Growls

With all the talk about taxing the rich, it might be worthwhile to actually look at just who does pay income taxes and how much? The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) has posted the lates data for 2008, which provides that information. They provide the percentiles ranked by Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), the AGI thresholds for the top 1%, top 5%, top 10%, etc., and the percentage of Federal personal income taxes paid.

For 2008, the numbers were:

• Top 1%. AGI Threshold - >$380,354. Percentage of Federal Income Taxes Paid - 38.02%.

• Top 5%. AGI Threshold - $159,619.  Percentage of Federal Income Taxes Paid - 58.72%.

• Top 10%. AGI Threshold - $113,799.  Percentage of Federal Income Taxes Paid - 69.64.

• Top 25%. AGI Threshold - $67,280.  Percentage of Federal Income Taxes Paid - 86.34%.

• Bottom 50%. AGI Threshold - <$33,048. Percentage of Federal Income Taxes Paid - 2.7%.

Take a look at the NTU webpage since the tables go back to 1999. You'll see  the AGI threshold for 2008 dropped by almost $30,000 from 2007 while the percentage of taxes paid by the top 1% slowly rose from 36.18% in 1999 to 40.42% in 2007 before dropping in 2008. Looks like "the rich" are already paying more than their "fair share." Rather, the problem sure seems to be the Federal gummint is spending way too much.