Class Warfare vs. Facts of Who Pays Income Taxes
Liberals always pant about the need to tax the rich. Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) has promised to repeal all the Bush tax cuts if he becomes chair of the House Ways & Means Committee. In a press release from February 2006, Jim Moran (D), Arlington’s representative in Congress, said, “Tax cuts for the wealthy are the order of the day.” Yesterday, we growled that the Bush tax cuts benefited all payers.
Now for a few more facts. The National Taxpayers Union has the latest IRS data (2004) posted showing who pays how much of the federal tax burden. The data shows those with the top 1% of adjusted gross income (incomes above $328,049) paid 36.89% of all federal income taxes while the top 5% of AGI (incomes above $137,056) paid 57.13%. In comparison, in 2003, those earning the top 5% of AGI paid 54.36%, and in 2002, those earning the top 5% of AGI paid 53.80%.
The Tax Foundation provides a bit more detail, including historical tables, about the 2004 IRS data. They also point out that “between 2000 and 2004, pre-tax income for the top 1 percent group grew by 7 percent. On the other hand, in that same time period, pre-tax income for the bottom 50 percent increased by 10.6 percent.”
Will facts quiet the class warriors? We wish it were so, but taxpayers can at least arm themselves with the facts.