irs
lotta people seem to be seriously opposed to president obama's proposed buffett tax. and by "people" i mean news organizations. honest to goodness people are all for the idea of taxing someone else. preferably someone else with money. lots of money. like to rival the hoards of dragons. anywho, irs publications are cited to show that the rich are indeed paying their fair share. okay. there are a couple of problems using numbers from the irs. first, the irs publishes income tax. and yeah, income tax is the biggest tax that most people pay. it's not the only tax. warren buffett's famous 17% number includes social security, medicare, medicaid, and the payroll taxes paid by his employer. they total some 13%. they used to be 15%. but president obama got you a tax cut. so if you want to estimate real tax rates for the lower four quintiles you need to add 13%. funny thing happens with the top quintile. the effective tax rate for these bonus taxes goes down. i'd be very surprised if for warren buffett they are even 1% of his 17%. so remember to add that 13% of hidden taxes the rich don't pay the next time someone offers "proof" the rich are paying their fair share.