.
so, mayor Bloomberg floated the idea of "raising taxes on the wealthy"
once you use that language you are telling the wealthy, "don’t worry about it, it’s not going to happen"
over these past 8 years the wealthy have been given middle class assets through the bush redistribution of tax burden scheme, reclaiming that revenue is NOT "raising taxes on the wealthy" it’s getting our money back
in any event the mayor "raised sales tax", now it’s about the highest in the nation.
some might think this is an "equal tax" "since the wealthy buy big ticket items, they’ll wind up paying more of this tax increase"
the reverse is true, the poor spend their entire salary and therefore this increase is across that entire salary
the wealthy spend a fraction of their income, therefore this increase is only across a fraction of their revenue
we need to make it clear what sales tax is, it’s a digressive tax targeted at the middle and lower class, promoted as an equal tax it;s in fact a hidden tax shelter for the wealthy
The masses are not as uneducated as they were for these last 8 years and his smoke and mirror tax shelter for the wealthy is going to be called exactly what it is
"it’s a tax on the poor"
check out this page which sheds light on facts most people don’t consider, since the wealthy spend a far lower percentage of their income they aren’t taxed multiple times, therefore the middle and lower class pay a FAR higher percentage of their wage to taxes when all local tax and useage fees are taken into account;
Who Pays Taxes?
The short answer is this:
you and I pay the taxes that rich and powerful people ought to pay, but don’t.
In the year 2000, at the height of the last economic boom and before the most recent round of tax cuts were enacted, IRS data shows that the richest 400 taxpayers paid 27% of their income in federal, state, and local taxes. On average, these 400 taxpayers each had taxable income of $151 million. All other taxpayers had average taxable income of only $34,600, and yet their tax burden was 40%.
we need to start talking about tax equity instead of "taxing the wealthy", once we use the flawed framing that we want to "raise taxes on the wealthy" we lose the argument, rather, "we want tax equity", which means the wealthy wind up paying AT LEAST the same percentage of income as the middle and lower class
I say "at least" since the wealthy use FAR more common assets then the middle and lower class, if useage was considered they should be paying a comenserate HIGHER percentage of their wage, they now pay less and have managed to get most people believing they are taxed too high
that’s got to change



5 Comments







Any challengers to the Mayor?
I don’t live in the city and haven’t followed local politics, I do know the mayor had his cronies change term limits so he can run again
not happy with his lust for this seat of power
Thanks perris.
It is good to see this article, Perris. I love your words: “tax fairness” instead of taxing the rich as it is good framing about what needs to be done about our tax structure in the entire nation as taxes are killing the poor.
It does not seem to matter what type of revenue states use to raise money, it always falls on the poor the hardest. States us will often use a certain type of tax to raise the majority of their revenue and then add other taxes for specific things and for their general coffers: If their main source of income is property taxes this will raise rents as the poor could never afford property, If their main source is income taxes, the poor pay a significant amount more as they do not have the exemptions that the rich do, and the worset of all is sales taxes, which are a heavy burden for the poor because the percentage they pay is huge.
As an activist I have been trying to raise conscience about the unfair burden of taxation on the poor for years. At our last legislative session I had written in bold letters on the back of my folder I was carrying around: TAX THE RICH, NOT THE POOR! At the legislator’s offices I visited with the group I was in for my district, I could not help but notice as I stood there silently how their eyes would slide to the message on the back of my folder, which I was carrying casually in such a way as anyone could see my sign. See in my state for local taxes alone, the poor pay upwards of 19% of their income in taxes vs the rich who pay less than 5% of their incomes in taxes. And we have two of the richest men in the world who live in our state, Bill Gates, and Paul Allen as well as a plethora of other rich families such as the Weyerhausers, the McCaws and the Casey families, which would wipe out our 9.4 billion dollar deficit if they did pay even 2/3 of what a poor family pays in taxes.
Please keep talking about the un fairness of taxes. While you have not gotten enough of a response here, I am sure it is because the general population is not aware of the hidden truth about the percentage of taxes they pay. The only way to make them aware is to keep talking about until it becomes general knowledge.
It takes little time to carry around a folder everywhere you go that has a message predominantly posted in the back. I am going to carry it everywhere I go. For mine, I will use your words on my folder, Perris: TAX FAIRNESS FOR THE POOR!
Cat In Seattle
thanx for the response cat!
more effective will be;
TAX THE POOR AS LITTLE AS THE RICH