As I waited for the red light to turn, I grabbed a dollar bill out of my wallet, opened my car window, and gave it to the woman standing on the divider. It was freezing cold. She had a scarf wrapped around her face. I gave her the bill, and she nodded. She was holding a sign, but the letters were too small, so I couldn’t read it. It didn’t matter really. I give dollar bills (or quarters) to every person standing on the side of the road. My husband says it’s a waste of money, but it’s a reflex. Her time spent standing in the freezing cold is enough of a reason.
Had I lived in pre-revolutionary France, I would have been the one standing on the side of the road. I would have been part of ‘the Third Estate’. Social hierarchy comprised of three ‘estates’: the First Estate was the clergy, the Second Estate was the nobility, and the Third Estate was everybody else, 90% of the population. The First Estate was wealthy and exempt from paying taxes (as it still is).
The Second Estate, the equally untaxed nobility, enjoyed sweeping financial and social privileges on the basis of their wealth.
This is similar to today’s class of untaxed elites in America. It signals something broken and alarming about our economy. How could a country founded on principles of equality—and with a special aversion to aristocracy—end up with such a system?
How can 1% of the population own 40% of the wealth of the country? As you will see, it is mostly due to our tax code that allows the super-wealthy to get away with murder (and more). For the average American, the word ‘taxes’ means ‘income tax’. You earn X amount gross and take home Y amount, after you pay your ‘taxes’ (Federal and State). Most people are confused about the Payroll Tax, a.k.a. FICA, which pays for Social Security, Medicare, and Disability. They are the second-largest source of federal taxes (after income taxes), and account for more than a third of all federal revenue.
When Mitt Romney was running for President, he was caught saying, “There are 47 percent [of voters] who are with him (Obama), who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them. These are people who pay no income tax.”
That is true, since the minimum taxable income is $15,000. But payroll taxes get levied on the first dollar earned, so the number of people who truly pay no taxes falls to 16.5 percent—slightly less than the number of taxpayers who are older than seventy.
Here is the breakdown of what the government has to rely on for revenue:
How can 1% of the population own 40% of the wealth of the country? As you will see, it is mostly due to our tax code that allows the super-wealthy to get away with murder (and more). For the average American, the word ‘taxes’ means ‘income tax’. You earn X amount gross and take home Y amount, after you pay your ‘taxes’ (Federal and State). Most people are confused about the Payroll Tax, a.k.a. FICA, which pays for Social Security, Medicare, and Disability. They are the second-largest source of federal taxes (after income taxes), and account for more than a third of all federal revenue.
When Mitt Romney was running for President, he was caught saying, “There are 47 percent [of voters] who are with him (Obama), who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them. These are people who pay no income tax.”
That is true, since the minimum taxable income is $15,000. But payroll taxes get levied on the first dollar earned, so the number of people who truly pay no taxes falls to 16.5 percent—slightly less than the number of taxpayers who are older than seventy.
Here is the breakdown of what the government has to rely on for revenue:
