Econ 101 taught by the King of Minnesota Economics
King Banaian from SCSU Scholars has a couple of very interesting posts up regarding taxes. Given that Professor Banianan is a professor of economics the posts are enlightening indeed.
"The IRS has released its new Statistics of Income Bulletin, and it contains some interesting data on who pays taxes in the country and how much.
Preliminary data for tax year 2005 indicate that taxpayers filed 134.5 million U.S. individual income tax returns, an increase of 1.6 percent from the preliminary estimate of 132.4 million returns filed for tax year 2004. Adjusted gross income (AGI) increased by 8.9 percent from the previous year to $7.4 trillion for 2005 and taxable income increased 9.5 percent to $5.1 trillion. The alternative minimum tax rose 31.6 percent to $15.9 billion, while total income tax increased 11.8 percent to $928.3 billion. We're making more and paying a WHOLE lot more; this explains part of the decline in the budget deficit. And who is paying it?
For tax year 2004, taxpayers filed 132.2 million returns, of which 89.1 million (or 67.4 percent) were classified as taxable returns. This represents an increase of 0.2 percent in the number of taxable returns from tax year 2003. Adjusted gross income (AGI) on these taxable returns rose 9.0 percent to $6,266 billion, while total income tax showed the first increase in 4 years, rising 11.2 percent. Also for the first time in 4 years, the average tax rate for taxable returns rose, increasing 0.3 percentage points to 13.3 percent for 2004. Taxpayers with an AGI of at least $328,049, the top 1 percent of taxpayers, accounted for 19 percent of total AGI, representing an increase in income share of 2.2 percentage points from the previous year. These taxpayers accounted for 36.9 percent of the total income tax reported, an increase from 34.3 percent in 2003." (emphasis added)
One percent of the taxpayers are responsible for 36.9% of the total income tax reported. What was that about the "rich" not paying their fair share?????
What about Minnesota?
"Taxpayers in the top decile (incomes of $102,427 and over) bore 36.8 percent of the total tax burden while having 38.8 percent of total income. By tax type, taxpayers in the top decile paid 52.2 percent of the individual income tax, 28.0 percent of the consumer sales tax, 24.5 percent of the gross residential property tax, and 26.6 percent of business taxes. This is important to understand. The income tax is plenty progressive, but the DFL is proposing returning the top income tax rate to 8.5%. They will argue that this is because the effective tax rate on the top 10% of income is declining. But that's because the sales and property taxes are being shifted as rich individuals are able to move income around to avoid taxation. Those us in the second-to-fourth deciles end up paying more because we have not the same means to shift where we receive our income."
Again...what was that about "fair shares"?????
The other post was complimentary to the above post.
"Who says state government doesn't have enough resources? Not the respondents to the Minnesota Citizen Compass report.
In this survey, 54% percent of Minnesotans stated that the state’s tax burden is too high, 42% believe it is just right and 2% believe the state’s tax burden is too low.Meanwhile, 47% percent of Minnesotans report taxes and fees are growing faster than their income, 36% report their taxes and fees are growing (but not as fast as their income) while 9% reported taxes are going down compared to their income. Of those who reported their tax burden is increasing, 84% identify property taxes as the leading cause of those increases.But you can't do many good things! The answer from the survey is, you don't need to.
79% of Minnesotans believe the State Legislature should determine how much money is available, and then decide what programs to fund, compared to 18% who believe the State Legislature should figure out how much is needed and then tax us appropriately. The intensity of opinion is most strongly felt by those who believe the state should spend what it has, not what it wants.Support for this fiscal approach is consistent among demographic groups. For instance, strong majorities of Democrats (79%), liberals (75%), government employees (73%) and residents of core cities (75%) all supported the position of spending based on the resources available. Even those Minnesotans who believe that health care (84%) and education (73%) are among the two most important issues facing the state agree that the State Legislature should budget based on what they have, not what they want."
The people of Minnesota realize what the DFLers in St Paul refuse to admit. Minnesotans are over-taxed and they are fed up! It is well past time for Governor Pawlenty and the House and Senate Republicans to draw a line in the sand and say "NO" to all the new taxes and all the new spending in the budget and to return a portion of the surplus to the over-taxed citizens!
"The IRS has released its new Statistics of Income Bulletin, and it contains some interesting data on who pays taxes in the country and how much.
Preliminary data for tax year 2005 indicate that taxpayers filed 134.5 million U.S. individual income tax returns, an increase of 1.6 percent from the preliminary estimate of 132.4 million returns filed for tax year 2004. Adjusted gross income (AGI) increased by 8.9 percent from the previous year to $7.4 trillion for 2005 and taxable income increased 9.5 percent to $5.1 trillion. The alternative minimum tax rose 31.6 percent to $15.9 billion, while total income tax increased 11.8 percent to $928.3 billion. We're making more and paying a WHOLE lot more; this explains part of the decline in the budget deficit. And who is paying it?
For tax year 2004, taxpayers filed 132.2 million returns, of which 89.1 million (or 67.4 percent) were classified as taxable returns. This represents an increase of 0.2 percent in the number of taxable returns from tax year 2003. Adjusted gross income (AGI) on these taxable returns rose 9.0 percent to $6,266 billion, while total income tax showed the first increase in 4 years, rising 11.2 percent. Also for the first time in 4 years, the average tax rate for taxable returns rose, increasing 0.3 percentage points to 13.3 percent for 2004. Taxpayers with an AGI of at least $328,049, the top 1 percent of taxpayers, accounted for 19 percent of total AGI, representing an increase in income share of 2.2 percentage points from the previous year. These taxpayers accounted for 36.9 percent of the total income tax reported, an increase from 34.3 percent in 2003." (emphasis added)
One percent of the taxpayers are responsible for 36.9% of the total income tax reported. What was that about the "rich" not paying their fair share?????
What about Minnesota?
"Taxpayers in the top decile (incomes of $102,427 and over) bore 36.8 percent of the total tax burden while having 38.8 percent of total income. By tax type, taxpayers in the top decile paid 52.2 percent of the individual income tax, 28.0 percent of the consumer sales tax, 24.5 percent of the gross residential property tax, and 26.6 percent of business taxes. This is important to understand. The income tax is plenty progressive, but the DFL is proposing returning the top income tax rate to 8.5%. They will argue that this is because the effective tax rate on the top 10% of income is declining. But that's because the sales and property taxes are being shifted as rich individuals are able to move income around to avoid taxation. Those us in the second-to-fourth deciles end up paying more because we have not the same means to shift where we receive our income."
Again...what was that about "fair shares"?????
The other post was complimentary to the above post.
"Who says state government doesn't have enough resources? Not the respondents to the Minnesota Citizen Compass report.
In this survey, 54% percent of Minnesotans stated that the state’s tax burden is too high, 42% believe it is just right and 2% believe the state’s tax burden is too low.Meanwhile, 47% percent of Minnesotans report taxes and fees are growing faster than their income, 36% report their taxes and fees are growing (but not as fast as their income) while 9% reported taxes are going down compared to their income. Of those who reported their tax burden is increasing, 84% identify property taxes as the leading cause of those increases.But you can't do many good things! The answer from the survey is, you don't need to.
79% of Minnesotans believe the State Legislature should determine how much money is available, and then decide what programs to fund, compared to 18% who believe the State Legislature should figure out how much is needed and then tax us appropriately. The intensity of opinion is most strongly felt by those who believe the state should spend what it has, not what it wants.Support for this fiscal approach is consistent among demographic groups. For instance, strong majorities of Democrats (79%), liberals (75%), government employees (73%) and residents of core cities (75%) all supported the position of spending based on the resources available. Even those Minnesotans who believe that health care (84%) and education (73%) are among the two most important issues facing the state agree that the State Legislature should budget based on what they have, not what they want."
The people of Minnesota realize what the DFLers in St Paul refuse to admit. Minnesotans are over-taxed and they are fed up! It is well past time for Governor Pawlenty and the House and Senate Republicans to draw a line in the sand and say "NO" to all the new taxes and all the new spending in the budget and to return a portion of the surplus to the over-taxed citizens!
Labels: Governor Pawlenty, MN Legislature
posted by The Lady Logician at
7:57 PM
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