Why should rich people pay a greater share of their wealth to taxes?

It also ignores the difference between income taxes and SS withholding which is taxed at 4.2% (currently) on all income of anyone earning less than $108,600. If the middle income family pays 15% in income taxes, 4.2% in FICA and 1.45% in Medicare withholdings then they're paying 20.65% in federal taxes whereas those with incomes coming predominately from investments are taxed at a maximum 15%.

Exactly. Not to mention that you pointed that out pages and pages ago in this thread.

Fair is what the people should decide... Would you let a murderer decide his own fate??? The rich have been calling the shots for years, deny the government the money it needs to govern, pushing the country into wars to exhaust the military and break our bank... They decide the do not want to pay... What does government do more of than the protection of property??? So; destroy the government by starving it of funds... Raise the anger and frustration to the breaking point by not funding social welfare, and see if any revolutionaries gives a ****... I want them to do as they are doing...

There's another consideration here which those shedding crocodile tears for the rich ignore. Let's compare someone making $50K per annum and someone making $1,000,000 per annum. They both pay excise taxes, on gasoline, on tobacco, on booze. The millionaire makes 20 times as much per annum as the lower middle class guy--but you can bet he doesn't buy 20 times as much gasoline, that he doesn't smoke 20 times as many cigarettes, that he doesn't suck up 20 times as much booze. Furthermore, his cost of living costs are not 20 times higher. Middle class guy buys a washer and dryer, and it's a major expense. Rich guy buys a washer and dryer, and it's a pittance in proportion to his total income--he's not going to be installing 20 washers and 20 dryers in the basement. He may choose to buy much more expensive foods than the middle class guy, but he's not eating 20 times as much, so even with a higher cost for his food, he's not paying 20 times as much in sales tax (and in many states, of course, there is no sales tax on food). If you buy a tee-vee and a stereo, once again, that's a major purchase. Rich guy may have more than one television and more than one stereo, but does anyone seriously expect him to have 20 tee-vess and 20 stereos? He may choose to wear a better class of suit, but 20 times the price? I don't think so.

Not in this country.

The Roman Empire lasted a good long time, nearly into the 14th century in Constantinopal... If I remember correctly...
What they did in the West is: They let their slaves drive their citizens from their farms through unfair competition, where in the city they became an engine for both conquest and tyranny... When the emperors found they needed only the Army to have power, the people became the slaves they were already through competition with slaves...

When the citizens of Rome had nothing, no political influence and only bread and circus to give them meaning they became a force for both change, and defeat since they had nothing, and so, nothing to defend... In all these senses, we are either there, or getting there... We support war, and we need our military; but we do not see a benefit from conquest and are ourselves defeated more with every hollow victory...

No military alone is enough to defend a place, or a civilization... Wars are a clash of cultures and cultures are represented by people, and this people like the people of Rome have been stripped of our culture with our freedom, and have no moral fiber with which to defend our hopeless, meaningless lives... Bin Ladin saw it... By a small attack he has forced this country to defend itself in offense and so reveal to the world our internal weakness, our moral emptyness, and our financial bankruptcy...

Unfortunately, it is the poor who admire the rich and think some day that God in his goodness will transform their poverty to wealth who decide the rich will not pay more... They do not want to ruin their own fantasy with any taste of reality...

Most of us will never know wealth... We will work hard for all we own and our pleasure in work will be our recreation...If the luxury of the wealthy were troubled with social obligation it would ruin the pleasure we take from them and their wealth vicariously, and for free... If the rich had to dig holes to hide their loot we would all be hurt, stripped of our dreams, and disabused of our admiration... That hands graced by wealth should have to handle a shovel is beyond acceptence... We want to know that they can afford to have others point their peckers for them even if they choose that demeaning task for themselves...

So, no... The people who do not earn in ninty years what it takes for a rich man a year to have decide the rich will be spared the triffle of taxes proposed for them... The people are the law, but they are not rational... They command all, but reason does not command them... The poorer they are the more they love the rich... Is that your problem???

Democracy / Majority Rule will be the downfall of America.

Too late... Rule of any kind would have gotten us here, so majority rule is not worse than other sorts of rule...

Democracy is what we need; forms and formulas that force consensus, and keep others out of business not affecting them... All majority rule is good for is keeping people busy defending their rights; and attacking rights which means attacks on the minority are always an economic as well as a moral attack...

As long a unity is not required there is no limit to the number of groups and people who can be isolated and robbed of their entitlements, their rights and happiness... You see how good are the promises made to the people, to minorities, that if they would go along, and accept inequality and exploitation, that the state would care for them in their old age... We see what worth has the promises of the government- made to assure peace and avoid communism... This nation had the peace and prosperity necessary to destroy Russian Communism even while Chinese Communism is eating us alive... But now that the far left is shattered, even the democrats can be painted red, just as labor unions were painted red...

Destroy them all... Go right, Right, RIGHT... There will always be a left, and always be a minority to be robbed of its rights... Why should their be peace or unity with the left if it is not required by necessity... Make war where politics once ruled... Destroy the left, and find a new left in the right... Majority rule is the path to tyranny and failure for a society... It is not democracy, but only to a point, democratic...When the right has won, and taken all, and marched the left off to the death camps, then the liberal right will be the enemy and a price put on their heads... Look at your candidates for office???They are righting themselves right out of office in the effort to show themselves more right than any other... Will it be better if they are elected???

The article also deals only with income tax.
It ignores the FICA tax which adds a 7.65% tax on top of any income tax.

Effective tax rate is what the article should have looked at. It's the ole bait and switch. See.. the rich pay most of 45% of the taxes!!!! No need to look at the other taxes they don't pay.

Yes - I agree with that - that is what I figured the 1% is referenced to - the 1% that makes its money with investments rather than income like most people.

But everyone pays those taxes until they reach the 108k.

And as it points out entirely they are referring to just Federal income taxes.

They do pay those taxes - just once they paid a certain amount there is a cap. They are not exempt from them.

Uh, the vast majority of their income is in fact exempt from them.

Cycloptichorn

Of course - but they pay up to the amount established.

Makes sense in I doubt the rich get medicare -

Also, it impacts many middle income people too - many middle income make over 108k especially in areas like NY, LA, San Fran and Boston.

Doing the math the "rich" would still pay a higher %. $1million income results in a tax of $327,314 + top of FICA $8262 = $335,576 which equates to over 33% of taxes. Middle income of $60k is federal tax of 11,125 with a 3,739 FICA 14,864 total taxes which is over 24%.

What to bet that they on the whole do not sign up for medicare?

Asimov who wrote over 500 books and got very large speaking fees for decades wrote that he sign up for Medicare.

Of course he would not be among the super rich however he must had been in the top half a percent of the population as far as wealth is concern.

In any case look above at the numbers.

You also have to meet certain criteau for medicare and it doesn't always cover all. My dad (who was a postman) decided to pay extra (some sort of option to get more coverage) once he retired. Good thing he did because he would not be able to be covered for his expensive medicine he requires for his cancer treatments. Unfortunately he is too rich to be covered completely like the poor that gets all coverage.

For a while, I think it would be a good idea for the rich people to pay a greater share of their wealth to taxes. Because they are good and decent people, and some have expressed a willingness to do just that. For a while.

Perhaps you need to consider the difference between taxable income vs gross income vs wages subject to FICA.

Someone with a taxable income of $1 million will have a gross income that is higher. And it doesn't take into account that part of their income that is exempt from federal taxation such as state and local bonds.