Quote:
Originally Posted by zengrifter
Check his play.
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He's playing Ace-Five and he has Aces and Fives reversed.
Given the amount of conservative E-mail forwards about Obama's "socialist" plan, you'd think the answer is pretty obvious: 74% of our total income tax is paid by the highest 12% of earners ($100,000+ in AGI), and 92% of our total income tax is paid by the highest 33% of earners ($50,000+ in AGI). The median American reports $30,000 in AGI and pays an aggregate tax rate of 14% on it.
If the $75 billion plan were evenly spread out among tax dollars, it would amount to an increase of 7.3% ($75 billion / $1,023 billion) on every tax dollar. This means that someone making $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 will pay an additional $21,000 on top of the $293,000 they're already paying. Someone making $100,000 to $200,000 will pay an additional $1,300 on top of the $17,000 they're already paying. And the median American, who makes $30,000 to $40,000 will pay an additional $179 on top of the $2,400 they're already paying. Roughly 35% of Americans will pay an additional $0 on top of the $0 they're already paying.
But Obama's not even proposing to spread out the plan among tax dollars. His proposal was to put it all on the people who make $250,000 and above. How does this affect these same groups of people? Well, first of all, the IRS groups people from $100,000-$200,000 and $200,000-$500,000 together, so let's just pretend Obama's plan is really about $200,000 and above. This group of people (4 million filers, 2.9% of total) pay $544 billion in taxes, and we're raising it by $75 billion, or an average of 14%. Someone making $1,000,000 to $1,500,000 will pay an additional $41,000 on top of the $293,000 they're already paying, and $20,000 more than if the plan had been to spread the cost among all taxpayers. People who make $100,000-$200,000 will pay $0 extra. People who make $30,000-$40,000 will pay $0 extra.
Of course, people who make over $200,000 naturally object to Obama's plan, both in terms of having UHC at all (which would cost them $21,000) or to make "the rich" pay for it all (which would cost them $41,000). But this (and progressive tax rates in general) is a natural consequence of democracy. People making under $200,000 (97.1% of the population) outnumber people making over $200,000 (2.9% of the population) 33:1. So even if everyone who made over $200,000 had ten friends who would vote with "the rich" on principle, they'd still be outnumbered 2:1.
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Health Care in the Obamanation
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