When the GOP’s tax myth collides with reality…
The myth:
“The revenue issue is now closed…. You’re talking about how much — you’re asking a question, how much more money do we want to steal from the American people to fund more government? I’m for no more.”
– House Speaker John Boehner, Feb. 28, 2013
The reality:
Share of income paid in total federal taxes, 1979-2009, by income group
Source: Tax Policy Center, http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=456
The American people are being sold a story that is simply, factually untrue. These are the most recent data available, indicating that every single income group is paying less of their income in taxes than at any point in the last 30 years.
– Jay Bookman
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
505 comments Add your comment
Welcome to the Occupation
March 1st, 2013
9:22 pm
“Welcome to the Occupation. I bet you can get a flight to your kind of paradise to North Korea anytime you want to buddy”:
The inevitable taunt of the uneducated.
Gimme Gimme Gimme
March 1st, 2013
10:35 pm
Highest Quintile 1979 – 27.1 2009 – 23.2 = A Reduction of 14%
Lowest Quintile 1979 – 7.5 2009 – 1.0 = A Reduction of 750%
hmmmm…..it’s fun to play the numbers game.
NotFooled
March 1st, 2013
11:03 pm
Jay, you’re either a tool of capital destruction, or you are ignoring the very facts your present. The lowest 20% saw their tax burden decrease by 85% from 2000 (the last year of Bill Clinton’s tax and budget authority) to 2009. The 2nd quintile saw theirs decrease by 45% over the same time frame. The federal tax burden of the middle decreased by 33%. The 4th quintile saw theirs only decrease by 27%, and the top 20% only saw theirs decrease by 16%! So the poor are paying, thanks to Bush and the Republican Congress, a far lower percentage of their earnings, and received a far greater “discount” on their taxes. But the President is not asking anyone but the top 20%, who received the smallest reduction, to return to the 2000 tax rates. BTW, I am not in the top 40%, but I don’t believe in robbing at gunpoint another man who is more successful to pay my share. I guess you do. I am thankful for the sequestration cuts in spending, and they are fully laid at the feet of a greedy President who demands what he did not earn. Let every liberal donate 40% of their income to the Treasury and then at least they won’t be hypocrites when they ask for more from others!
Common Sense is Uncommon
March 2nd, 2013
8:48 am
Jay, your numbers only go through the Bush Administration! They actually point out how Bush did not favor the so called “wealthy”.
DawgByte
March 2nd, 2013
9:45 am
This is the most asinine article I’ve ready and the Kool-Aid drinker comments illustrate why liberals are commonly referred to among intelligent people as “Libtards”.
Obama has added $6.5T to the national debt and still does not believe Washington has a spending problem. It defies common logic and reality. Obama is a lying to the American people about the impact of the sequestration cuts. They represent a 2.2% decrease to a budget that has been growing by 17% since 2008. In 2013, this sequestration represents a total of $85B out of a $3.6T budget. That’s represents pocket change to a homeless person.
You people have no concept of the realities behind the direction you want this country to grow. I grew-up in a Socialist country and visited the Soviet Union during the height of Breshnev’s reign and I can tell you that your policies theories are barking mad.