Something seems to be mistakenly, if not conveniently, missed in Tiffees logic. The poor paying more? I dont think so.
The
following are pretty close estimates of the bottom of the 20 percent
bottoms and the bottom of the top 1 percents respective annual gross
income levels, those being $25,000 for the poor and $250,000 for the
rich. Multiply 10.3 percent by $25,000 and you have the poor paying
$2,575 in taxes. Multiply 4.6 percent by $250,000 and you have the
rich paying $11,500 in taxes. Huh? The rich guy is paying four and a
half times more in greenbacks than the poor guy. And Tiffee has the poor
paying more? And the rich guy and the poor guy get exactly the same
benefit from governmentally provided products and services.
I
dont think the rich guy would agree with Tiffees assessment of the
poor paying more. Last time I checked, $11,500 amounted to a heck of a
lot more than $2,575. I believe the rich guy might want to trade tax
liabilities with the poor guy, dont you?
Using his
logic, one could vainly attempt to make the case that the poor guy and
the rich guy were both looking to buy the same lower-income rental
property but the poor guy could settle for paying $40,000 for the
property while the rich guy would be required to pay $180,000 for it
because he either had been fortunate or even worked quite a bit longer,
harder and smarter to arrive at his respective income level. Is that the
way American property owners and realtors do business when selling
property? I dont think so.
But then again, in Tiffees
economy, $2,575 is more than $11,500. So, maybe he might be able to
pull it off anyway, contingent upon the rich guy not being very good at
math.
Brad Duncan, Edmond