Why Do Americans Pay More Taxes

In the United States, the top one percent received about 20 percent of the overall income for 2016. This creates an uneven distribution of income causing Americans to argue about whether or not the wealthy should pay more in federal income taxes. One side of the argument is that the wealthy make a huge portion of the nation’s income; therefore, they should have higher tax rates. The other side argues that wealthy Americans already pay their fair share of taxes by paying nearly 40 percent and should not be forced to pay more. These arguments both use compelling evidence to make their claims; however, a solution could be reached by increasing the tax rate of the top one percent by only 10 to 20 percent.

"The most perennially political issues in the United States is the question of how much Americans should be taxed. Indeed, discounted over taxes was one of the major motivating factors in the revolution that established the United States as an independent nation"("Extending Tax Cuts", 1). Since taxes are one of the biggest topics in politics, there is always going to be two sides of the subject, and Taxes will always strike controversy in our country. The topic of having the rich pay more in tax has a deep history to consider, and there will always be both supporters and critics who continue to debate this topic.

The use of flat (proportional) tax rate seems like a fairer option in my opinion. The reason why I think this is because we talked in class that the more money you make the higher your tax bracket is requiring the rich to pay more and the poor to pay less in comparison. This is causing companies to go overseas rather than staying in America which in effect could cause less jobs in America in general. Secondly, I feel that it would make a simple system and allow everyone to know exactly how much their going to pay for taxes.

Before delving into the topic at hand, a look at the current and projected tax system will help understand the predicament of taxing the upper class. According to Bardes, Schmidt, and Shelley, in the textbook American Government and Politics Today: Brief Edition, Americans pay a variety of federal, state, and local taxes, which are all assessed on most sources of income, sales and land. Bardes et al, made their agenda clear by pointing out that “the wealthy receive a much greater share of their income from these sources (capital gains, rents, royalties, interests, dividends, or profits from business), than others do (315).” But what is considered wealthy? In the article, Who gets to be “Rich”, Jordan Weissmann reported that a household income of around $113,000 lands one at the top 10% of income earners, while $394,000 makes one a

Why shouldn’t the wealthiest of Americans pay a higher percentage of their income for taxes? Certainly, things would get better if the wealthy paid more taxes. This philosophy is why welfare continues to exist today. People worry more about what is right for the other person without looking at themselves and taking responsibility. It is overrun with individuals who prefer to be on welfare than to work hard and contribute to society. This doesn’t mean welfare is not needed, but that it should not be a career. It offers no permanent solution, but only prevents a real solution from being realized. So why should the wealthy pay a higher percentage of taxes just because they can afford it? They work hard, so shouldn’t they be allowed to keep what they earn? This is not an example of scrooge-like behavior, but that hard work should have its rewards. The way to a better life should start with hard work and the desire for independence from government support. This would help people regain personal pride and become productive members of society, rather than a drain on its resources. It is not a crime for the wealthiest to earn high incomes. Shouldn’t hard work pay off? Why be penalized by paying a higher percentage of your income when you worked hard to make that income? Simpler solutions are required.

The rich should not be taxed more. Increasing tax rates for the upper class will not solve the present inequality problem. The wealthy americans should be expected the same amount of taxes as the poor for equality. Those who earn more shouldn't help the less fortunate because they worked harder for the money they earn.

Back in the 1950’s and 60’s, when the American Dream was alive and well, a middle class, working family could afford a house, a vehicle, and send their children to college on a single income. Sadly, today, for the majority of Americans, the American Dream, is just a dream. It is an unattainable fantasy that is out of reach for the average American family. The old phrase of pulling up your boot straps and get to work can no longer harvest an income that can support oneself and by no means a family. This was all caused by lobbying of the elite one percent by paying politicians for tax breaks. For America to once again have a thriving middle class, we must revert back to the 90 percent marginal tax of the mid-20th century because tax cuts for the one top percent hinders economic growth, tax breaks causes public education along with higher education to suffer, and tax cuts and breaks also cut many government aids that many Americans rely upon.

Another reason that the wealthy should pay more taxes is because they owe it to society to do so. Every person wouldn’t be where they are today without the people who helped raise them and the society they were raised in. In “The Great Gatsby”, Nick Carraway is disgusted with Tom and Daisy, “Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (Fitzgerald 179). Nick is repelled by how Tom and Daisy, with all of their money, would do nothing to help the society or other people. Successful people are largely successful due to the society and conditions that they were raised in. Without the better conditions that they were luckily born into, it is logical to question just how successful someone in the top one or ten percent could have been. In a recent commencement speech last summer at Princeton, author Michael Lewis stated “Recognize that if you have had success, you also have had luck—and with luck comes obligation. You owe a debt, and not just to your Gods. You owe a debt to the unlucky”. In a

If the United States are going to tax people, then they should tax everyone fairly. Corporate welfare can be as close to those, who shouldn't receive food stamps, or people like panhandlers, who pay no taxes for the money they receive. According to Citizens for Tax Justice, “American Fortune 500 corporations are avoiding up to $600 billion in U.S. federal income taxes by holding more than $2.1 trillion” of retained profits offshore, which they identify as “permanently reinvested” to stay away from a tax liability. Millionaires and Billionaires as well regularly pay less in taxes than a middle class American. Huffington Post states that millionaires and billionaires benefit from tax loopholes, deductions, deferrals and other types of accounts. This show’s corruptness and unfairness because the 1 percent continues to profit while the 99 percent pay most of all the taxes. The 99 percent of the people struggle to pay the bills while the 1 percent worries about what sports car they will buy next. In addition, when Wall Street fails, the taxpayers have to pay for their damages. For example, Millions of taxpayers lost their jobs due to the 2008-2009 Wall Street collapse, yet they are unwilling to pay additional taxes to pay for education and healthcare for the people who bailed them out. The United States should eliminate corporate welfare until they agree

There is no doubt that wealth inequality in America has been escalating quickly; the portion of total income earned by the top one percent has doubled since the beginning of the 1970’s. The wealthy are the main beneficiaries

Generally, the income earners pay less income tax and more payroll taxes while the high-end income earners pay more income tax and less payroll taxes. The low income earners however get credit benefits as the government pays for their payroll taxes. Therefore, the high income racket still suffers the burden of individual taxes. In 2014, the bottom 20% had an effective tax rate of -4.5% while the top 1% faced an average of 24.6% a margin of 29% creates a very huge economical gap between the rich and the poor. This only ends up hurting the economy more. As a result, I believe the highest effective tax that should be applied to the top 1% should not be more than 20%. If it goes beyond 20%, they shall start demanding for tax cuts and further design ways to evade the tax payments.

What do you think would happen if the rich paid more taxes? Would there be a better economy or would it be worst, maybe even stay the same. Increasing the taxes would help out our economy in a few ways. one way that it would help out our economy is that not only would there be less of a concentration of profit at the top of our social ladder there would be more revenue for the funding of civil union jobs. Also not to mention causing the bigger corporations to have to pay more so they would be unable to escape with the majority of the illegal activity they do today. Lastly if the government were to crack down on offshoring it would help with collecting taxes and the money would return to the people and back into circulation for our economy. Here are some reasons why the rich should pay higher taxes.

Many people think we should. For instance, the New York Times author Patricia Cohen argues in her article, “What Could Raising Taxes on the 1% Do? Surprising Amounts”, that raising taxes on the top percent of Americans would bring in much more revenue to the government and cause little to no damage on the economy (Cohen par. 18). Furthermore, she explains that if we increase the tax rate to 40% in the top 0.1% of households, which have an average income of $9.4 million, then that would give around $55 billion in extra revenue the first year alone (Cohen par. 12). This is a great amount of revenue that could pay for a wide variety of government programs such as economic stimulus packages.

Almost every American adults in the United States of America has to fill out a tax return to see if those still owe the government some money, or if those will get some back from the government. A recurring thought in the mind of many of these adults is,” How can my taxes be this high”. The middle class is supposed to be living comfortably and not have to live their lives worrying about money. But, in today’s United States the middle class has to worry about money every single day. The upper class is almost being penalized for earning too much money based on the percentages that they have to hand over to the government. The businesses that once were able to create jobs are now having to cut jobs because of the astronomical percentages

When it comes to income taxes, the focus is usually on jobs, personal investments, and savings. The debate on who should bear the greater burden when it comes to income taxes is timeless. If all types of tax are aimed at developing the economy, it should be everyone’s equal responsibility to engage in taxation regardless of one’s economic class. Both parties involved proclaim the legitimacy of their arguments. The articles under discussion are representative of this debate. On one side of the debate, there are those who feel that the rich should pay more taxes. Then there are those who feel that the rich should not be punished by shouldering the burden of taxation (Benson and White 1). From an economic theorist’s point of view, both articles articulate valid arguments. However, this does not nullify the significance of the prevailing economic situation. The above debate can be based on various economic contexts.