Your Fair Share?

This from 2005 IRS data: (It's probably worse now)

The top 1% of wage earners paid nearly 40% of the total federal income tax collected. The top 5% of wage earners paid 60% of the total receipts. And the top 10% of wage earners paid 70%. Meanwhile, the bottom half of all wage earners - 50% of U.S. households - paid a mere 3% of the total income tax receipts.
In a democracy, when half of the population enjoys all the fruits of government but only pays for 3% of the cost, you can be sure that politicians will promise more taxes and more spending. The majority is living at the expense of the minority.
The main argument you'll hear in support of our steeply "progressive" income tax scheme is "the rich should pay more, because they earn more." But the top 5% of all wage earners garnered 36% of all income in 2005. Meanwhile, this group paid for 60% of all the taxes. In other words, high wage earners pay far more than their "fair share" based on their income.
So... what are the chances we'll see a "flat" tax in our lifetimes?
What can you say about a system where 10% of the population ends up paying virtually the entire government tab, with no corresponding amount of political power? Even if we had a "flat tax" the rich would still pay the lion's share. But that's not the point. The top 10% are still paying vastly more in taxes as a percentage of their income than the average taxpayer - about twice as much. If you believe in equality under the law... which if I recall correctly is mentioned in the Constitution... you cannot support a system that's so heavily biased against the "rich." Income taxes aren't hitting the rich in any case, because truly wealthy people do not generate income. Folks who own their companies or live off trusts, or other property, earn dividends and capital gains - which are both taxed lightly and at fixed rates of only 15%. The real penalty of the income tax is on high-wage earners. This greatly reduces social mobility, making it nearly impossible to become rich by simply working and saving.

Don't hold your breath for any changes if the libs control our government. Those who get all the freebies vote. They will vote for the party who gives the most. Eventually, they will kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

Tax those little babies

And you thought America had a monopoly on idiotic college professors. Professor Barry Walters (University of Western Australia & King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth) wrote in the Medical Journal of Australia that they need a baby tax on families of $5000 at birth and $800 a year thereafter to offset carbon to help with greenhouse gas emissions. This guy must be sleeping with Al Gore, or at least invest in the same "green" stocks. CLICK