With President Obama recently saying that he plans to let the Bush era tax cuts expire, it seems like a good time to clear up some myths about US taxes. Fortunately, Pulitzer Prize winning tax journalist David Kay Johnston did exactly that in a long article printed in a variety of weekly newspapers. You can read it here, or read Felix Salmon’s summary here. Two brief tidbits:
- The bottom 90% of wage earners saw their income grow by 1% from 1980 to 2008. Not 1% per year. One percent total. Folks in the top percent of wage earners saw their income double during the same time.
- The federal income tax is less that half of federal taxes and only 20% of taxes paid at all levels. Social security, medicare, unemployment, sales taxes….they make up the other 80%.
Thoughtbasket 