Perhaps you saw John Stossel's show last week on "Lies, Myths and Downright Stupidity." Here's one of his many
interesting findings:
Myth No. 5 — The Rich Don't Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes
We've all heard this one during the presidential campaign. When it comes to income taxes, the Democratic presidential candidates keep telling us, the rich don't pay enough.
That's a widespread belief, but do the politicians even know how much of the income tax burden the rich pay now?
According to presidential candidate Al Sharpton, "The top one percent in this country pays very much less than ten percent, very much less than five percent."
Sharpton said he thinks the wealthy should pay "somewhere around 15 percent."
But that's so silly because — and I bet most of you don't know this — the IRS says the richest 1 percent of taxpayers already pay 34 percent of all income taxes. Twice what Sharpton wanted them to pay.
Still you may feel the rich should pay even more. It's a tempting thought, since they have so much.
But let's remember the facts: the top 1 percent of Americans — those who earn more than about $300,000 a year — pay 34 percent, more than a third of all income taxes, and the top 5 percent, those making over $125,000, pay more than half.
