Taxes punish the rich....

Found this on Larry Kudlow's site:

A recent Bruce Bartlett column reportson class warfare charges by the New York Times. Looking at the latest IRS data for 2003, the top 1% of income taxpayers paid 34.3% of personal receipts at the top marginal tax-rate of 35% (which went into effect in July, I believe), though they earned only 16.8% of adjusted gross income:

Inside the top 1% group, the top one-tenth (top 0.1%) paid 15.3% of income taxes. ' These 129,000 tax filers earned 7.6% of the income and paid an average tax rate of 23.6%. This came to $114.6 billion -- four times more than all the taxes paid by the 64 million taxpayers in the bottom 50%-- who paid an average tax rate of 2.9%. '

Noteworthy is the fact that the top earners paid much less when the top tax-rate was 70% at the beginning of Ronald Reagan's presidency. At the end of the Carter era, the richest paid only 19.7% of taxes, and the very richest paid only 7.6%.

The Times, of course, continues to editorialize that Republican tax policy totally favors the rich.

Yet the facts speak otherwise. Lower marginal tax rates induce changes in economic behavior. These behavioral responses lead to more risktaking, more capital formation and more work. That is what the income tax payment data show. The most successful economic
activists earn more and pay far more in taxes. The ladder of upward mobility is jam packed with non-rich folks who become rich."

Maybe tomorrow I'll write my pro-capitalist rant and clear the air for my readers on how capitalism saved the world and made it safe for democracy