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Comment by nemo44x | Hacker News Reader

Wealthy people pay almost all the taxes. the top 10% pay 71% of taxes and the top 25% pay 87%. 75% of the country contributes nearly nothing but complaints.

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>75% of the country contributes nearly nothing but complaints.

Only if you ignore sales tax, car tax, property taxes, and other such taxes.

The top 10% typically included major corporations but without a source I don't know if the percentage you use does.

Sales tax, property tax, fees, etc are a rounding error essentially and are local. At a Federal level they are meaningless.

Saying that I'd be all for a Federal sales tax of 20% if we could nearly eliminate income taxes.

Why? That puts more of the tax burden on those with the least

No it doesn't. Those with less to spend also spend less.

Contrary to popular belief, the so called utopias like Sweden, tax the poor at almost comparable rates as the rich.

Those who earn less pay less in income tax and we still had to implement a progressive taxation policy because of how much a flat tax percentage hurts those without disposable income compared to the wealthy.

The poor already spend all their money on necessities. If you go to a flat sales tax it will hurt them more than the current progressive regime and favor the wealthy.

You can exclude necessities from sales taxes and alleviate most of the taxes paid by the poor.

A much higher percentage of what poor people buy is necessities compared to their salaries. They have much less choice as to buy or not. If a rich person were to buy at the rate a poor person does, it would be almost completely on frivolity. Sales taxes, imo, are especially targeted at the poor.

You have to include payroll taxes, all taxes. The top few percent have most of the wealth, too. When you include payroll taxes the tax distribution is much more even.

>Wealthy people pay almost all the taxes

#define WEALTHY

> top 25% pay 87%

Wow, this is pretty eye-opening.

Only in regards to income taxes which may include large corporations. It doesn't include all the other taxes that nearly everyone pays.

The 3 Richest Americans Hold More Wealth Than Bottom 50% Of The Country

It is but it isn't surprising. Pareto Principal and all. So naturally, 20% of the people contribute 80% and 80% of the people contribute 20%, or thereabouts.

The bottom 50% contribute nothing and in fact are a net negative contributor when you consider welfare, housing, etc, and other benefits. Of course, this doesn't stop certain scumbag pols like Warren from lying to them that it's the other half that's ripping everyone off.

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