How much should the rich pay in taxes?

Looking at 2004 projections from the Congressional Budget Office, the top 1 percent of wage earners pay 32.3 percent of the taxes. The top 5 percent pay 53.7 percent of the taxes. Just think about that, 5 percent of the taxpayers are footing over half of the bill and for some people out there that isn’t enough. Carrying it out we see that the top 10 percent pay two-thirds of the taxes and the top 20 percent pay 82.1 percent of the taxes.

The Department of Treasury also did a study and their numbers come out close to the CBO study. The treasury study also showed the percent of tax revenues paid by the top 50 percent of taxpayers, which is 96.4. Which in turn means that the bottom half of taxpayers pay 3.6 percent of the tax revenues.

Now the Treasury Department did something else in their study and played a “what-if” game.

They looked at numbers and did a statistical analysis and found that if the tax cuts had never be issued then the higher tax brackets would have paid less in taxes. That’s right. Lowering tax rates, according to the report, caused the rich to pay more in taxes.

So, how much should the rich pay in taxes?

Wayne Riddle, Lewiston