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Taxes Flatten but Deep Pockets Still Bulge
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| Parent(s) |
Issue
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Apr 17, 2006 06:53pm |
| Logged |
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| Category | Analysis |
| Media | Newspaper - Los Angeles Times |
| News Date | Tuesday, April 18, 2006 12:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | A decade ago, when publishing magnate Steve Forbes ran for president, he vowed to deliver a new era of prosperity with a simple change in the federal income tax: Instead of people with more money paying higher rates, all would pay the same "flat" tax rate — unleashing "the fantastic growth waiting to burst forth in our economy."
Forbes' flat-tax plan was dismissed as simplistic by many mainstream economists and viewed with horror by the legions of special interests that benefit from the deductions and loopholes that flat-tax advocates would eliminate.
But as millions of Americans face the deadline for filing their federal tax returns, they are operating in something very close to the world Forbes and other flat-tax visionaries proposed. Without any fanfare or philosophical debate, millionaires and middle-class Americans now pay taxes at almost the same rates.
A flatter tax
The average percentage of their income that people paid in combined federal income and payroll taxes in 2005:
Income
(In thousands of 2005 dollars) |
What people actually paid |
| Less than $10 | 2.3% |
| $10-20 | 3.7 |
| $20-30 | 9.1 |
| $30-40 | 13.6 |
| $40-50 | 15.8 |
| $50-75 | 17.4 |
| $75-100 | 18.9 |
| $100-200 | 20.6 |
| $200-500 | 21.5 |
| $500-1,000 | 22.0 |
| Over $1,000 | 22.0 |
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