Within the next week I will be posting my Shore Leave 30 Photos to a Flickr account.  I figured this was easier than burning cds.  I will post a LJ entry when they are posted.

News Item the rich are paying more than their fair share of taxes.  The top 50% pay 96.7% of all taxes. The top 1% pay 36.89% and since the Bush tax cuts that has gone to a bit more than 39%.  The top 25% of income earners pay 84.6% of all federal income taxes.  The income share of the top 1% rose from 16.12% to 16.77% while at the same time the tax rate dropped from 27.25% to 24.31%.  Isnt that amazing the income taxes increase as the taxes were cut.  This always happens.  When people get to keep more of their money they use it to produce more wealth and productivity.  The wealthy are extremely productive.  They provide goods and services and more importantly jobs for others.  Raise their taxes as democrats want to do and the economy suffers. The wealthy become less productive people are laid off.    

Less than $3.50 cents of every $100 of income taxes paid in the US is paid by someone in the bottom 50% of the wage earners.  The top 50% of wage earners is defined as individuals or couples filing jointly who earned  $29,019 in 2003.  The top 1% were those earning 295,495 and up.  Also the income brackets are not set in stone.  Those who are in the bottom 50% move up while some in the upper 50% or higher move down.  Also most of the wealthy earned their money from a standing start they didnt inherit it.

The CBO analysis, Effective Tax Rates Under Law, 2001 to 2014, shows that the income tax remains highly progressive, the top 5% of earners paying more than half of all federal income taxes. As a result of the tax cuts since 2001, all taxpayers face lower effective federal income tax rates than they would have without the tax cuts. While many characterize the CBO report as evidence that the tax cuts shifted the burden of taxation to the middle class, the CBO data show precisely the opposite effect. The tax cuts actually made the tax system more progressive. The highest 20% of earners now pay a larger share of federal income taxes than they would have without the tax cuts.

These statistics are available from the IRS and CBO.  I find it very interesting.  I think perhaps rather than raising taxes our Congress should spend the money more efficiently.  Look at the Social Security Trust Fund.   There is no trust fund its all U.S. I O Us.  Congress be it Republican or Democratically run spends that money faster than it comes in rather than investing it for the future then the "bastards" have the nerve to ask us to pay more taxes.  The Congress spends about $1.59 for every dollar of taxes paid the last time I checked.  If you look at the monies spent on Social Security, Medicare, Medicade, education and other federal programs and see how much of it is absorbed in admistration of the programs you would be amazed.