In a May 2 letter, “Pay up,” a reader writes he is tired of fact-free letters to the Review-Journal about billionaires not paying their “fair share.” He thinks “it’s time for the bottom 50 percent of earners to pay their fair share. He provides missing “factual” data, starting with “1 percent of earners paid 40 percent of all federal income taxes.”
Yet he also never defines “fair share” because his “facts” are not relevant. Instead, they reflect the continuum of taxpayers grouped by the amount of taxes they pay. People in each of the categories he mentions are paying their fair share based on tax rates.
Taxes are a function of income. The average taxable income of the bottom 50 percent of earners (based on 2020 IRS data) was $16,204. This includes joint filers and single filers. The current poverty level for single persons is $15,650, growing roughly $5,500 per additional family member.
“Pay up” focuses only on income taxes (47 percent of U.S. revenues). He excludes state, property and sales taxes. Nor mentioning that Social Security and Medicare taxes (38 percent of revenues) are paid by everyone, equally, up to $184,000 in gross income. Everyone pays additional taxes of 8.55 percent of income and they, or their employer, pay an additional 7.65 percent. You could say it is stacked against the average citizen.
I would like to understand where the bottom half of taxpayers can come up with additional tax money. They are already at poverty levels. Yes, more facts should be cited in letters. However, they also need to support the writer’s position.
