May 7, 2011

Do The Math, Mr. President

By Christopher Chantrill
President Obama is selling his FY12 Budget 2.0 that isn't a budget that emerged from his April 13 speech.  His budget isn't really a budget because he hasn't actually got any numbers to back up his rhetoric.So let's do the numbers for him.  President Obama says that he wants the rich to pay "a little more" in federal income taxes.  According to the IRS, using the latest numbers, for 2008, the total income tax collection was $1,031 billion.  The richest one percent paid $392 billion in federal income tax, and the richest 5 percent paid $606 billion.  Wow.  The richest one percent are paying almost 38 percent of the income tax and the top 5 percent are already paying about 60 percent of all federal income taxes.  Let's show the situation in class warrior terms.The richest one percent paying a mere 38 percent of federal income taxes is a violation of the president's principle of shared sacrifice.  These rich should pay a "little...(Read Full Article)