04-03-2013, 11:20 PM
Ted King wrote:
The primary way we have dealt with the regulated free marker system distributing too much wealth/income not based on merit has been by taxing the wealthiest/highest incomes at a greater rate and providing tax breaks and government assistance to lower income people.
If only that were true. Arguably, those at the top are now taxed at a far lower rate than those in the middle. Wage earners have the highest tax rates, while those who kick back and let their investments provide their money enjoy reduced dividend rates, no payroll taxes, and tax shelters up the wazoo that the middle class can only dream about. Look at good ol' Mitt for an example. He paid only 14% of his income in federal tax in the only year that he would agree to release. It's been rumored, with some fairly substantial backup, that he probably didn't pay near this much in prior years. Heck, my effective federal income tax rate is more than twice Mitt's rate.
Also, government assistance to lower income people has been cut more and more ever since Ronald Reagan got in.
The top earners in this country have managed to reverse the progress to improve the lot of the majority of the citizenry that was made in the 1940s through early 1970s by manipulating the government into giving themselves ever increasing monetary benefits. We are now headed back to a landed gentry and aristocracy.