Study: Local taxes hit lower wage earners harder
By Patricia Cohen, New York Times
When it comes to the taxes closest to home, the less you earn, the harder you’re hit.
That is the conclusion of an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that evaluates the local tax burden in every state, from Washington, labeled the most regressive, to Delaware, ranked as the fairest of them all.
According to the study, in 2015 the poorest fifth of Americans will pay on average 10.9 percent of their income in state and local taxes, the middle fifth will pay 9.4 percent and the top 1 percent will average 5.4 percent.
The trend is growing worse, said Meg Wiehe, state policy director at the institute, a nonpartisan research organization based in the nation’s capital. Several states have adopted or are considering policy changes that further lighten the tax load on their wealthiest residents, she said.
It’s what I’ve been stating along! But at least keeps the bureaucrats in the style of living to which they’ve become accustomed. (And I refer you back to the post of what some members of the SLTPD are making.)
As my Grandpa used to say, “tax the rich… they can afford it!”
How ’bout we don’t tax anyone and let user fees cover costs instead? It’d be a lot more efficient. Cheaper, too. But then, how would politicians and their cronies skim off the cream?
Ok Dog. How do we “user fee” say the Iraq War or any War for that matter exactly… “efficiently” and “cheaper.” Oil, Gas, Mining, Timber and extraction subsidy user fees. How about user fees for the cost of AIDS, Ebola or other disease research/treatments.
Dog,
That has been an idea for many years. Taxing the money you spend rather than the money you make combined with a low, flat tax rate would streamline the tax system and close quite a few of the loopholes that the rich enjoy.
R4T, if you think such wars are a necessary thing for us to be engaged in, it’s no wonder you and I are unable to agree on anything.
Those other things, gas/oil/timber, medicines, would easily be done through private means. Easily. Read some economics books by Murray Rothbard, or Ludwig Von Mises, or Henry Hazlitt. If you ACTUALLY want answers to those questions.
Dog. Just say you don’t know; Easily is not an answer.
The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 was passed by joint resolution in 2002 under the Laws of the United States. It has cost to date about $2 Trillion and counting.
The Authorization for Use of Military Force {Against Terrorists} in 2001 was passed by both the House and Senate with only 1 NO vote. This vote authorized both the Global War on Terror and The Afghan War. Both of these Wars have a cost another $2 Trillion and counting.
Again. How do you apply a user fee to these Wars?
If Oil, Gas & Timber could get the money they need from the private sector, they would not be begging Congress for free money every year; Same goes for medical research. Personally, medical research is a good investment of public funds; extraction subsidies are not.
Mama Bear. The poor spend most of their money; hence they are poor with few assets. How does taxing the poor on money they have to spend help them? That is why Sales taxes are considered “regressive” in the article.
FOR4T. You can’t accept what I know, fine.
But don’t act like you’re intelligent because you think we belong in foreign wars. Just admit you think it’s good for middle class Americans to lose their sons and daughters and most of their wealth to wars our leaders have no intention of winning anyway.
And again, you point to oil, gas, and timber, without even a nod to the information I gave you. If you don’t understand basic economics we cannot have a discussion. They wouldn’t BE “begging Congress for free money” if your beloved government didn’t hamstring private industry with regulation, restrictions, as well as the taking of most of the land in the west. Nowhere in the Constitution is the Federal government authorized to own vast swaths of property. If those lands were privately owned, the resources could be harvested in a sustainable way.
But why should I bother? You keep asking the same questions over and over again, no matter how many times I give you the answers. You don’t want to know how it could be done. You just want to sound smart.
It ain’t working.
Dog. Oh right, I forgot you think the Earth is only 6000 years old, that the Constitution did NOT approve slavery and that using torture as revenge is ok.
The Warmonger was Bush Jr… not me. He asked Congress for and got the $4 trillion + to go into Afghanistan, Iraq and anywhere with “terrorists.”
I will make this simple for you. The “user fee” for the $4 Trillion Wars on a workforce population of 140 Million is $28,571 for each worker…. PAY UP! LOL!
Don’t be an idiot. Why do you continue to assume that I approve of what Bush did any more than I approve of what obama is doing now?
You’re only showing your own stupidity.
I owe nothing. YOU are the one who approves of war, judging by everything you’ve posted in this thread.
There goes Dog, making sure she’s above ‘calling people names’ and ‘not being insulting’. Bravo!
Being repeatedly insulted by people whose mission in life is to provoke without purpose, better people than I would break.
Have a good weekend. I’m done with you. For now.
If you get bored, you might try looking into some of those economists I mentioned. Expand your minds. And the age of the earth has no bearing on any of it.
“Being repeatedly insulted by people whose mission in life is to provoke without purpose, better people than I would break.”
Preceded by:
“Don’t be an idiot.”
and
“You’re only showing your own stupidity.”
and putting words in peoples mouth (worse than calling someone a dumb-dumb)
“if you think such wars are a necessary thing for us to be engaged in”
and a the patented straw-dog logical fallacy:
“But don’t act like you’re intelligent because you think we belong in foreign wars.”
Hey rock, why do you support foreign wars? She said you did twice, explain yourself. JK nevermind.
Funny rock…everything to you is the rigut is evil the left is good. You ever think that you are being played by the left? You do remember 9/11? Should we have sat idly by will the muslims saw off more heads? Or are you a “truther” ? When bush left we were roughly 12trillion in debt..obama has us at 18trillion. Do you approve of that? He has alienated all of our allies, created a race war, and left our borders wide open at a time of war. Newsflash..bush and obama have the same interests..their own. while your fight for climate issues is noble why do you want to hamper us more? The seperation between haves and have nots is the biggest its been in this country ever. It doesnt care what side your on. So unless your super rich get over yourself. You are stuck in the same hole the rest of us are and while your ideals may be noble, the folks above you running the show are laughing all the way to the bank.
Back on topic, dog logic would be that paid parking is a good thing, people paying for what they use, however I recall her rabid opposition to such “taxation”, go figure….
BO. Bla bla bla. Yawn
Prunes, I dont think R4T supports foreign wars, instead he is just asking the question backed up with facts to support his position. How would “we” pay for wars without taxation. Dog never answered the question, she just kept insulting and finger pointing, both her strong suits wouldnt you say?
Ok BO. Your “opinions” are not facts. We have more Allies now against ISIS (40) then we had going into Iraq (22). Our “boarders” have never been closed since we took the lands from Mexico in 1848. You want to blame that on “the left.”
Torture is as old as humanity and is only used for revenge or confession; NOT gathering intelligence. When the Japanese water boarded OUR GI’s in WWII, I believe we prosecuted those involved after the War. Ask Collin Powell or John McCain to explain it to you. Break all the Treaties you want and just blame that on “the left.”
Yes, President Obama came into office with about $11 Trillion in Debt but as a percentage of GDP, the debt is dropping. My solution to income inequality is the same solution that Truman and Ike had after WWII, tax the rich. Unless somehow you believe Ike is now part of “the left.”
I would remind you that the Watts Riots started over a DUI stop by the LAPD. Oh, was that because of the “leftist LAPD.”
There are at least two documented times in American history where income inequality was worse; the 1930’s and 1850’s (and probably the 1770’s). Do you want to blame those periods on “the left.”
Slavery was included and ordained in the US Constitution and if you don’t know that, it is your problem. Do you want to blame that on “the left” too.
Climate change is with us and YOU give no solutions except to throw rocks from the cheap seats. Actual Scientist propose a cap and trade system that you disagree with. So, blame “the left.”
Newsflash: Flight-suit Bush started the Iraq Civil War between Sunni and Shiite in 2003; NOT President Obama. Mission Accomplished Bush said we could lower taxes and fight several Wars (never before done as a Nation); NOT President Obama. Deferment Dick Cheney said Deficits don’t matter; NOT Joe Biden. Keep on blaming “the left” if you want to.
FYI: I am not rich.
I am NOT stuck an any hole (or bunker) with you nor would I want to be; life is to short to be that scared and paranoid.
OK, enough name calling. It is obvious nobody knows how to solve whatever problems we have that are most important to themselves.
It has been demonstrated in the past, that taking all of the money the wealthy have would not resolve the bigger financial issues. I still believe the wealthy should be taxed at the same “pain rate” as everyone else, it we could figure out what that was.
I do not buy the idea that the wealthy use their money to create jobs.
Once this may have been truer than now, but it is all interest on investments now, and consolidation of small businesses into larger ones by merger and acquisition only reduces the number of people required, hence destroys jobs. (Romney’s prime skillset)
The economic middle class and lower are the most in number by hundreds thousands of percent, (I didn’t do the math but you get the idea). Therefore the taxes the middle and lower economic classes pay are really important because that is where the largest taxable asset and money base lies.
I confess I never heard of any of the economists
Dog quotes. Economists also thought up the communal system too so you can’t always put stock in what one says even if they have multiple doctorates.
I still believe common sense is the best guide, but as the old saw says, it is not very common any more.
As long as the US is willing to be the world’s policeman, the world is going to let us. We need to STOP. If it was working, the entire world would not be trying to immigrate, sneak in to the US etc.
If Americans had the spirit they showed in WWII, we would not need all the immigrants we use to make a profit today.
Eliminate the profits caused by use of low priced foreign labor and the problem would go away.
If businesses, farms and other labor intensive endeavors (including Vail and any ski company you can think of for instance) were taxed for the foreigners they use instead of providing a living wage for local labor, the system would change just about overnight.
But we will not do that, just ***** about it.
“Economists also thought up the communal system too so you can’t always put stock in what one says even if they have multiple doctorates.”
What you say is absolutely true. Doctorates don’t mean much, especially these days, when every other person you meet has one. But as far as not being able to judge, we CAN judge communism. It’s been tried so many times; USSR, PRC, Venezuela, Cuba, the list goes on and on. The only things they all have in common is abject failure and mass murder of their own citizens by their rulers.
True free market capitalism has NOT been tried. Greedy government and its rulers always step in to regulate, legislate, and tax.
Why not give it a try?
P.S. If you are at all interested in economics, you might try “Economics in One Lesson” by Henry Hazlitt. It’s a surprisingly easy read, and full of interesting stuff. Not too thick at all.
Nature, I was playing dumb, expanding on the problems that straw-dogs and false accusations present in discussions. I didn’t make it clear enough, that’s on me. It was a nice end to being able to use her own words as proof that she is completely irrational.
-Sr. Fish (reborn as a duke for 2015)
I’m not really interested in this thread, but I can’t help but comment on Ms. Dog’s comment about “Doctorates.”
The only “Doctorate” I’ve been around in well over 20 years was the Chief of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department. Who was a very good Chief (and a very close friend) despite his doctorate being from USC (which, as a non-college grad, I hate for football reasons rather than academic) and probably, by your standards for civil servants, overpaid. His background notwithstanding.
Most of the people I know with doctorate degrees did it for their own personal goals, not because they wanted better pay or more powerful jobs. There are people driven to great achievements that have nothing to do with greed or power.
Dog. Ayn Rand was a fictional writer from Russia. True Free Market Capitalism is a myth, like the tooth fairy. Ever play “Monopoly” to the end; That is why it will never be “tried” anywhere on the Planet. The closest we came to “True Free Market Capitalism” was the “Laissez-Faire” 1920’s and look how that ended up.
rock4t, fyi – We didn’t prosecute the Japanese and their Mongolian experiments because we made a deal with them and Russia that if we could have the results of the experiments, including unspeakable torture, than they could go free. We sold out.
Little. You might want to look at the other news sources and other references detailing the Doolittle Raid in which Lt. Chase Nelson was captured and water boarded (water cured) by his Japanese captors. The Japanese were indeed punished for the crime. Look up Tokyo War Crimes Trials; may give you some more information as well.
Also, US Soldiers were punished for using water boarding on Filipino resistance fighters during the Spanish American War.