Tuesday, December 06, 2005

"The Rich Need to Pay their Fair Share"

In conversations about paying taxes, how often have you heard the above statement? This subject grates me more than almost any other one I can think of. The reality is, not only do the rich pay their fair share, they go way above and beyond what they should be paying. Every year, more and more of the tax burden is transferred to the so-called "rich", while the "poor" in our country have very little, and usually, no income tax burden. The IRS has recently released the tax figures for 2003, and the percentages say it all.

They show that the top 1 percent of taxpayers, ranked by adjusted gross income, paid 34.3 percent of all federal income taxes that year. The top 5 percent paid 54.4 percent, the top 10 percent paid 65.8 percent, and the top quarter of taxpayers paid 83.9 percent.

And so it goes. That deadly sin, jealousy, continues to drive some mad as they curse the rich for being "greedy", when it is actually the rich that pay almost all the income taxes in this country.

Good Day to You, Sir

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