Whenever I hear about the overtaxed wealthy, I like to ask about the context in which the data are presented. It's highly probable the relative percentages shifted because of increasing disparities in income growth between the two groups.
If the bottom 50 percent has its income hold steady while the top 5 percent gets a sizeable income bump, the top bracket's overall share of the federal tax pie goes up as a natural result of good times. Likewise, the bottom's share decreases if everything else holds steady. When you talk about these tax percentages in terms of who saw the pay increases and who didn't, they take on a quite different meaning. Dana Bacon Page neighborhood --- Bill Cullen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 2) The tax burden on the top 5% has increased from > 42.57% in 1986 to 56.47% in 2000. > 3) Conversely, the tax burden on the bottom 50% has > dropped from 6.46% in 1986 to 3.91% in 2000. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
