There are many ways to interpret facts. You mention only the numbers that support your opinion.
If a guy makes $10M/year and pays 23% in taxes he still has $7.7M left. Do you really think that it would be a bad thing if he had to pay say $3.3M and had to live on only $6.7M/year?
I think that an upper tax bracket in the 39-44% range is reasonable. I wouldn't go much above that.
OK. You call me a liar, then say doing that is not an ad hominum attack. As a retired CPA who used to get paid for giving my word, I resent that.
But, don't believe me. Here is an article from Kiplinger's Magazine. They happen to present the same data. Call them liar's too.
The data is the data. It seems you do not want to accept the implications of that data---"well, you mention only numbers that support your opinion". Sorry, these are the only numbers out there. You don't mention any IRS supplied numbers to support your apparent bias and faulty thinking.
From Kiplinger's Magazine:
"TAXES
How Do You Rank as a Taxpayer?
The latest statistics show a growing income gap between rich and poor and a far wider gap between the tax burden carried by different economic classes. Where do you stand as a money maker and a taxpayer?
By
Kevin McCormally
November 6, 2007
The idea of keeping up with the Joneses is so 1950s. And forget the Carnegies, the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts. These days, we want to keep up with the Gateses and the Buffetts, the Allens and the Waltons.
So maybe that's a stretch. But do you ever wonder how your income stacks up against your fellow citizens?
New data show that an income of $30,881 or more puts you in the top half of the class. Earning about twice that much -- $62,068 -- earns you a spot among the top 25% of all wage earners. You crack the elite top 10% if you earn more than $103,912.
And $364,657 buys top bragging rights: Earn that much or more and you're among the top 1% of all American earners. Together, the top 1% earn a full 21% of the income reported to the IRS -- far more than the 13% of total income reported by the bottom 50% of earners.
Here's another powerful statistic about the top 1% of earners: They pay a whopping 39% of all federal income taxes. The bottom 50% pay just 3% of all income taxes.
Income here is defined as adjusted gross income (AGI) reported on income tax returns. AGI is basically salary plus investment, rental and business income minus investment losses and expenses such as alimony paid, contributions to retirement plans, moving expenses and a few other costs.
These statistics come from just-released data based on 2005 tax returns and do not distinguish between single and joint returns. (Note that these figures focus on income taxes and do not include Social Security taxes. Lower-earning taxpayers pay a far higher percentage of their income in Social Security taxes than do higher-earning taxpayers.)
How does your income stack up? What percentage of the nation's tax burden falls on your shoulders? Kiplinger has developed an on-line calculator to instantly deliver the answers. So
try our calculator and find out.
The following table shows the income categories, the percentage of income earned by earners in that category and tax burden carried by members of that category.
BREAKDOWN OF INCOME AND TAXES PAID BY CATEGORYIncome Category2005 AGIPercent of all incomePercent of income taxes paidTop 1%Over $364,65721%39%Top 5%Over $145,28336%60%Top 10%Over $103,91246%70%Top 25%Over $62,06868%86%Top 50%Over $30,88187%97%Bottom 50%Under $30,88213%3%
Source: IRS"