U.S. financial stability precarious

An interesting article appeared in the Monday, March 4, Advocate, an Associated Press piece by Stephen Ohlemacher, concerning taxes paid by the rich. The article says that a high percentage of federal taxes (which apparently still fall far short of balancing the budget or paying off the accumulated war debt and other incurred obligations) are paid by the wealthy.

One of the reasons that the wealthy are burdened with taxes is that many of the nonrich (surprise!) have few resources to tap, and not a few lack jobs to acquire the ability to pay taxes.

Meanwhile, via the Internet, I’m receiving apparently reliable information which might expand one’s perspective on this problem: Even if, as stated in The AP article, the top 20 percent of the rich are paying 71.8 percent of the federal tax burden, at the same time, according to the other source, they control 93 percent of the wealth in the country. The bottom 80 percent have 7 percent of the wealth. See http://mashable.com/2013/03/02/wealth-inequality/

I judge that the stability of the country is precarious.

Foye Lowe

retired lawyer

Baton Rouge

Comments

1) Comment by InPVille - 12/03/2013

@DMJ: "This is why a progressive income tax system makes sense. This is also why countries with such tax systems and stronger social services." -[ **]- Pure bovine scat! Standard VAT Tax Rates For Individuals By Country: Denmark-25%, Sweden-25%, Iceland-24.5%, Norway-24%, Poland-22%, Croatia-22%, Finland-22%, Ireland-21%, Belgium-21%, France-20.6%, Slovenia-20.5%, Italy-20%, Austria-20%m Hungary-20%, Estonia-18%, Azerbaijan-18%, Greece-18%, Netherlands-17.5%, Portugal-17% Source: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/tax_val_add_tax_sta_rat-value-added-tax-standard-rate -[**]- Only Germany and Japan have a MEAN corporate tax rate equal to the U.S. Belgium, Germany, France, Hungary, Sweden, Austria, Italy, Finland, Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey, Denmark Spain, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Canada, and Switzerland all have a higher MEAN personal Income Tax Rate than the U.S. -[**]- The Mean Personal Income Tax Rates are Belgium-55%+, Germany-51%+, France-50%, etc on down to Canada with about 31%+. The Mean Tax Rate for America is about 29%. Given these statistics and the fact that 10% of Americans pay 70% of all personal income taxes, it is difficult how there could possibly any truth in your claim. It is clear that with VAT taxes included other western countries do not have the "progressive" tax system you declare. The middle class in those countries pays a greater share of taxes to support their entitlement states. -[**]- The mean unemployment rate for European countries belies your claims of economic mobility unless by that you mean down. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php?title=File:Unemployment_rates,_seasonally_adjusted,_January_2013.png&filetimestamp=20130301091843

2) Comment by prbeav - 12/03/2013

Mr. Lowe is a intellectually generous, and anyone who knee-jerked his letter--did not view the six minute video he suggested, missed. For your instant convenience, the URL is mashable.com/2013/03/02/wealth-inequality/ . The subject is distribution of wealth and the message is: "Wake up. The reality in this country is not at all what we think it is.">>>>Of course my comments are predictable. The way out of this economic instability is for most of the people to find public integrity through the seven secular goals which in the preamble to the US Constitution define We the People, whether some individuals think their God has their back or not. For America to fulfill its promises, the people must accept the gift of just governance by the governed, according to the preamble.

3) Comment by DMJ - 12/03/2013

This is why a progressive income tax system makes sense. This is also why countries with such tax systems and stronger social services are passing up the U.S. in economic mobility....and education...and health care...and medium household income.. Great letter, Foye. This will have the supply-siders in an uproar.

4) Comment by Old Man Kensey - 12/03/2013

Thanks Foye, great letter. Not often do you hear the flip side of that argument. You certainly don't hear it in the conservative controlled news. The inequality index, which measures the accumulation of wealth at the top and the void between the top and btm, is peaking. It is as bad now as it was before the great depression. But hey, the rich are taxed too much. After all, they are job creators they should get to live like kings.

5) Comment by InPVille - 12/03/2013

@tradewinns: "the ability to move from one economic class to another is possible in america, the actual process is dang near impossible. most move from one place in their "class" to another still in their class.if it was truly easy, everyone would do it." -[**]- What is wrong with moving up within your own class? Where is the self satisfaction and sense of accomplishment to be had from just taking on what is "truly easy"? Take a sampling of those who say it is too hard and those who believe otherwise and it is fairly obvious which group will see their situation improve and which will languish. Also the progressive tax system in the U.S.A. has the middle class far better off where taxes are concerned than for other Western style nations. This is done through VAT sales taxes. So when looked at in the world context, the American middle class isn't so bad off. Then there is the fact that you can't support our bloated government by just taxing the wealthy. At some point people act to protect their income property. -[**]- Top Executives Join France in exodus over confiscatory taxation hhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/13a9bcb0-8a53-11e2-bf79-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2NK6iydKn ---- Paulson lifetime New Yorker(and others already have)considers move to reduce tax burden hhttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-11/paulson-said-to-explore-puerto-rico-as-home-with-low-tax.html ----- When England raised taxes on people reporting over a million in income in the last few years, the number reporting this level of income dropped like a rock.

6) Comment by tradewinns - 12/03/2013

politicians have taxed the middle class to the point of rebellion. while the rich may pay more in total dollars, they pay less than the middle class in percentage of dollars available from which to pay. while the ability to move from one economic class to another is possible in america, the actual process is dang near impossible. most move from one place in their "class" to another still in their class.if it was truly easy, everyone would do it.

7) Comment by InPVille - 11/03/2013

So what! It isn't like we have a permanent caste system in this country. People move both in and out of the wealthy class all of the time. The drive, intelligence and personality traits it takes to become wealthy aren't something that can be automatically passed on to future generations of the same family. Some people who grew up on welfare become successful. People immigrate to this country will little funds and barely able to speak English and wind up wealthy through hard work and wise use of their earnings. Building up class envy isn't going to make the situation any better. Some people wind up poor through no fault of their own. But if you don't put forth the effort to acquire as much education as you can afford and your intelligence will allow, you don't put forth quality effort on your job, and you don't wait to have children to support until you are in a stable relationship(preferably after you acquire that education), in "most cases" you see the main cause of your problems every time you look in a mirror.