Who Pays Taxes?

I took some time yesterday, before the debate, to read the article in the Missoulain about Monica Lindeen's stance on taxes. She's been completely off the radar screen and overshadowed by Jon Tester and I have not paid any attention to her. But I wanted to find out a little about her.

Like a good Liberal she attacked the rich and brought out the tired old class warfare argument. But what struck me the most in the article was her complete ignorance to who really pays the taxes in America.

I quote from the article:
Lindeen also said it is wrong that the wealthy - those who benefit most from American capitalism - are not asked to pay for wars to defend this nation.

Sadly, I think she honestly believes this as do her like minded Liberal supporters.

I am going to attempt to set the record straight here by using actual facts from the IRS. This is from the latest data released in Oct 2005 for the calendar year 2003.

• The top 1% of wage earners pay 34.27% of all income taxes.
• The top 10% of wage earners pay 65.8% of all income taxes.
• The top 25% of wage earners pay 83.88% of all income taxes
• The top 50% of wage earners pay 96.5% of all income taxes.
• The bottom 50% of wage earners pay 3.5% of all income taxes.

Note: The share of total income taxes paid by the top 1% of wage earners rose to 34.27% from 33.71% in 2002. Their income share (not just wages) rose from 16.12% to 16.77%. However, their average tax rate actually dropped from 27.25% down to 24.31%.

So, who actually pays the taxes that keep this country running?

Who pays the taxes to pay for the war?

Who gets the benefit when there is a tax cut? Those that actually pay taxes!

Come on Monica, learn the facts.