How Google reduces its tax bill by US$3.1Billion

[tater]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

The upper class pays the more and more in taxes not because of any sort of "soak the rich" policy - top marginal tax rates have decreased over the years - but because of the simple fact that their earnings have increased exponentially over the years which everyone else's have languished. To say that the middle class needs to pay more, while the rich get richer and then get tax breaks on top of that - well I give a big middle finger to that policy.

Marginal rates are meaningless. As is the corporate rate. The US corp rate is way higher than other western countries. It's not the rate, it's amount COLLECTED that matters. That's the real tax rate. The "rich" have been paying more for a number of reasons, including crap like the AMT having their COLLECTED rate actually higher. As for their incomes increasing, so what? There is not a finite amount of money, it's not like money they have is taken from someone else.

There is a tax rate on the 2d 20%, too, but guess what, as a group they pay NOTHING.

So look at what is collected, not what the claimed marginal rate is.

As for the middle class paying more, no they don't need to pay more. Government needs to be slashed to a 1950 level % of GDP (then your graph might have some meaning). Heck, maybe a pre-ww2 level of GDP. Cut spending FIRST. Get the patient in hemostasis—why push for more transfusions when no one is putting any pressure on the artery that is squirting?