In article ,
Doug Miller wrote:



Obviously you are, by your continuing insistence on the next sentence:

So, why do you continue to refuse to
acknowledge that those in the higher brackets pay a higher effective
rate overall than those in the lower ones?

Because it's a false statement. The truth is that *some* in the higher
brackets pay a higher
effective rate, and some don't. To imply, as you consistently have, and
continue to do, that
this is true of *all* of them is false.
WHen have I said that. I have ALWAYS mentioned that these are on
average which, by definition means that some are above and some are
below. I have merely stated over and over again, that Buffett rule and
similar are cherry picking a small group and then saying it is unfair
that rich people get these benefits.
While there are some that probably do, they are not only few and far
between, but are usually related to some very individualized
circumstances. If Buffett does, indeed, pay more than his secretary is
largely because of choices he makes (and is in a relatively rare
position to make), not because of large inherent inequities in the
system.
Most people in the higher brackets pay a higher percentage of
their income than do those in the lower. Period.
Yahoo's fact checkers note:
On average, the wealthiest people in America pay a lot more taxes than
the middle class or the poor, according to private and government data.
They pay at a higher rate, and as a group, they contribute a much larger
share of the overall taxes collected by the federal government.
The 10 percent of households with the highest incomes pay more than half
of all federal taxes. They pay more than 70 percent of federal income
taxes, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
There may be individual millionaires who pay taxes at rates lower than
middle-income workers. In 2009, 1,470 households filed tax returns with
incomes above $1 million yet paid no federal income tax, according to
the Internal Revenue Service. But that's less than 1 percent of the
nearly 237,000 returns with incomes above $1 million.
This year, households making more than $1 million will pay an average of
**29.1 percent** of their income in federal taxes, including income
taxes, payroll taxes and other taxes, according to the Tax Policy
Center, a Washington think tank.
Households making between $50,000 and $75,000 will pay an average of
**15** percent of their income in federal taxes.
Lower-income households will pay less. For example, households making
between $40,000 and $50,000 will pay an average of 12.5 percent of their
income in federal taxes. Households making between $20,000 and $30,000
will pay **5.7 percent** (emphasis mine and note how the average goes up
as the income goes down??).
The latest IRS figures are a few years older ‹ and limited to federal
income taxes ‹ but show much the same thing. In 2009, taxpayers who made
$1 million or more paid on average 24.4 percent of their income in
federal income taxes, according to the IRS.
Those making $100,000 to $125,000 paid on average 9.9 percent in federal
income taxes. Those making $50,000 to $60,000 paid an average of 6.3
percent.


Regardless of income level, income
derived from long-
term capital gains is *always* taxed at a significantly *lower* rate than
income derived from
wages or salaries.
But over ALL of the taxes, the rich pay a higher percentage of their
income than do others. You are looking at a relatively small part of the
income track even for most rich folks.

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