I think that our tax system is unfair because it is remarkably and ridiculously complicated, requires untold man hours and amounts of money to comply with and does not broaden the tax base while at the same time reducing taxation rates.
Barack Obama thinks that our tax system is unfair because it is not “progressive” enough and because under the Bush Administration, it has rewarded the rich at the expense of everyone else.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development doesn’t have anything to say one way or another concerning my contentions regarding the tax system. But it calls shenanigans on Obama’s arguments:
Barack Obama’s admission that his policies would “spread the wealth around” has ignited a nationwide discussion of how progressive the tax system should be and how it should be used to redistribute income among Americans. Obama has been very successful in bolstering the conventional wisdom that the U.S. tax system does not place a significant enough burden on wealthier households and places too much of a burden on the “middle class.”
But a new study on inequality by researchers at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris reveals that when it comes to household taxes (income taxes and employee social security contributions) the U.S. “has the most progressive tax system and collects the largest share of taxes from the richest 10% of the population.” As Column 1 in the table below shows, the U.S. tax system is far more progressive–meaning pro-poor–than similar systems in countries most Americans identify with high taxes, such as France and Sweden.
Even after accounting for the fact that the top 10 percent of households in the U.S. have one of the highest shares of market income among OECD nations, our tax system is second only to Ireland in terms of its progressivity for households.
The table also shows that the U.S. collects more household tax revenue from the top 10 percent of households than any other country and extracts the most from that income group relative to their share of the nation’s income.
Of course, these measures do not include the litany of other taxes households pay in each country, such as Value Added Taxes, corporate income taxes and excise taxes, but they do give a good indication that our system places a heavier tax burden on high-income households than other industrialized countries.
(Via the Smithians.) Something to remember as the tax debate rages and as Team Obama tells us that we need to have tax rates increased on the rich in order to “spread the wealth around.”
Joe the Plumber must be the most inconvenient person in the world as far as the Obamaphiles are concerned. His contentions and arguments keep getting proven right by policy wonks near and far.
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
Dan McLaughlin
Neil Stevens
Daniel Horowitz
The purpose of Tariffs/Taxes
JLenardDetroit (Diary) Saturday, November 1st at 1:33AM EST (link)alot can be said on this but…
The purpose of the Tax Code is to RAISE FUNDS NEEDED TO COVER CONSTITUTIONALLY ALLOWED GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS/ACTIVITIES, NOT “SPREADING THE WEALTH!”
Obama tax plan, shame so many are willing to SELL THEIR VOTE for $1.36 a day ($500.00 Tax Credit). I state is blatantly in that fashion because I do not think that some who have allowed themselves to be sucked in (IMO) to Obama’s bait-and-switch (Spread the wealth) plan without considering the long term consequences of what his overall policies ($1 Trillion in additional Spending). What good is that $1.36 a day going to do you/them if more and more jobs are lost and inflation goes back to the double-digit rates of the Carter era?!?! Some of these folks are voting themselves right out of their job!
If Barack believes that everyone (including those who DO NOT PAY ANY FEDERAL INCOME TAX) should have an extra $500/year, then why doesn’t he put forth a plan to exempt the first $7,100 of wages from the FICA Tax (7,100 @ 7% = $497)? That isn’t “Redistribution” and doesn’t want anyone to permanently have the Tax Cut, just wants to “Buy Votes” of some by promising to send them a Check!
We sound like a broken Record (ok, showing my age, let’s say Skipping CD) going over this stuff again and again… WILL IT EVER SINK IN to those so ill served by the Indoctrination they received rather than an Education?!?!
Regards from NoMoTown (the MOTORlessCITY)
“Liberals, looking to do for? America what they’ve done for? Detroit! which is DESTROY IT!”
“I think, therefore I am Conservative”
“Conservative by choice, Republican by necessity”
“You can lead a Liberal to the Truth/Facts, but you cannot make them THINK!”
“Romney [No, not my first choice] does NOT have a MORMON problem. He has a, far too many Americans; these days; are MORONS problem!”
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Good to be "hyper-rich"
Super_G Saturday, November 1st at 8:16AM EST (link)When considered in terms of deciles, the U.S. system may appear to be pretty progressive, but the “hyper-rich”, the top 0.1%, have a very sweet deal.
“Richest Are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind”, New York Times, 6/5/05
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/national/class/HYPER-FINAL.html
Read the whole article. I found it so interesting that I remember it 3-1/2 years after it was published.
Redstate readers not making the connection
bobbymike (Diary) Saturday, November 1st at 4:34PM EST (link)Ask yourself why America has the most progressive tax system. Intuitively you might ask “Is the US more socialistic than Sweden or Canada?”
No IN ORDER TO FUND A TRULY SOCIALISTIC GOVERNMENT THE RICH DON’T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY YOU HAVE TO GET IT FROM THE MIDDLE AND LOWER CLASSES!!!
That’s your future under Obama.