Counting

  I'm always seeing posts about how the wealthy aren't paying enough in taxes. The billionaires are avoiding paying their fair share. Well to set the record straight that simply isn't the case. Using the existing tax laws to pay the least amount possible is just good business sense. Anyone telling me they won't do the same is simply a liar. Now it's true you may not be able to afford a tax attorney and an accountant to accomplish that task for you, but that isn't what I'm talking about. You will pay the least amount in tax that you can legally get away with, sometimes even when it isn't exactly legal, but you figure you can get away with it. 

 The confusion here is that we don't have a flat tax system. If everyone were to pay a set amount based on their income, a set percentage of that amount, then everyone would be paying their fair share. Say 10 cents on every dollar. You make one dollar, you pay ten cents, you make a million dollars, you pay 100,000 dollars. That's fair right? And those paying ten cents get everything those paying 100,000 do as well, as far as healthcare, government loans, and everything else. In fact, those paying that 100,000 should have to feed, clothe, house and provide an education to those ten centers. Now, that's fair! But that isn't how it works in the real world, you get what you earn, what you pay for. That's why we have a graduated tax system. There are benefits to be being successful, rewards and incentives. 

  With our current system 72% of all taxes collected come from 10% of the taxpayers. Yes, the top ten percent, those wealthy folks are paying 72% of the bill. Does that seem fair? Well, they can afford it, right? So is that how pricing should be. Everything should just be individually priced based on your income level. Your fair share is determined by your income level. I'm unemployed, I'm only collecting 75% of my income on unemployment insurance, my groceries, car note, mortgage and everything else should now be reduced by 25%, that's only fair. If I quit altogether and go broke, everything should now be free because I have zero income! That's fair.

  Well, we can all agree how ridiculous that is. There is nothing fair about that. The reason is a simple one, we are not all alike. Some are more ambitious than others. So we have tried to establish a set of tax codes to even things out a bit. Then we added in the tax regulations, which serve to interpret the code code and we have over 75,000 pages. That's why we have tax attorneys and accountants as well. If you can read the entire code and follow all the rules you can reduce your tax burden substantially, in some cases. Thing is, you have to make it before you can qualify to save it. Even then, the top ten percent, with their teams of lawyers and accountants are still paying 72% of the tax burden. 

  The deal is this. With our current graduated tax system the more you make the higher your tax rate becomes, to a point. Currently 37% for the top earners. The lowest one is 10%. That means the top earners are paying 27% more than the lowest and 37% more than those not working at all and collecting benefits from the taxpayers! Seems fair enough doesn't it? 

Group	Avg. Wages
Top 0.1% of Earners	$3,312,693
Top 1% of Earners	$819,324
Top 5% of Earners	$335,891
Top 10% of Earners	$167,639

  

  Took this chart from this website: https://www.investopedia.com/personal-finance/how-much-income-puts-you-top-1-5-10/

Notice how much the top ten percent are actually making. And they are paying 72% of the burden. Tell me again how those rich folks aren't paying their fair share. The top .1%. that's one tenth of one percent are making 3.3 million, not all that much really. As of 2024 there are 2,781 billionaires in the world. Their combined net worth being about 14.2 trillion. 813 of those billionaires are Americans. Our national debt is 36.2 trillion! They don't have enough money no matter how much they are taxed! Yeah, numbers are troublesome things when they don't add up in your favor. It's always an issue when someone else is doing the counting.