Our chart (below) uses IRS numbers. It destroys the myth that the top 1% of this country "owns 99% of the wealth." The sheer fact of the matter is this: the top 1% of this country owns 20% of the Adjusted Gross Income of this nation and pays 38% of the annual income tax bill. Editor's note: I only care about "income" as a measure of "wealth" because income is an annual event, in this case, and wealth measured by ownership is not something that can be distributed without destroying the owner, herself.
You have heard of the 53% counter movement to Occupy? If not, you should know that "Occupy" touts this statement, "We are the 1%." The "1 %," according to the kids in the streets, is everyone who is not rich, mean, cruel, nasty and controlling. When you stop to think about it, those outside the realm of the "1%" includes the reader(s) of this blog and the parents of the kids in the streets.
The counter movement calls itself the "53 Percent." They emphasize that Occupy does not come close to representing the American circumstance when it comes to paying taxes. "53%" does not appear on the chart below. But, "50%" is there, in black and white, proving the misguided aspect of the Occupy movement. When you split this country down the middle, in terms of taxpaying families, the top 70 million people pay almost 98% of the tax bill and own 87% of the nation's "renewable wealth," also known as "annual income."
The bottom 70 million folks own just 12.75% of the wealth and pay a measly 2.7% of the federal tax bill. They pay SS taxes but that will come back to them several times over, at retirement (hey, it is a retirement provision). They pay a tax for Medicare and Medicaid, but receive benefit from these programs as well. All of us pay taxes other than federal income tax. Add the gas tax, a communication tax (cell phones), a tobacco tax, a luxury taxes, a sales tax and on and on. What is never mentioned by the social trouble makers who have invaded our system of governance, is the monetary value of the social programs designed to help the poor. (see our listing below), social programs that exist because of redistributive wealth via our progressive income tax system.
Note: understand that the IRS chart gives us information for the taxpaying portion of our population. It does not track the whole population. On this graph, 50% of the population is charted as the "bottom 50%," but 80% of our population actually is in this "bottom half." Of course, all this is an approximation. The reader might criticize the specifics of this post, at some level, but I believe that the proportional view of the population will be similar to that presented here, regardless of the source. Know this, I view the expenditure for our nations' social programs as an item of collective wealth, owned (possessed) by the "bottom 50%."
SUMMARY OF FEDERAL INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX DATA, 2010
Source for the chart above: the IRS for 2010.
There are more than 30 programs that pay for everything from pell grants for mothers, student loans, assistance for needy families, food stamps, home loans for the poor, rent for the poor, child care and utilities bill assistance to no-cosigner student loans and tax "reimbursements" to those who pay no federal taxes. Billions of dollars are spent for these programs. Let's not forget the $350 billion given to charities and spent on the poor each year - something Obama wants to end, believing, apparently, that the government should be the only charitable entity left standing. Understand that charities give back to the poor more than 3 trillion dollars over a ten year period.
When it is all said and done, approximately 30% of our 3.8 trillion dollar annual expense account (40% of which is borrowed each year) or close to 1.3 trillion is spent each year on our "social network," most of which goes to the bottom 50% of this country. This is in addition to the contributions of our national charities and the billions spent by our hospitals, maintaining emergency care facilities loaded down with the poor.
In summary, the bottom 5o% of this nation pays almost no income tax at all, but, benefits from nearly $2 trillion in "redistributed wealth" each year. Understand, I am not making the case that the plight of the poor is not continuing or real. I admit this: 2 trillion is "given" to the bottom half of the nation and they are still poor. Our society is the most responsible society in the world when it comes to the poor and working poor, period.
In the end, personal advancement, financially and educationally, is the result of personal effort. No one has ever been advanced to the ranks of the elite via social programs and the redistribution of wealth . . . . . no one. In the United States, a family of four making $34,000 a year, finds itself in the top 7% of the world's population, and, the kids on the street want to change that!!!
While greed is the bane of capitalism, fraud/deceit/graft are the tools of the elite in all other economies, whether socialist, communist, or dictatorial.
Can the "rich" do more, in terms of taxation? Certainly. But, like Bill Clinton says, "Not now. Not during a recession." I hasten to add that while taxes can be raised on the rich, the thought that it is for the purpose of lifting the "middle class" to a position of financial equality is not in line with the reality of any of the world's populations. The path to "equality" is personal responsibility as expressed in education, or creativity, or personal initiative. These are the only tools to personal wealth (outside of the occasional inheritance) and nothing can take their place.
Related articles: Forbes and our billionaire population.
Related chart: from a different source. Note the similarities concerning the presentation of numbers and categories.
| Figure 1: Net worth and financial wealth distribution in the |
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