WHO ARE THOSE DIRTBAGS NOT PAYING FEDERAL TAXES?

I’m really getting tired of the GOP storyline about 50% of Americans paying no Federal Income taxes. The unspoken, but clear message, is that 50% of Americans are lazy good for nothings riding the coattails of the hard working people who pay Federal Income taxes. The MSM and the ruling establishment want to distract the masses from the real culprits in destroying this country – Wall Street, K Street, and Mega-Corporations – by using propaganda to convince the middle class to focus their wrath on the poor. This 50% storyline has been pounded home day after day by the folks at Fox News and other MSM outlets. You hear it at the GOP debates as the ignorant candidates speak of the unemployed and people on food stamps as if they are lepers. 

The beauty of successful propaganda is having a smattering of truth mixed in with a large portion of exaggeration, misinformation and ignorance of a few facts. I happen to be related to one of these low life 50%ers living high on the hog off real working Americans. It’s my widowed mother.

I know she pays no Federal income taxes because I do her tax return. This leech on society doesn’t even pay state income taxes. She rakes in $15,000 per year in Social Security income and makes due with what remains of my Dad’s IRA. Her effective tax rate is zero. The GOP candidates declare that she should pay her fair share. Why should she live off the hard work of real Americans? That is the mantra being shoved down our throats day in and day out.

Well let’s dig a little deeper and maybe find some truth. Let’s try to figure out her EFFECTIVE OVERALL TAX RATE.

My mother still lives in the 900 square foot row home that her and my Dad bought in 1957 for $10,000. Even though they never used the public school system, they have paid real estate taxes for decades. In fact, the annual real estate taxes for her huge estate are $3,600. She also drives a car. The total state and Federal taxes on gasoline comes to 51 cents per gallon. She also uses electricity, phone service and natural gas in her house. Those bills contain approximately 5% taxes from various localities. In addition, she buys stuff to live. PA has a 6% sales tax on stuff you buy in the state.

So lets see what the effective overall tax rate of this “deadbeat” is.

Annual Income                            $15,000

Real Estate Taxes                         $3,600           24%

Gasoline Taxes                               $150                1%

Utility Taxes                                      $150                1%

Sales Taxes                                      $450               3%

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that comes to an effective overall tax rate of 29%. In addition, she hadn’t gotten any increases in her Social Security income for two years because the government said their was no inflation. But her Medicare premiums went up 5% per year. As you can see, the GOP candidates really are focusing on the right problem. Deadbeats like my mom are making out like bandits.

Now let’s look at a theoretical deadbeat based on the median salary of people in the U.S. The median worker salary in the U.S. is $25,000 per year. That means that 50% of Americans make less than $25,000 per year.

Let’s assume we have a married couple in my mom’s neighborhood living in a similar row home. The husband works in Philadelphia and makes $25,000, while the wife works part time because they have one child and brings in $10,000. With the deductions for mortgage, real estate taxes and kid, they would owe zero Federal Income taxes. These are the people scorned and ridiculed by the GOP establishment as worthless pieces of shit. Let’s assess their OVERALL TAX RATE:

 

Annual Income                            $35,000

State income taxes                       $1,050           3%

Phila & Local taxes                       $1,100           3.1%

Payroll taxes                                   $2,000           5.7%

Real Estate Taxes                         $3,600          10.3%

Gasoline Taxes                               $500            1.4%

Utility Taxes                                      $200               0.6%

Sales Taxes                                    $1,000             2.9%

If my math is correct that comes to a 27% overall effective tax rate for these free loaders.

So these are a couple examples of the dirtbags that are being used by the powers that be to try and convince you that the super rich in this country aren’t really pillaging the national wealth through their complete capture of the economic, financial and governmental apparatus in this country. Mitt Romney made $20 million last year and his effective Federal tax rate was 14%. I don’t know what his overall effective tax rate was, but I will bet you $10,000 it was lower than my mother’s 29% rate. He has 40 tax specialists working to insure he pays as little as possible under the law – which was written by people like him for people like him.

The next time I go to my mom’s estate, I’ll tell her to vote for Romney or Gingrich because people like her need to pay their fair share. That’s what’s wrong with this country.