January 21, 2015
My friend Wayne Essex writes a great newsletter on taxes and charities.
Do you know how you compare with your fellow taxpayers when it
comes to the income you make and the taxes you pay?
Ever wonder how your income stacks up against your fellow
workers? Do you make enough to put you in that at-once extolled and
excoriated 1% of richest Americans? In the bottom 50%?
Somewhere in between?
(Those of you that hate the i% speak up now!!!)
What the Numbers Show
The latest numbers from the IRS -- based on just released data
from 2012 tax returns -- show what it takes to be among the top 1 percent of
income earners:
1. Top 1% of all earners had Adjusted Gross Income of $434,682 or more.
That's almost
$50,000 more than it took to buy into this rarefied status a year earlier.
The 1.4 million Americans with this elite status reported 21.9 percent of the
total adjusted gross income reported on 2012 returns. That's right. One percent of taxpayers reported almost 22
percent of all income.
++++++++
That same tiny group of 1% however, kicked in 38% of all the federal income taxes paid. Hmm! They made 22% but paid 38%. Is that fair? Did they pay too much?
(A year earlier, the top 1%t of earners
kicked in 35 percent of all taxes paid.) So, they payed MORE taxes this year!
How much do you need to make to be
in the top 50 percent of earners? Want to guess? Scroll Down and See.
Have you guessed? Is it more than $100,000 a year? Is it over $50,000 a year? Nope, it is---------------------
Just $36,055.
2. Fall below that level and you are in the bottom half, along with
about 68 million of your fellow taxpayers.
All told, that group earned just
11.1% of the Average Gross Income reported on 2012 federal returns.
And they paid just a tiny 2.78% of all taxes paid. What???? Is that fair? They made over 11% but only paid 2.78%.
Shouldn't all of us pay at the same rate? Are you that poor?
Wishing you many happy returns, Wayne Essex
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