I keep reading reports about how states, especially red states, keep cutting basic services because of budget shortfalls. That would not be necessary if states would just tax its citizens fairly, instead of giving preferential treatment to the super rich.
Roads are crumbling, bridges require repairs, schools need upgrades and public pension systems remain underfunded. How can states and cities find the money to address any of these problems? One way could be through their tax codes.
According to a new report, if the rich paid the same state and local tax rate as the middle class, states and cities would have hundreds of billions of dollars more a year in public revenue.
Last month, the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that the poorest 20 percent of households pay on average more than twice the effective state and local tax rate (10.9 percent) as the richest 1 percent of taxpayers (5.4 percent).
That preceded the new report from the left-leaning groups Good Jobs First and the Keystone Research Center which finds that if tax laws were changed to compel the highest income earners to pay the same rate as everyone else, states and localities would rake in up to $128 billion a year in new revenue. If just the top 1 percent of earners were compelled to pay the typical middle-class tax rate, the report says the change would raise more than $68 billion in new annual revenues… [emphasis added]
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Think of the good those $billions could do.
Oregon is better than most states in that regard, but we don’t go far enough. Even though I’m just above the poverty line, I still fall in the top tax bracket of over 10%. It’s only fair that the rich should pay a higher percentage than the rest of us, because states spend more to satisfy their wants than to meet our needs.
14 Responses to “Lets Be Fair with State Taxes!”
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CA under Brown undid Arnie's corporate giveaway and moved the direction you speak of TC where our income tax rates start at 1% and the top rate is 13.3%, which begins at $1 million:
http://www.tax-rates.org/California/income-tax
Tax Bracket (Single) [2]
Tax Bracket (Couple) [3]
Marginal Tax Rate
$0+
$0+
1.00%
$7,582+
$15,174+
2.00%
$17,976+
$35,952+
4.00%
$28,371+
$46,346+
6.00%
$39,384+
$57,359+
8.00%
$49,774+
$67,751+
9.30%
$254,250+
$345,780+
10.30%
$305,100+
$414,936+
11.30%
$508,500+
$691,560+
12.30%
$1,000,000+
$1,000,000+
13.30%
tried to insert spacing to align with column headers for easier reading, but they disappeared when posted–sorry folks!
I think the only way to do it is to paste it into a spreadsheet and then copy and paste the range into the comment.
If the 1%ers had to pay an equal tax rate, we would have enough to redo am the bridges and roads, care for the elderly, schools up to code and other stuff that REALLY needs fixed, along with the jobs it would create!
Bingo!!
Exactly Vivian B, Perhaps eliminating the Cap on social security contributions → For 2014, the maximum amount of taxable earnings was $117,000. In 2015, the maximum amount of taxable earnings is $118,500. The maximum earnings for each year since Social Security taxes were first collected in 1937 are shown below.
Perhaps I shouldn't express myself on this because when my state gives full weight to Social Secutiy, I end up with a negative income for tax purposes. But, darn it, so should everyone below and many barely above the poverty line. And I still see billboards when I drive through the state suggesting elimiinating the IRS completely and funding the Feds exclusively through sales tax. "Keep your whole paycheck." How can people be so stupid? (Not to mention all those people thrown out of work.)
Oregon counts half my social secirity as income. There's a sucker born every minute.
The Feds don't count any of mine, so it isn't included in the Adjusted Gross Income. Colorado starts with the Adjusted Gross Income, and subtracts Social Security from it, and gets a negative number. Crazy.
Kentucky does not tax pensions or Social Security, so we have paid no state tax for three years. However, we end up paying Federal taxes every year even though we have taxes taken out of our checks and also pay quarterly. My mother does, too. Social Security was not taxed until Reagan decided it was a good idea. The coal companies get huge tax breaks in Ky, though.
Sorry I missed you last night. Internet Explorer decided not to work, didn't have internet until 5pm today. We ended up with a total of twenty inches of snow, and had a negative 17 degrees yesterday morning. This is very unusual weather for our area.
Thast's funny. I never oew Federal taxes.
The British Columbia government just presented a budget that they say is balanced. Oh, and don't you know that they are removing a tax surplus on the wealthiest 2%. That means that the budget is balanced on the backs of the poor and working class.
It seems that the same problems are everywhere . . . cut services to reduce expenditures, increase fees which unfairly target the poor and working class, tax cuts to the wealthiest. Come the revolution . . .
That's Harperbuggery!
Actually, that's Clarkbuggery as it is a provincial budget. Harper was supposed to bring down a federal budget earlier this month but hasn't because of the sliding oil price and the uncertainty of the market. With this year being an election year, Harper will want a rosey budget to boost his lies. A few years ago as you may remember, he prorogued Parliament at the time of the winter Olympics. Very convenient excuse as it was a way for Harper to avoid ongoing investigations into the Afghan detainees affair, but he was also supposed to bring down a budget. That's Harperbuggery!
For us, provincial and federal taxes are calculated on the same form and processed by Revenue Canada.