<p>Can’t believe the Obamas paid less taxes than we did! We don’t even get close to the sum they earned. Where’s the trick?</p>
<p>newhere-
I really don’t believe the other 39% pay taxes either. They may be called taxes, but all companies do is pass on their costs, taxes included, to the end consumer. Do raising tax rates on companies do anything but hurt the consumer in the end? The United States has the 2nd highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world, does that make us more competitive globally or does it hurt us?</p>
<p>newhere: you paid over a million dollars in tax? I want your income.</p>
<p>I’d love to have to Obama’s tax refund…one year college all expenses paid! :)</p>
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<p>It’s simple economics that the incidence of any tax has to do with the elasticities of the good which is being taxed.</p>
<p>Via the National Tax Payer’s Union, [Who</a> Pays Income Taxes?](<a href=“Page Not Found - Search - National Taxpayers Union”>Page Not Found - Search - National Taxpayers Union)
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<p>5% of tax payers pay almost 60% of the income taxes and 1% of tax payers pay 39% of income taxes.</p>
<p>As for cap gains, remember that share holders are taxed-twice…the companies they own (that’s what it means to be a share holder), are taxed on their earnings and then the share holders get taxed again on their dividends.</p>
<p>More food for thought: Big, bad - hide the women and children - companies, like Exxon (see below) make up a good part of pensions funds owned by a lot of Americans. Profits are funding their future retirements…retirements that may not see any contributions from the [soon</a> to be collapsing Social Security system](<a href=“http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5irarpNlWeZ9zHfvuZLffunUWIvAQ]soon”>http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5irarpNlWeZ9zHfvuZLffunUWIvAQ).</p>
<p>[Exxon’s</a> 2007 Tax Bill: $30 Billion](<a href=“Exxon's 2007 Tax Bill: $30 Billion (NYSE:XOM) | Seeking Alpha”>Exxon's 2007 Tax Bill: $30 Billion (NYSE:XOM) | Seeking Alpha): </p>
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<p>Isn’t anyone familiar with the concept of marginal tax rate? Are you guys all 18 years old? You can be sure that the President paid the 39% rate on the last taxed dollar .</p>
<p>Randc, the manner of calculating taxes is so different in different countries that it is not really possible to make a meaningful comparison of the relative amount of tax paid by businesses with similar financial success in different countries. On the other hand, do you suppose that being saddled with health care costs hurts American corporations in competition with foreign corporations in countries with government health systems?</p>
<p>StitchInTime-
I always get a kick out of listening to politicians trash the oil companies. Taxes on a gallon of gas are 40+ cents/gallon and the oil companies make about 8 cents on a gallon of gas. Oil companies do all the work from exploration to refinement to earn their money and the government just has to decide to tax. </p>
<p>kluge-
Great question on the health care issue. I don’t know the answer.
Health care is one big can of worms. When I take a look at how well the federal government does or does not do at managing most anything, it scares me to think what they would do if we ended up with socialized medicine. Hillary wants a percentage (5-10%)of your income, which means that if I make 100K and you make 200K, your broken arm costs you twice as much as mine :)</p>
<p>Can someone tell me what W and DC would pay in taxes and their overall tax rate, if they did not receive wages as officials of the people? </p>
<p>With their wealth in investments, I wonder why they would take a wage and be subject to higher tax rates?</p>
<p>Anyone who has a tax program can readily see the affect of qualified dividends, and longterm gains, and capital losses. </p>
<p>No more cheese.</p>
<p>Again, I’d like to draw attention to bdmrad’s post - the U.S. operates a marginal income tax system. For instance, for the year 2006:</p>
<p>Tax Rate / Single Income / Married Filing Jointly / Married Filing Separately</p>
<p>10% / $0-$7,550 / $0-$15,100 / $0-$7,500
15% / $7,551-$30,650 / $15,101-$61,300 / $7,551-$30,650
25% / $30,651-$74,200 / $61,301-$123,700 / $30,651-$61,850
28% / $74,201-$154,800 / $123,701-$188,450 / $61,851-$94,225
33% / $154,801-$336,550 / $188,451-$336,550 / $94,226-$168,275
35% / $336,551+ / $336,551+ / $168,276+</p>
<p>For example, if a married filing jointly couple had an income of $500,000, they would be taxed the following:
$15,100 x 10% = $1510
$46,200 x 15% = $6930
$62,399 x 25% = $15,600
$64,749 x 28% = $18,130
$148,099 x 33% = $48,873
$163,449 x 35% = $57,207</p>
<p>For a total federal income tax (before deductions & credits) of $148,250. Your entire income is NOT taxed at the bracket you fall under - only the amount in that range.</p>
<p>I’m happy. Income of more than $100,000 and paid 7.5% taxes. Thanks GWB!!!</p>