Taxes

I often hear folks complain about their taxes. I understand their complaint.

The tax rate for the rich actually peaked at 92% in 1952-53 under Eisenhower, and then dropped to 91%.

But today’s top rate of 35% is misleading. The very rich can structure income to look like "carried interest," which is taxed at 15% max. This is how Mitt Romney did it. Plus, when your income exceeds $106,000, you stop paying Social Security tax.

One multimillionaire I used to know received his and his wife’s social security check just like all the rest of those over 65. But they had paid nothing into the program. Those too rich to pay in should not receive a benefit.

I suspect many even here in this area are paying far more than this as a rate. The problem is not that you are paying too much in taxes, but rather that these "other guys" are paying a pittance.

That’s why I cannot understand the reluctance to let the Bush tax cuts for the very rich expire. They still would pay far less then their fair share. And that is one reason why there is no longer a large middle class but there is a large class of low income folk in this country.