Average tax rate of the top 400 is 16.6% — the lowest since the IRS began tracking the 400 in 1992

Yes that's right. The Top 400 earners in the US pay an average of 16.6% income tax. What do you pay?

Clipped from www.ritholtz.com

Average tax rate of the 400 = 16.6% — the lowest since the IRS began tracking the 400 in 1992

Top 400 Taxpayers By Barry Ritholtz - April 15th, 2010, 9:15AM The IRS puts out an interesting tax document each year, looking at the returns of the nation’s 400 highest income tax paying people. The most recent year of complete data is 2007, when 143 million individuals filed tax returns. Some of the data is quite astonishing: • The top 400 U.S. individual taxpayers got 1.59% of the nation’s household income in 2007 — 3X the p% they got in the 1990s. • The top 400 paid 2.05% of all individual income taxes in 2007. • Only 220 of the top 400 were in the top marginal tax bracket. • Average tax rate of the 400 = 16.6% — the lowest since the IRS began tracking the 400 in 1992. • Minimum annual income to make the top 400 =  $138.8 million. • Top 400 reported $137.9 billion in income; they paid $22.9 billion in federal income taxes. • 81.3% of income was from capital gains, dividends or interest. Salaries and wages? Just 6.5%. • The top 400 list changes from year to year: 1992-2007, it contained 3,472 different taxpayers (out of a maximum 6400). Read more at www.ritholtz.com

 

Washington DCs dirty little secret - stealth spending escapes public scrutiny

Another form of PORK? Or i this the other White Meat?

Clipped from www.tax.com

Battleground 2012: Taxpayers vs. Tax-Eaters Robert Goulder | Feb. 3, 2011 02:45 PM EST Everybody knows what a taxpayer is. We are the millions of people who pick up the tab for America's public spending. You, me, basically everyone you meet is a taxpayer. But what is a "tax-eater"? What do they look like? Where do they come from? And what should you do if you live next door to one? The term can be traced back to British farmer and radical journalist William Cobbett (1763-1835) who railed against burdensome taxation in pre-Victorian England. Specifically, a tax-eater refers to any person or entity on the receiving end of public spending. If the chosen verbiage seems pejorative, that's exactly what Cobbett intended. His central belief was that tax-eaters are a drain on society and their numbers should be reduced to the greatest extent possible. In short, tax-eaters were freeloaders who unfairly rode on backs of others (i.e., taxpayers). Fast forward to modern times. Cobbett's colorful language strikes a chord with today's Tea Party movement, which displays a marked intolerance for tax-eaters. This is what drives the conservative desire for smaller government. Should the number of tax-eaters in a given society grow too large in proportion to the number of taxpayers, your culture will inevitably descend into socialist hell. Read more at www.tax.com