Cheney Returns
No, the title doesn't mean Dick has come out of his undisclosed location, it has to do with his tax returns, and the general publics lack of knowledge on who pays what.
A recent poll showed that 60% think that the middle class is paying most of the taxes, and the rich pay too little. (h/t MacsMind)
Cheney received a $1.9 million dollar tax refund this year, on income of 8.8 million. How did he get so much back? Well, he gave nearly $7 million to charities.
Wait, isn't he only concerned about the rich, then why did he give so much to universities and low income high school students?
Before you think he got everything back, on the $1.9 million he had left after the charitable deductions Cheney and his wife paid over $500,000 in taxes, or about 25%.
Why did I mention the general population's lack of knowledge on who pays taxes? Because the general population, like lemmings, has followed the line that the middle class pays all the taxes, when it's miles from the truth.
For instance, in 2003, the last year the numbers are up on the taxstats page at the IRS, the taxpayers at or below the $50K line, the middle class and poor payed a 12% of all income taxes, while the group above that, with 14 million less returns paid over 87% of the taxes.
In other words, 57% of taxpayers contributed 12% of taxes, and 43% contributed 87% of the taxes.
If you look at just the area most of us would consider middle class, $30-75K earners (adjusted gross income), they made up 43% of taxpayers, but paid only 21% of the income tax, 59% of that paid by the group from 50-75K even though they are only 47% of the "middle class".
If you want to play with the numbers yourself, the file is available here, it's an excel spread sheet.
The Bernoulli Effect also has a rant up about this.
Technorati Tags: Taxes,politics, Middle Class,IRS ,income tax, Dick Cheney,Tax Refund
A recent poll showed that 60% think that the middle class is paying most of the taxes, and the rich pay too little. (h/t MacsMind)
Cheney received a $1.9 million dollar tax refund this year, on income of 8.8 million. How did he get so much back? Well, he gave nearly $7 million to charities.
The Cheneys' charitable donations went to George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates Inc., for the benefit of the Cardiothoracic Institute; the University of Wyoming Foundation; and Capital Partners for Education, which helps low-income high school students. (from the WashingtonPost)
Wait, isn't he only concerned about the rich, then why did he give so much to universities and low income high school students?
Before you think he got everything back, on the $1.9 million he had left after the charitable deductions Cheney and his wife paid over $500,000 in taxes, or about 25%.
Why did I mention the general population's lack of knowledge on who pays taxes? Because the general population, like lemmings, has followed the line that the middle class pays all the taxes, when it's miles from the truth.
For instance, in 2003, the last year the numbers are up on the taxstats page at the IRS, the taxpayers at or below the $50K line, the middle class and poor payed a 12% of all income taxes, while the group above that, with 14 million less returns paid over 87% of the taxes.
In other words, 57% of taxpayers contributed 12% of taxes, and 43% contributed 87% of the taxes.
If you look at just the area most of us would consider middle class, $30-75K earners (adjusted gross income), they made up 43% of taxpayers, but paid only 21% of the income tax, 59% of that paid by the group from 50-75K even though they are only 47% of the "middle class".
If you want to play with the numbers yourself, the file is available here, it's an excel spread sheet.
The Bernoulli Effect also has a rant up about this.
Technorati Tags: Taxes,politics, Middle Class,IRS ,income tax, Dick Cheney,Tax Refund
posted by Crazy Politico at 8:17 AM
7Comments:
I read that "deadeye" Dick (perfect first name) has an %18 approval rating. Must suck having to be the lightning rod for your boss.
Happy Easter, Crazy, to you and yours.
And you're right--most people are grossly misinformed idiots when it comes to all things taxes--and the economy.
Tim, what's refreshing is they don't seem to give a shit about polls.
Jeff, hope your's was happy, also. I've always said a GOOD economics class should be a requirement every year of highschool.
And you really think 82% of America doesn't know what they are talking about? I thought that was what you always claim that the "liberals" do. We know better than you, the uneducated masses. Look at the pot calling the kettle black!
The difference, Tim, is that what I'm claiming isn't an "emotional plea" over the abstract, but something with concrete proof. You can download the spreadsheet and actually see the numbers.
Liberals tend to do it with abstracts, and emotion. Gun control being an excellent example. The argument against concealed carry in Florida and Wisconsin has been it will create a "wild west" on the streets. The truth is, gun violence has gone down in every state that has enacted such laws.
Supposedly restricting handgun availablity, licensing, and just plain outlawing (as Chicago and Washington DC have) should reduce violence. Yet those same two cities are generally 1&2 in the gun murders per capita. Yet liberals still argue for more control laws, even though the proof is they have been a failure.
On taxes themselves, tax collections have gone up faster since Bush's cuts in 2001 than they did when Clinton raised them in the 1990's, and GHWB did in the late 1980's. Those I can state as facts because the numbers back them up.
That is the difference. 82% are wrong because they are uninformed, and haven't actually done the research, and the facts are there to show it.
Nice try, but I ain't bitin'! Mental gymnastics will not convince me that this administration is competent enough to accomlish anything more than feathering their nests.
Not mental gymnastics, simple math. You can download the spreadsheet and see the numbers.
The IRS will give you the data from the 1960's through today. It's pretty interesting to correlate tax cuts to more rapid rises in gov't income and tax raises to a slow down in income collections.
Again, the numbers are available, you just have to be willing to look at them. It took me about 2 years of playing with the numbers to convince myself that my old kenysian ways of thinking on taxes were wrong. And it hurt.
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