. This cottage is about 50% bigger than my 2 car garage. Definetly nothing special. But its mine.
Some years as far as work goes are good, some not so. ’09 an’10 were not so. Last year I worked just over 5 months.
This year is a different story. I’ve been working 6 days a week, 10 hour days, with a 3 hour roundtrip commute, for most of the year. By far my best year.
My view on taxes is whats good for one is good for another. I don’t expect anyone to do or pay anything I don’t do or pay.
If I pay 15% or 25% or 28% in taxes, I feel others should to. I don’t feel that somebody else who makes more than me should have to pay a higher rate than me.
Because of the hours I work,and the type of work I do, and the conditions and circumstances I have to work in, I have A REAL ISSUE with people who whine and complain about having to work hard or having to work long hours. Like I said, last year wasn’t a good year, this year is making up for it. But at a cost. I’m OK with that cost.
I’m the son of factory workers. My mom is a farmers daughter. My dad was fatherless and became an ex-con. My parents divorced after my freshman year of HS, and my dad had nothing to do with raising me, supporting me or getting me through school.
I’ve worked my way up from minimum wage to making over $150k this year. I’ve also spent 18 years as an adult volunteering in my church youth programs, so that other kids can have a role model like the ones I had.
Because of this, I have absolutely NO TOLERANCE for any entitlement mentality. I expect others, if they want what I have or what others have, to do the things that I have done or what others have done. I expect people to pay their own way. That means those who expect others to pay a higher percentage in taxes, should themselves then be paying that same percentage in taxes. ANything else is an entitlement mentality.
One thing I think I should clarify. Though I’m against all forms of entitlement, that does not mean I’m against charity or helping out. It seems that people of the liberal mindset, view us conservatives as greedy, heartless ogers. FAR FAR from the truth. Conservatives have shown time and again that they are the truely compassionate and charitable ones. I just believe my charity should come from my pocket, from my time and at my discretion. I believe that others should give as they feel they should, not at the demand of others.
I find that those who demand more from others, are the ones doing nothing or little themselves.
So after this, I think it makes it clear that I ain’t some cupcake living in a McMansion somewhere. Not that I wouldn’t mind having one. Mountn_Man is more than a name because I like the mountains. Its a way of life, an outlook.
The problem I have with the spreadsheet is the use of AGI. The AGI represents all of the methods that have been created by government to hide income. I think the data would be more realistic with Gross Income (including all types of gains). I think the distributions would change dramatically.
Does that include the family with 3 kids, who make $40K (gross) a year?
Husband and wife both take a standard deduction of $5800 each. Thats $11,600.
Next personal and depandent exemptions. Husband, wife and 3 kids. Thats 5 at $3700 ea, or $18,500.
So, just using a 1040ez form, with standard deductions or exemptions that everyone can get, they wipe out $30,400 of gross income. They’ve eliminated 75% of their income from being taxed. Their taxable income would be $9,600. Their tax would be about $1000.
Add to that that, they more than likely qualify for the EITC, which for 3 kids would be $5666. So, not only will they NOT PAY any tax, they’ll actually be given money from the government.
Lets watch a high income earner try to shelter 75% of his income, without spending anything to do it.
Back when the Bush tax cuts were put in, and everyone was getting their $400 checks from the government. My buddy and his wife didn’t get any. (And boy was his wife mad).
The reason was, they didn’t pay any federal income tax. (Waaaaaah-no fair. I didn’t know I had to pay taxes in order to get a rebate from the governmnet)
He’s got a small carpet cleaning business. He makes about $60-75k a year. So with his small business deductions, his mortgage deduction, his property tax deductions and personal exemptions for himself, his wife and their 6 kids, they paid no income tax.
Beck,
Yours is one posting I truely feel for. And I’m serious.
You mention the struggle you’re having. And it sounds like one above and beyond your doings.
I don’t hear you blaming anyone. And I don’t hear you EXPECTING others to make everything well and good. Working 50-75, THAT’S admirable, ESPECIALLY when others think its beneath them to do it.
I hope and pray that God brings someone around in your life who can help with the burden. Maybe to put a healing hand on your husband and a strengthening hand on you.
I ask God that he’ll make this Thanksgiving a holiday of Thanks-giving for you.
Amen. How can we the lower 50% help? We all in this together. May God bless us all.
Stop whining and crying for the rich. They live off the work of others. Labor(employees) create the wealth within a company which is then transferred to owners/shareholders. The top 1% in this country create ZERO wealth. They should be tax appropriately(IE 100%)
Labour was the first price, the original purchase – money that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all wealth of the world was originally purchased.
Adam Smith – Wealth of Nations
The top 1% should be taxed 100%? Umm, OK. Where do you guys come from? Seriously.
This looks like a good place to cut in Sam. I have read from both sides of the fence now because of what you started. Kudoes by the way.
But, I still haven’t read any workable ideas that everyone can agree on. How can we exspect our government to figure it out.
Even if big business left the white house, we the people can’t even figure out what to do but whine about it.
I have whatched our politicians act like children. Now I am reading from even my intelegent rich and poor fellow siblings, “It’s your fault. You should Pay! I didn’t do it. You should pay!”
What ever happened to the fellowship of America? The spirit on which we started this country. What happened to everyone is equal and has the right to all this country can offer.
(Boy that ones gonna come back to me!)
But, Seriously! Does anyone out there have any idea on how to fix this problem we have, so that everyone is happy?
Or is this it? Big money kills the world economy.
The rich will continue to exploit the poor.
And the poor will be poor for ever? And pissed off!
Hmmmm. Makes me proud to be an American!
And by the way, I have gone from the top 50% to the low, lower 47% because of someone else’s vote. And I still work 70 hrs a week.
Sorry. Spell check wasn’t working for me.
The things we depend on now days.
Tell me more about someone else’s vote putting you in the lower 47%? 70 hrs is a lot to work and make less than 30k a year. What do you do?
I already work between 50 & 75 hours a week most of the time, but because I am on salary, it makes NO difference to my earnings. $28,000 a year, I have a degree and10 years experience, and my boss thinks he’s being generous. I keep looking but I am not finding any other openings in my area around here. And with the hours I am working, it is difficult to find time to look elsewhere or retrain. My husband got hurt at work, the Dr comp sent him to diagnosed it as aggravation of an existing condition, and rated his disability percentage at 0% – so now he’s out of work, in pain, we were already living tight because we were trying to put away for emergencies, savings is gone because of his medical bills that comp & insurance won’t cover, we had to drop medical coverage recently, and I still have absolutely no idea how we will cover the bills next month.
And I would still prefer a reasonable flat income tax. I just sales taxes were lower. 10% means things get expensive fast. And my state recently changed the tax law to extend it to additional items – second hand items, services – that mean frugal people pay more sales tax than they used to.
Capitalism requires there to be winners and losers. How hard you work may affect your position, but regardless, the system will ensure that some of us will be poor, some of us will be rich and the rest will fall somewhere in between. It’s a fallacy to think otherwise.
Which is why capitalism is merely an ideal. There’ll always be some degree of socialism in our economy. And yet people always want to argue economics from the left side of their brain.
Capitalism does not require there to be winners and losers.
Capitalism to be truely successful requires a win win situation.
The problem is there are SOME who want to take advantage of others.
And then there are some who feel that others owe them simply because they have more.
Somebody with less isn’t neccessarily a loser. If someone is taking advantage of them, thats wrong. If they refuse to do what it takes to provide for their families needs, then yes they are losers.
But someone content with a smaller amount isn’t a loser.
But someone who is content to work a smaller amount and still expect others to pay them more, IS.
Yes, but in a capitalistic society, the money is suppose to flow to those who do the work. Does this happen in corporate America. Usually, but not always. All the pro capitalists will spout how guys like bill gates and Steve jobs are worth their pay (and maybe more). But when a corporation is cutting jobs, cutting salaries, sticking it to the stock holders and still paying the CEO and board members big bucks, people get mad across the spectrum. So, estimate your lifetime earnings, or the lifetime earnings of your physician or lawyer then compare to a corporate CEO bonus for one year. Did they really do more work in one year than you will in your entire life? Was their idea so valuable and did they really do that much good for society? So one can argue that a goodly number of these characters are really not worth their salt!
“Tack on another side job that pays $1,200 a month and I’m in the Top 50%. If you are only working 40 hours a week or less and are complaining why you can’t get ahead, you need to seriously re-evaluate your work ethic and expectations.”
Lets look at that again.
Are you serious? Frist, jobs arent exactly easy to come by now days. Even jobs at McD’s are in high demand. Second, you are what’s wrong with America. I mean really, 40 hours a week isn’t good enough? Maybe I just read that wrong but unless I’m in a dire situation and the planet is being invaded by Aliens who want our natural resources I don’t see why we have to keep raising the “work ethic” bar to unreasonable numbers. Yea, I can say that going the extra mile when needed will get you a long way, but to make is sound like you should HAVE to do that every week to get ahead is simply insane.
What ever happened to having time to spend on the things that matter like raising your kids or developing your relationship with your soul mate. Or how about having acutal productivity instead of the mindless stockpiling of Zombie hours that seems to be a happening trend.
In truth I despise people like you. You act like you achieve more because you spend more time working while your child gets bullied at school, who by the way cant cope because they have no real parent around to help them through it. Then you get promotions and start forcing your Zombie ways on your employees expecting them spend less time with their families. You promote these unhealthy ethics at work and applaud when someone who can’t keep up with the mindless pace gets brought out. In turn, you are a bullie.
On behalf of America I request that you piss off.
If only you spent time living overseas in places like India or China, you’d realize the world has changed. Definitely try learning a second language fluently, and you’ll get a better understanding of other cultures and what’s going on in the world.
Its not everybody elses job to carry your butt.
IF–IF you CAN’T get buy on 40 hours, by all means, YES work 50-60 or 80.
There are some of US who do.
Stay out of my pocket, if you ain’t man enough to take care of your family.
McDonalds ain’t a job to support a family on. Thats where you go to get a start or make a little extra.
Just the fact that you mention McDonalds says all I need to know about your work ethic.
A real man ain’t going to EXPECT a McDonalds job to support him and his family.
A real man will go out and work 1 or 2 jobs AND get and education, IF THATS WHAT IT TAKES to provide for his family.
If you’re not willing to do that…STARVE.
There are more people deserving of my help.
No jobs that will pay you what you think your worth? Start your own business. Somebody had to start theirs, that you think should be supplying you a job.
If they could take the risk, what makes you any more SPECIAL.
Or is wife jus a widdle bit to hard for you?
Lifes hard. Its even harder if your stupid (and or lazy)
I just don’t get how the 1% became the bad guy here? Isn’t it a bit hypocritical when you rage towards corporate greed is fueled by individual greed? Complaining that you don’t have enough money, to those who have more than you is a bit like being a teenager. What did your parents tell you then? GET A JOB!!!!
Funny isn’t it. Somebody is greedy for trying to get a worthwhile return on the risk they take investing.
But somebody who hasn’tBOTHERED to develop skills or get an education that will get them hired, or WILLING to PUT IN the hours to provide for their family isn’t greedy.
One has worked for their money is greedy.
The other hasn’t worked for it and is expectant that the other owes them.
Welcome to bizarro world.
ome ones math is wrong. You say you worked at McDonald’s for $3.50/hour now wages are 3 times that? or $10.50/hr. last time I checked the fed mim wage is $7.35/hr. at $3.50/hr you had to work 40 hrs. to earn $550/month. Now you suggest a second job? That’s 80/hr weeks. 16 hr days 5 days a week. no thank you. Do you work that? There is no defense. The top 1% needs to pay their fair share.
Uh, I just said wages are 3X higher now, so yes, McDonald’s here in San Fran pays $10 an hour.
If your life is all about making as much money as possible, then yes you take your butt to work for 80 hours a week. If thats all you are qualified to make, and you so desperately desire to be in the elite income earners then I don’t think you have a choice. Otherwise, get a stronger education or stay home and enjoy your life.
I work 60 hours a week. 6 days a week, 10 hrs a day. + 2-1/2 to 3 hr commute per day.
You do what you have to do to survive.
Minimum wage is just that. Minimum.
Thats for somebody with no skills, just getting into the work force. Jobs like that aren’t supposed to be careers. Those are for HS kids or retirees.
Its not everybody elses responsibility to carry you, unless you’re infirmed or handicapped.
Sorry, lifes hard. For everyone.
What right do you have to burden others when you’re not willing to do WHATEVER it takes to take care of yourself.
You can complain about me paying my “fair share” in taxes when you work the type of job I work and put the hours I do in, and drive the mileage I do.
Time to man up buckaroo.
This nations in a tough row, and your sucking on the teet of society just draws away from someone who REALLY needs it, and CAN’T provide for themselves.
Here’s a little news flash for you, about fair shares.
The top 1% make 20% of the income and pay 38% of the income tax.
The bottom 50% make 12.75% of the incom but pay 2.7% of the income tax.
That means the top 1% pay 190% of the tax burden vs income percentage.
The bottom 50% pay 21% of their tax to income ratio
Fair would be 20% income paying 20% tax
Fair would be 12.75% of the income and paying 12.75% of the tax.
If the world economy is based on the value of a barrel of oil, (demand) then you need to use more oil this year than you used last year. (supply) That way, more and more products and energy are consumed and profit is generated. {a projected rate of growth can be leveraged} Speculation on growth by the means of debt/borrowing.
It is as if the world can no longer keep up with the amount of increase in oil use, or the ability to use more this year than last year on witch the concept of levering is based.
So borrowing time to pay more and more money for less and less oil will be only greater and greater debt. Until such time the world economy is biased on something other than the value of a barrel of oil.
An old saying is “nether borrower nor lender be”. It could be wise to take this idea to heart.
It could be that public debt should be limited to 1.0% of yearly income, not 99.0% of projected growth in income over 1000 years.
If I am asked by someone on the street “do you have some spare change” ? (implying that I should give some to them.)
If I give this person a dime, then this person is a “success”.
If I say “because I gave away a dime, I will put ten dollars in a folder to be opened at the end of the month” then I will be a “success”.
If the person that I gave the dime to says, “well you got ten bucks”, (implying that I am “rich” and that I should give more). I will give a penny, and because I did, I will say, “I will put one hundred dollars in the folder”.
If this person says “you have one hundred and ten bucks and all I have is eleven cents” (implying that I should give more). I will give a smashed soda can worth about one tenth of a penny and say “I have never seen a five hundred dollar bill in circulation” so I will put five hundred dollars in the folder.
If this person says “you have six hundred and ten dollars, all I have is eleven cents and a smashed soda can”!
I will say “your right, we’re a success”.
Some people can’t even manage eleven cents and a smashed soda can, while others can manage six hundred and ten dollars or more.
Soandso:
Are you trying to make the point that not everyone is capable of successfully managing money, property … in some cases even the fundamentals of contemporary life? If not, I have to say I missed it entirely.
Regardless, we live in a society with an economy based on cash.
Just because one person doesn’t have the necessary skills to thrive in a monetary-based economy doesn’t mean that such a person should be doomed to live a sub-standard life.
I’d be OK with a system where the poorest of the poor don’t live any worse than the best treated pets in our country. The problem is that some people just plain don’t treat “other” people with any respect at all — not even a basic respect as human beings. But the same people can lavish luxury on their pets because they are THEIR pets – part of their life, family … whatever!
jefndenver:
Yes, you missed it entirely.
It is not as deep as you seem to make it.
When attaching meaning to value, to give a dime is the same as giving ten
pennies. Putting ten dollars into the future, is based on the principle of 100%
profit, that will be realized at the end of the month. The difference in prospective
is that, some people can envision the future, (time is money)while others are only
focused on what can be had at the present time. When he says “you got six
hundred and ten dollars” he fails to take into account that the end of the month
is not until the day after tomorrow. (tine is money)
Having the tax-free 50% pay their fair share 15% would add $60 billion towards deficit reduction (your math). As challenged as the economy is now, is removing that $60 billion from the economy and giving it to the government the right thing? You sound like a conservative, but you would propose raising taxes and restricting the impact conservatives claim low taxes have on fueling the economy…and give that money to the government…You don’t believe a liberal taxation is fair and propose changing it to reduce the deficit, yet at the same time you propose the liberal response of raising taxes…
It sounds an awful lot like your true aim is to add a tax burden to the lower 50%, while at the same time removing 15% of the money they add to the economy–thus driving a struggling economy even lower–and reduce the effective income of the 50% even more…..It appears the only aim of your proposal is to further widen the gap between rich and poor. Sounds like you’re just an elitist revelling in bucking the concepts that made this nation great.
The only reasonable
I’m not a regular reader of this author, so I’m not sure if there is a tone of facetiousness inherent in this article, but the idea that getting the bottom 50% to pay $43/mo in taxes will solve any problems is ridiculous. If the author is serious, he has obviously never lived as one of the nation’s poorest. I have. I know what the loss of that “measly $43/mo” means.
Thankfully, I also made it up OUT of that bottom 50% and am now in the top 25%. Without government assistance, my family never would have made it. I have no problem paying a larger percentage of taxes than someone who makes half what I do and you greedy bastards that don’t care about your less fortunate American brothers and sisters ought to be ashamed of yourselves.
There are those that take advantage of the system, sure, but the majority just want a fair shake. If given the chance, they will work hard and pull themselves out of the gutter. But you folks would rather step on their hands than grab hold and help pull them up. Our society is destined to fail if this “Every man for himself” ideology continues. It’s NOT what this country was founded on.
Actually, if you read American history, you will find that America thrived because it was every man for himself. It was the one place in the world where people actually had that chance.
Being out for yourself DOESN’T mean people don’t help others.
Whats being resented today is the expectation.
There’s a lot of finger pointing going on in this country. Its not simply by the haves and have nots. Its also by the do and do nots.
Never before have the welfare rolls been so high. And its not simply because we have the highest population that we’ve ever had. We have a higher percentage of people on welfare.
We have people demanding things. And there ain’t no way to pay for them. And yet still people want/demand them.
This nation is $14.98 TRILLION in debt.
This years deficit alone is $1.6 TRILLION.
Spending has increased $1.1 TRILLION a year since Jan. of ’08
There isn’t enough wealth or income to tax.
in 2007 income tax revenues were $1.1 TRILLION
in 2008 income tax revenues were $1.0 TRILLION
We demand that government save us from all evils.
We demand that the rich foot the bill or they’re greedy or cold hearted.
Here’s the wake up call.
THERE’S NOT ENOUGH MONEY.
This years deficit is $1.6 TRILLION
If we already have income tax revenues of $1 TRILLION, doubling EVERYBODY’S taxes would only bring in another $1 TRILLION, still leaving us $.6 TRILLION a year short.
And we haven’t even talked about the added costs of Obamacare.
Or the $2.6 TRILLION Social Security trust that is empty.
Here’s another set of numbers 403 and $1.3 TRILLION
403 are the number of billionaires in the US.
$1.3 TRILLION is their combined net worth.
Thats worth NOT income.
Income is what you have come in year after year. Worth is the accumulation of income, year after year.
The point being. The wealthy don’t have the money to bail us out.
The entire wealth of all the US billionaires doesn’t even match this years deficit.
Taxing the poor more isn’t going to do squat.
But at the same time there isn’t enough money for current let alone proposed spending.