NO REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION:

Lower taxes for all, not just wealthy (Dar Haddix, 8/14/2004, UPI)

President Bush's 2001, 2002 and 2003 tax cuts gave the wealthiest taxpayers the biggest tax break -- but the wealthiest taxpayers continue to pay the biggest share of federal taxes, and the tax cuts lowered tax rates for all income brackets, a report released this week by the Congressional Budget Office shows.

Even with those in higher income brackets receiving bigger tax cuts, the total proportion of federal taxes --not just income taxes -- paid by each income bracket remained essentially the same regardless of the actual amount paid -- so, the percent paid by the upper quintile (a quintile equals 20 percent) remains at about 21 percent, the middle quintile about 11 percent, and the lowest quintile about 1.5 percent. [...]

An interesting finding in the report shows that the lowest quintile, with average annual household income of $15,000, actually receives rebates and credits making their effective income tax rate a negative 5 percent. This offsets the approximately 10 percent of payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare) and other taxes that they pay, resulting in a total federal tax rate of just 5.5 percent. The total effective federal tax rates for the second, middle, fourth, and highest quintiles are approximately 12 percent, 16 percent, 20 percent and 27 percent respectively.

No one ever asks how their free lunch was produced; they just ask for seconds.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 15, 2004 2:10 PM