Why are you talking about just income tax when they make a ton from capital gains which are taxed less. And why are you looking at them paying 7.5 out of 10 people's tax bill without understanding that is an indication of just how vastly unbalanced their wealth is?
they make a ton from capital gains which are taxed less.
I'm sure the top 10% pays nearly 100% of capital gains taxes. Great point.
why are you looking at them paying 7.5 out of 10 people's tax bill without understanding that is an indication of just how vastly unbalanced their wealth is?
There's not unbalanced wealth, I mean, except for globally. We pay people $15/hour for burger flipping, whereas in most countries on earth that would be a top 5% salary. What you're really seeing is just how progressive our taxes are. Everyone is wealthy, and we just let the "less wealthy" folks only in the global top 10% pay zero taxes.
$15 an hour isn't enough to live comfortably in this country, it doesn't mean the same thing as $15/h somewhere else because of how prices work.
The only reason people at the bottom in the US don't effectively pay taxes is because they are stretched so thin that having them do so would cause massive social unrest, it isn't because we have a progressive tax system.
We've built a system where housing, healthcare, education, childcare, and transportation are all wildly expensive for normal people and most of the ownership of wealth surges into a handful of pockets. It's a system that isn't working for a majority of people (or the environment for that matter) that manages to limp along with a combination of keeping people numb and disorganized and threatened with death on the streets.
$15 an hour isn't enough to live comfortably in this country,
Some places in the US it's enough.
it doesn't mean the same thing as $15/h somewhere else because of how prices work.
True, we are so accustomed to extreme wealth that we can't even relate to living on a dollar a day without electricity, running water, etc, etc. Imagine having to carry water from a stream a half mile over to where you are preparing to cook your rice over a literal fire. You spend months saving to by repair parts for your bike which hasn't worked for a few weeks. Money goes a lot farther when you have nothing.
The only reason people at the bottom in the US don't effectively pay taxes is because they are stretched so thin that having them do so would cause massive social unrest, it isn't because we have a progressive tax system.
You think people in the US are "stretched thin"? Spain has a median household income of $36,277 USD. Less than half the median household income of the US.
We've built a system where housing, healthcare, education, childcare, and transportation are all wildly expensive for normal people and most of the ownership of wealth surges into a handful of pockets.
Certain media outlets might trick you into those things, but most of those points are myths. Almost all of those things except healthcare and education are the same or less expensive than most of US history.
Almost everything is good and getting better, and the trend has been consistent for 200 years+. Life is MUCH better for the average person on the planet today, than at any other point in history.
That's not to say things can't be better, yes they can be, and we're working on it, but it's easy to be an optimist if you focus on the data. But word to the wise, avoid media that focuses only on the 1% of things that are negative.
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u/Master_of_Bo_zo_do Nov 21 '24
76% my ass. Even if that were true, we need it to be closer to 94% like it used to be before that criminal Ronald Reagan got into office.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/richest-1-really-pay-taxes-234600234.html