November 25th, 2009 :: Permalink

Aloha ~
For some time I have been pleading with both readers and bloggers here to revisit our current tax policies. Warren Buffett, world's 2nd richest man and leading American entrepreneur, testified he paid 16.5% federal tax on his billions while middle class workers at his company paid 25%.

He added recently, "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war and we're winning."

See Class Warfare in America

A study released by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy adds to Buffett's remarks. Their research found "nearly every state and local tax system takes a much greater share of income from middle- and low-income families than from the wealthy."

America's TOP ONE percent now pay 6.4% of their income in state and local taxes on average. They actually pay less - since they can deduct their state and local taxes from their federal tax bill. State and local tax burden on America's rich, after taking this offset into account, drops to 5.2%.

Middle-income families pay 9.4% of their income in total state and local taxes after the federal offset.

Our poorest families pay even more. Tax collectors take 10.9% from our nation's bottom 20 percent, more than double the share they take from the nation's TOP ONE percent.

We're fighting two wars; we're battling the nastiest recession since the Great Depression; we added over FIVE trillion dollars to our national debt during eight years of the Bush administration.

We cannot afford to educate our Keiki. State services are in chaos. You and your family are collapsing yet we refuse to stand up to the ridiculous claims that lower taxes on our MOST RICH will allow our nation and people to prosper.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and spend some valuable time with family and friends. I also pray we return after the break to do what is needed to put all of us back on track.

source: what-ever-happened-good-times-tax-cutters-promised

A*L*O*H*A