FACTS ABOUT FAT-CAT FATNESS ARE EMBARRASSING THINGS
From an AP "fact check" of the arguments underlying the president's call for the so-called Buffett tax:
There may be individual millionaires who pay taxes at rates lower than middle-income workers. In 2009, 1,470 households filed tax returns with incomes above $1 million yet paid no federal income tax, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
Excuse me -- if any millionaires paid zero federal income tax, then it's inaccurate to say that there "may be" millionaires with a lower tax rate than typical middle-income workers. There are millionaires with a lower tax rate -- period, full stop. By definition, there are more than a thousand of them -- at least. So avoid the conditional, please. (The AP "fact check" doesn't tell us about millionaires who pay some federal income tax but not very much, though surely there are a number of those as well.)
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There's also this, in the "fact check":
Obama's claim hinges on the fact that, for high-income families and individuals, investment income is often taxed at a lower rate than wages. The top tax rate for dividends and capital gains is 15 percent. The top marginal tax rate for wages is 35 percent, though that is reserved for taxable income above $379,150.
If you read this looking for "the facts," you might conclude that that 15% rate is unfair, but only to somewhat less rich people, those who make more than $379,150. What the "fact check" leaves out is that it's unfair to middle-income people. Here are the current marginal tax rates. Notice how much -- or, rather, how little -- money you can make and still be paying federal income tax (on at least some of it) at a higher rate than hedge-fund fat cats paying 15%:
Single Filing Status
[Tax Rate Schedule X, Internal Revenue Code section 1(c)]
10% on taxable income from $0 to $8,500, plus
15% on taxable income over $8,500 to $34,500, plus
25% on taxable income over $34,500 to $83,600, plus
28% on taxable income over $83,600 to $174,400, plus
33% on taxable income over $174,400 to $379,150, plus
35% on taxable income over $379,150.
Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Widow(er) Filing Status
[Tax Rate Schedule Y-1, Internal Revenue Code section 1(a)]
10% on taxable income from $0 to $17,000, plus
15% on taxable income over $17,000 to $69,000, plus
25% on taxable income over $69,000 to $139,350, plus
28% on taxable income over $139,350 to $212,300, plus
33% on taxable income over $212,300 to $379,150, plus
35% on taxable income over $379,150.
Make $65 grand as a single person and you're paying 25% on nearly half your income, while the hedge-fund guy pays 15% on his $65 million. AP could have told us that, but it's an inconvenient fact.
