Ted Rall for January 04, 2013
Transcript:
Both parties agree: Everyone who earns under $400,000 a year- even an unmarried couple earning $800,000 a year- qualifies for a "middle-class tax cut." Confused? Here's a bestiary of the Amercian class system. (Middlin' class: < $25,000) (Middle middle class: $25,000 to $250,00) (Middle classy: $250,000 to $400,000) (You'll never see 'em or meet 'em, 'cept maybe on TV: >$400,000)
The truth is, everybody pays taxes, including people who don’t officially pay taxes. A lot of people who don’t file tax returns at the end of the year nevertheless get payroll withholding. That money all ends up in the treasury. That even includes illegal immigrants. Similarly, everybody who buys goods and services and paste sales or use tax pays taxes. People who receive unemployment pay taxes on their unemployment benefits. The truth is, the more benefits that you receive out of the society, the more you should pay in taxes. Since the rich receive the most benefits, they should pay the highest proportion of their income in taxes. You can see from US history and the history of other countries that societies that charge the rich high tax rates tend to be the most economically healthy and the most politically stable.