This happened a little while ago but this bit from Bryan Fischer of the so-called American "Family" Association has stuck in my craw - because it's a bit idolatry-ish, not to mention just plain creepy
http://www.rawstory.com/...
“The top 1 percent are funding 30 percent of the government!” the radio host explained. “So, rather than the poor, the low income and the middle class being resentful of these people, they should be kissing the ground on which they walk!”
“Who’s paying for the EBT cards? Who’s paying for food stamps? Who’s paying for the women and infant children program? Who’s paying for subsidized housing? Who’s paying for Medicaid? It is the top 1 percent,” he continued.
“So, they ought to be given ticker-tape parades once a week in all of our major cities to thank them for funding welfare for everybody.”
Fischer went on to say that it was a “myth” that Americans had a right to so-called “entitlements” or earned government benefits.
Yes, all that "Provide for the General Welfare" stuff and also the
9th Amendment [That's right
There are More than Just 2 of those] which says that the rights listed in the Constitutiion shall not be used to
Deny of Disparage OTHER Rights retained by the People - all that is just a
Myth, like the Easter Bunny or the idea that pleated mom-jeans are a right fine fashion choice.
it's a story we've heard many times before, and is often championed by those oh so concerned and generous folks at Heritage.
According to CBO, the top 1 percent of income earners—families earning more than $613,700 in 2010 (the latest year of available data)—paid an effective tax rate on all federal taxes of 29.4 percent. They paid 24.2 percent of all federal taxes while earning just under 15 percent of all income.
I mean, isn't it just so
unfair to the 1% that they have to pay
so much money for so many other people when they only earn half that? It's practically putting them in the poor house. Any minute now Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are gonna need public assistance and food stamps themselves....
And it would be a great story if it wasn't a total and complete crock pot of crap.
I mean who needs that Buffett Rule when the Rich are already pay so so much in taxes?
The middle class—families earning more than $71,400—paid an effective tax rate of 11.5 percent. They paid 9.1 percent of all federal taxes and earned 14.2 percent of income.
CBO also estimated that the top 1 percent will pay 33.6 percent of their income in federal taxes this year—well above what the Buffett Rule calls for.
As a result of the President’s policies, the top 1 percent of income earners will pay four percentage points more of their income in federal taxes in 2013 than they did in 2010—before the President signed his long-sought tax hikes into law. That is a 14 percent increase in their effective tax rate.
So what makes all this a crock? The CBO is a trusted source isn't it? It's cut and dried, they earn 15% of the money and then they have pay 30% of the taxes. We should all be
greatful except for one teeny tiny itsy bitsy fact that both Heritage and Bryan Fischer miraculously
forgot.
"Income" is actually the smallest portion of money that the 1% actually make.
It's not Income that we should be looking at when comparing what the 1% have, to the rest of us. What we should be comparing is - for starters - Net Worth. As you can see from the following chart the Net Worth of the average person among the 1% tends to be as much as 15-16 times their yearly household income - even when you remove the value of their primary home from that equation - while as you can see the bottom 40% are actually in a Negative Net Worth situation.
For most of us were earning just barely enough to make it week to week, month to month, we don't have any
extra that we can turn into piles - or smoke just to savor the taste - but the Rich are actually only earning a
fraction of income compared to the money they
already have.
So if we talking Wealth, rather than Income just how much of it do the Rich have compared to the rest of us?
In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2010, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 35.4% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 53.5%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 89%, leaving only 11% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers).
The Top 20% Percent own
89% of EVERYTHING, leaving only 11% for the remaining
Bottom 80% of Everyone!. So if you're wondering why your paycheck never seems to go up -
this is why. And this is a situation that has been progressively growing worse over time as shown here.
Here's how that looks as a pie chart for Net Wealth and Financial (Non Home) Wealth which shows that the
Bottom 80% have only 5% of the Financial Wealth in the nation.
So when you remove their primary residence, the Top 1% retain
42% Of the MONEY - so exactly why should we be crying a river that their paying for 30% of the government?
When it comes to Financial Wealth, the Rich are actually - pretty Damn Rich compared to everyone else.
In terms of types of financial wealth, the top one percent of households have 35% of all privately held stock, 64.4% of financial securities, and 62.4% of business equity. The top ten percent have 81% to 94% of stocks, bonds, trust funds, and business equity, and almost 80% of non-home real estate. Since financial wealth is what counts as far as the control of income-producing assets, we can say that just [the top 10% of wealth holders] own the United States of America;
And of course these types of financial assets are not taxed at the same rate as income, which for them is now 39.6% - this type of Wealth is taxed at the Capitol Gains rate of only 15%. That is how Billionare Warren Buffet pays a lower percent in taxes than his Secretary - she's getting taxed based on her income, he's getting taxed
based on his Wealth - because chances are that she - like most Americans - doesn't really have any real wealth besides her home.
It's simply not the case that Rich are being "Bled Dry" by our Tax system, as it turns out they're actually paying at a rate that is far less than amount of wealth they actually retain.
And of course as we heard in Mitt Romney's infamous 47% Speech, even if the Rich aren't exactly paying a tax rate that matches the amount of wealth they actually have, well, things would be better if so many of the poor weren't paying "any taxes at all". Except that they do pay taxes. Thanks to Ronald Reagan's Earn Income Tax Credit people below a certain portion don't pay Federal Income taxes, but they do pay State and Local Sales taxes as shown here.
So it's simply not the case that the poor - even those with an EBT card - aren't
paying their fair share, people with an EBT card are
Paying Sales Taxes. People with a home are paying
property taxes, while the Rich are hiding their money in overseas tax shelters, deferred dividend stock share and special trusts which are allowed to
skip a generation before any inheritance taxes are paid.
Once you're making most of your money from simply having money, the last thing you want to do is share any it with anyone else, even the financial infrustrature that allows you to make that money in first place.
Sorry, but Scrooge McDuck is not exactly my idea of an Ideal American, and the next time I have to listen to another whining 1%er punk-ass complaining about just how unappreciated they are - they just might get a little personal trickle down from me, all over their shoes.
Vyan