Being Rich

Class Matters
Richest Are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON
Published: June 5, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/national/class/HYPER-FINAL.html

Findings of a NYTimes analysis placed in Article form. Important for understanding of current Tax law, and what this produces.

Notable Quotes:

From 1950 to 1970, for example, for every additional dollar earned by the bottom 90 percent, those in the top 0.01 percent earned an additional $162, according to the Times analysis. From 1990 to 2002, for every extra dollar earned by those in the bottom 90 percent, each taxpayer at the top brought in an extra $18,000.

an Internal Revenue Service study found that the only taxpayers whose share of taxes declined in 2001 and 2002 were those in the top 0.1 percent.

The result expressed is actually much worse, due to the continual use by the Rich of Tax shelters, which protect the SuperRich from Tax rates. The article is critical of the AMT(alternate minimum tax), but this only expresses the impact of Inflation on Taxes, which the AMT does not adjust to cancel. What is actually needed is Tax law and policy which eliminates special exemptions, deductions, and tax credits which reduce the stated Tax rates. Removal of all special consideration Tax advantages would allow ability to flatten Tax rates along with reducing the Tax rates themselves. This would also nullify the capacity of the SuperRich to remove their Income from taxation. lgl