In 2007, top 0.1% of individual tax filers - 114,000 people - took 12% of US income, = bottom 50%.

[Hannah Bell]

114,000 people got as much income as 70 million.

The income floor for this 0.1% group was $2.1 million dollars.

Their effective tax rate was about 1 percentage point lower than that of the top 1% as a whole.


Figures from:

Individual Income Tax Returns with Positive Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)

Number of Returns, Shares of AGI and Total Income Tax, AGI Floor on Percentiles in Current and Constant Dollars, and Average Tax Rates
Classified by: Selected Descending Cumulative Percentiles of Returns Based on Income Size Using the Definition of AGI for Each Year
Published as: SOI Bulletin article - Individual Income Tax Rates and Tax Shares, Table 5
Tax Years: 1986 - 2007

[devils chaplain]

1. But...

It's very important not to tax these people more than 35%... because, uh, they're the ones who grow the economy. The rich getting richer will eventually make you rich too. Didn't you know?

[pa28]

5. Delete.

You could not have been serious.

Welcome to Du

[devils chaplain]

8. Thanks...

Says something about an argument when it's indistinguishable from a parody of it, no?

[MichiganVote]

2. Wait...I think I felt a drop of the trickle down..a drop maybe of the piss

this logic is throwing at us...ahhhhhh

[phasma ex machina]

3. Billionaire bankster Boehners are obscene. nt

[burrowowl]

4. Muricans suffer from innumbracy (same as

illiteracy but with regards to numbers, there was an article in SA 20 or so years ago) you can tell them this and they think when "I'm rich I don't want high taxes."
They have no conception of the disparity of wealth in the US of A. None what soever.

:-(

[Foo Fighter]

6. Yes. For some odd reason, some people that make,say, $30,000/yr defend the

tax cuts for the rich because they figure that if they work hard enough, they will soon be joining the ranks of the millionaires. Warren Buffet's tax rate was 17.7% on $46M, even though his employees (who earn a LOT less then him) paid an average of 32.9%.
Yet some people earning $30,000/yr will argue that the tax rate in this country is progressive and that the rich pay too much. Go figure.

You're so right that people have no concept at all regarding the disparity of wealth in this country. They have bought into the M$M meme that anybody that works hard enough can join the top ranks tomorrow if they weren't being dragged down by the "welfare queens" and others at the bottom that are doing nothing but suck up their tax dollars.

Note: I don't mean to pick on those that earn $30,000/yr. I just used that figure because I know some people that earn that amount that are vehemently against taxing the rich. I don't by any means intend that to be used as a blanket statement regarding people that earn $30,000. I know others that earn anywhere from $20,000 - $250,000+ and they all say the same thing: they have NO problem paying taxes as long as the money goes to help those that make less. When it's spent lining the pockets of millionaires and billionaires, well, that's where they have a BIG problem.

[dkf]

7. I'm kind of shocked only 0.1% make over $2 million dollars.

I thought we had more rich people. After all they seem to be a dime a dozen in the entertainment fields, including music stars, movie stars, and athletes. I wiuld be interested to know what percent of the over $2 million are business people vs entertainment vs athletes.

[Fumesucker]

9. I'm pretty sure that is taxable income they're talking about in the OP..

Taxable income and actual income are two rather different things, those in the rarefied upper income strata have all kinds of strategies and people to help them keep their taxable income as low as possible.

[mainer]

10. It is a surprisingly small number, isn't it?

I would have guessed quite a few more Americans make that much.

[Fumesucker]

11. Oh, they do, they just don't pay taxes on all of it..

The wealthier you are the smaller proportion of your actual income do you pay taxes on, that's what accountants and tax lawyers are for.

[dkf]

13. Isn't that why it's more important to look at exemptions than the rate itself?

[Fumesucker]

14. Why not look at both?

Exemptions and rate are both important, I see no reason the two issues cannot be addressed.

[Hannah Bell]

12. it's adjusted gross income.