SO the argument for the current progressive taxation system is that "everyone pays what their fair share." Someone who makes $350,000 can afford to pay 35% of their income and someone who makes $25,000 pays 18% of their income to the federal government. But I do not see how this is fair at all. Actually, I cant even make myself rationalize it. If someone makes 350,000 and has to pay 35% of their income, they would be paying $122,500 in federal income tax. The federal income tax on someone who makes $25,000 is $4,500. Not only is the person paying 27 times more money, he is getting charged a higher % rate. And these people both have equal say in the government whether it be from voting or participation. This is the first problem. (1) People are getting taxed differently with the same amount of government representation. Lets get real. There are classes in the United States that will always be there as long as we have a capitalistic economy. There is the labor class, the management class, the governing class, etc.... the list goes on and on. And in my opinion, the theme in this country is equality and freedom. The freedom to make your own decisions in you life, to pursue happiness, and to have an opportunity to do so without fear or hindrance. This tax system hinders small business growth and is a redistribution technique. It stunts the growth of the economy because it is targeting the people who can make it grow. Here is an example, a small business sells wood furniture. There is an owner, three sales men, and 15 craftsmen who make the furniture. This would qualify as a small business. You pay all 18 of your employees 40,000.The business makes a gross income of $3,000,000. First you take the federal business tax est at 20%(-600,000). Then you pay your employees (-$600,000). Then you pay payroll taxes, the employer must match FICA taxes for each employee (social security- 6.2% (-$446,400), medicare-1.45%(-$10,440), unemployment- 6% of the first $7,000 paid(-$63,500), total business taxes = $520,340.(2) This is another major problem with this tax system. WHY would a company want to hire more people when they have to match the taxes of the people they hire? This literally MAKES companies use the least amount of employees as possible. Now we are done with business taxes. The furniture business now has 1,279,660. Now because we are smart, we invest half of that back into the business for supplies, transportation, communication, marketing, etc. This leaves the owner with 639,830. You would think he is doing pretty well. But now lets move on to personal taxes.Because he made so much he is in the top tax bracket at 39.9% (-$255,292.17). State income tax at 7.8% (in MN) (-$49,906.74). The FICA tax (social security -$39,669.46, medicare -$9,227.53, unemployment -$3,500, total -$52,396). The business entity must match his FICA(-$52,396). This is double taxation. So the business owner is left with $282,234. That is 55.89% of the business owners income that is taken from taxes. Does anyone else think that is ridiculous? Why would a small business owner want to expand or invest any money when over half of it will be taken away. This is not a top executive in a corporate office who does not have to pay any taxes to worry about anything but himself. This is the average business owner trying to run a successful business and improve the lives of his employees and his community. The argument is well he's making 280,000 while his employees are making 35,000. This is a fair argument but a business owner has much more responsibility, investment, and risk associated with the business than the employees do. If the business fails, the employees can find another job without loosing anything but the time not working. If a business fails, the owner has lost everything he has invested. Like I said before, as long as there is a capitalistic society there will always be economic classes. (3)The last problem I want to point out is that this tax system goes against our fundamental constitutional right of equality. Making someone pay 55% of their income compared to 15% is fundamentally unequal treatment of humans. There is no representative benefit in the government for the person that is paying a higher percentage. Every person has an equal input in the governmental process, unless elected. So why should the financial input be different.This current system has been voted in by the representatives of the majority of people. Statistically, this unequal taxation will never be voted out of Law because the Majority ( the people benefiting from this tax system) are suppressing the Minority (the people who are hurting from this system). 90% of people are taxed under 25%. Just because 90% think its right doesn't make it equal. I only have a basic understanding of accounting but I am willing to learn because this system does not make sense to me and is a violation of the equal protection clause in the 14th amendment. There are so many other taxation systems that treat people Equal that would work.
This is a common misunderstanding of progressive taxation. In a tax bracket system income is divided into tranches that are taxed separately & at a progressively higher rate. The marginal tax rate is the tax rate paid on the last dollar of one's income. For example, assume there are three brackets. 1st - %10 - income 0 - $30 000 2nd - %50 - income $30 000 - $100 000 3rd - %90 - income $100 000 & up A person making $350 000 would pay %10 on the first $30 000, %50 on the next $70 000 & %90 on the top $250 000. A marginal tax rate of %35 doesn't mean that all one's income is taxed at %35, only the top bracket is.
Thank you for clarifying my taxation misunderstanding, I do appreciate it. Even though my math is wrong, my point is about business incentives and the constitutional problem of taxing a group of people more than others because they make more money. This system is creating an unequal burden on people. The minority, even though they make lots and lots of money, will never be able to change this system through the law because the Majority think its right. The same reason why abortion, and civil rights changes had to be done through the judicial system, because the majority believes something that the constitution doesn't allow.
