The Truth of the Rich and Taxable

According to International Monetary Fund forecasts, the Trump administration is on course to push US debt levels above those of Italy and Greece by the end of the decade.

Thanks to the reckless spending from 2008 financial crash, the Covid-19 pandemic, and continued ill-begotten budgets, the IMF predicts the US will see its debts rise to 143% of GDP by 2030. Greece, which in 2020 had a debt ratio of 210%, is expected to drop to 130%. Italy’s debt is expected to flat-line at 137% of GDP. Both countries had to make extremely hard financial decisions which involved numerous, undesirable cuts in spending.

Two issues are being blamed for the rise in debt. The first is increased defense spending. Trump wants to build a “golden dome” defense shield, which could cost almost $1 trillion. While I strongly support having the world’s best defense system, I believe it should be paid by redirecting our military expenditures from overseas, not at the confiscation of even more taxpayer money.

The second reason being blamed for deeper debt is alleged tax cuts for the rich – that group which democrats, socialists, and liberals love to attack. So, just for the fun of it, let’s see how much the rich actually pay:

As of 2022, a $663k income put a person/household in the Top 1% of wage earners. That overall group had an average tax rate of 26.1%, paid an average of $561k in taxes, and totaled 40.4% of all income taxes paid to the US government. The Top 10% had an average tax rate of 21.1%, paid taxes just shy of $100k, totaling 72% of all income taxes. How is this “not paying their fair share?

The bottom half of all taxpayers – that group the socialists and liberals believe deserve better treatment – had an average tax rate of under 4% while paying only 3% of all income taxes, meaning… the Top Half of all taxpayers paid 97% of all income taxes. Let me add, the numbers for the lower half do not include tax credits such as the earned income credit and other assistance programs which reduce their taxes to, in effect, ZERO! Again, how are the rich not paying their fair share?

The Trump administration is being blamed for tax breaks that will benefit mostly the middle and high income groups. How can it not? One can’t pass tax cuts for the lowest income groups when most already pay NOTHING!

Both Italy and Greece have learned something the leaders and voters of this country need to learn. In order to maintain budget surpluses, and reduce the debt – or at least keep it from getting any worse – it requires cuts in spending to below revenues from taxation. Yet both parties spend and spend again.

Defense spending needs to be cut, assistance programs need to be cut, and Social Security needs to return to its original aim. Government needs to get out of education, health care, housing, and the plethora of other programs for which its intrusion caused prices to skyrocket way beyond inflation.

Source used: Tax Foundation