Politicians Who Vilify The Wealthy

Every four years we are bombarded by political ads that blame all of the nation's ills on the wealthy.

You know the routine: "The wealthiest Americans receive all of the tax breaks."

"The wealthiest Americans don't pay taxes while the middle class carries the tax burden of this country on its shoulders."

These statements make for compelling speeches and can certainly incite the faithful to new heights of hysteria, but in actuality, nothing could be further from the truth.

Frankly, I can't understand why this fallacy has become a part of our culture. The breakdown of income taxes paid by Americans is readily available from the U.S. Census and published in the Statistical Abstract of the United States. All one has to do is take a quick look to find out the truth. The latest data I could find was for the tax year 2004, but data is fairly consistent from year to year. In 2004, there were 132 million tax returns filed. Of that total, 109 million returns (83 percent) reported an adjusted gross income of less than $75,000 and 23 million (17 percent) reported income greater than $75,000. Only 2 percent of all taxpayers reported income above $200,000 per year.

The total income tax paid in 2004 was $832 billion. Those earning $75,000 or less paid $182 billion (22 percent) and those earning more than $75,000 paid $650 billion, or 78 percent of all taxes. Further, those earning $200,000 or more paid $389 billion in taxes, which is 47 percent of all taxes paid.

For those of you keeping score that means the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans paid nearly half of all the taxes. And now consider this: The wealthiest 2 percent of Americans pay an average of $322,000 in taxes while the remainder of taxpayers (98 percent of them) pay an average of $3,037. That is a pretty big difference.

Some will still like to argue that the wealthy may pay more in taxes on whole, but pay less as a percentage of their income. Ok, let's take a look at that.

The total income for those who earned $75,000 and less was $2.9 trillion. This group paid a total of $182 billion or an average of 6 percent of their income.

For those who earned more than $75,000, the total income was $3.9 trillion and $650 billion in taxes were paid - an average of 17 percent.

For the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans, the total income was $1.7 trillion and taxes paid were $389 billion, 22 percent.

So, what we have found out is that the wealthiest 2 percent of all Americans pay nearly half of all the income taxes and pay a percentage of their income that is nearly four times what 83 percent of Americans pay.

And, yet, the politicians continue to tell you that Middle America needs a tax break and the wealthiest need to pay more.

Certainly the disposable income of most American cannot be compared to the wealthiest 2 percent. The easiest way to increase that disposable income is to lower the taxes families pay. But, why not tell the truth?

Do politicians think we are incapable of understanding the basic financial makeup of our country?

I think the real truth is that, in every election, the politicians must consolidate support by picking out a common enemy that we can all hate. Everyone rallies around the candidate who will rid the country of those we hate the most and make things right for Middle America. So, they choose to target the wealthy who they allege make all the money and have all the power yet do not pay their fair share of taxes.

As Americans, I think we should rally around a candidate who has the courage to tell the truth and rid the country of politicians who lie to us.