Re:The wealthiest 10% of Americans own a record 89% of all U...
by Jtsummers on Monday October 18, 2021 @12:09PM
(#28907071)
For others, lisper is replying to the original version of the GP comment which stated that federal income and payroll taxes were one and the same for the 61% number.
Re:The wealthiest 10% of Americans own a record 89% of all U...
by TameAntelope on Monday October 18, 2021 @12:13PM
(#28907118)
Yep, I was 100% wrong, and felt I should bow out of the conversation as a result. I left in the research that made me discover how incorrect I was, to help guide others.
Re:The wealthiest 10% of Americans own a record 89% of all U...
by lisper on Monday October 18, 2021 @12:16PM
(#28907155)
It is customary in cases like this not to delete the erroneous comment but rather to add an [UPDATE] tag at the end to add a correction. This keeps the original thread of the conversation intact. There is no shame in making mistakes. Everyone does it.
Re:The wealthiest 10% of Americans own a record 89% of all U...
by TameAntelope on Monday October 18, 2021 @05:19PM
(#28911908)
I don't agree for a number of reasons, but mostly that I don't think "custom" alone is a good reason to do literally anything.
But I respect your opinion, and I hope you are able to forgive me.
Re:The wealthiest 10% of Americans own a record 89% of all U...
by skinnymuch on Monday October 18, 2021 @12:20PM
(#28907209)
You should add an update to the 43% comment as well to say that percent is only true for 2020 and 2021. Every other year it is usually below 25%. Including going into the future with their simulation. I find a technically correct statistic that helps the same narrative as the incorrect/wrong stat is possibly even worse.
Like the sibling said. It should be an update or edit. Not a change of the comment entirely.
Hope you can make that change as there are a lot of comments that have replied to you.
Cheers for acknowledging you made a mistake. Like many others. That is sometimes hard for me to admit.
It doesn't make a lot of sense, but the fact of the matter is that the phrase "income tax" as commonly used does not include payroll taxes. "Income tax" refers only to the tax on "taxable income", i.e. your net income after deductions and credits. Payroll tax, by way of contrast, is taken from the very first dollar you make, so the only way you can avoid paying that is if you are unemployed. Saying that "61% of Americans do not contribute to the pool of money that is spent by the federal government as a result of their income" is tantamount to saying that 61% of Americans are unemployed, which is plainly not the case. (BTW, "income" in the sense of "income tax" does include dividends and capital gains, which are not subject to payroll taxes. So it is possible to make millions while unemployed and pay no payroll taxes. That is actually not uncommon. In fact, it's the norm among retired people.)