Economist Veronique de Rugy continues to fight the media-driven ignorance on taxes and who pays them.
In 2009, millionaires made up 0.1 percent, or just fewer than 240,000, of the 140 million tax returns filed that year. Despite their small demographic imprint, the magnitude of their contribution in paid taxes is hard to overlook. Over the past ten years, millionaires have paid 17 to 28 percent of total income tax returns per year.
Also note that, under evil George W. Bush and his “tax cuts for the rich,” the share of the income tax bill went UP—not down—by about 60%.
Add all the other facts about the people earning 20% of the income but paying 30% of the income tax bill, and I ask you again: How much more do they have to pay before you’ll call it “fair?” If they pay double their share—40%—would that be “fair?” Triple? 60%?
The LAST thing angry extremists like Elizabeth Warren want is “fairness.” They want “equal outcomes” for the hard-working and the lazy; for the smart and the dumb; for the risk-taker and the coward. Everybody gets to share the wealth.
What could be less “fair” than that?
"The truth is something [Warren] probably prefers not to confront. Harvard doesn’t come calling just because you’re a smart lawyer and a terrific teacher — not with Warren’s modest, Oklahoma upbringing and non-Ivy League education. She is not your typical Harvard professor. At a certain point, when the law school was under pressure to promote diversity, she represented a three-fer: a great lawyer with a national profile, a woman, and a minority, at least by virtue of family lore. "
-- Joan Vennochi
