Everyone pays income tax in America right? That was always the impression I was under so I was astonished when I found out that 47% of Americans will not pay income tax for 2009. In fact a majority of that 47% will actually receive a check from Uncle Sam. It's no wonder why America has such a large national debt. The top 10% of American earners pay 73% of income taxes, it doesn't take much of a economist to recognize how skewed these percentages are. Granted the top 10% do have incomes larger than 10% of the nation's incomes. However, this is America and people should be able to enjoy their right to make money and not bear such a large burden of the Government's Tax Revenues.
These numbers would not seem so unfair if those who didn't pay any income tax just benefited by the fact that none of their income went to the government. But the fact that the government is so far in debt and still handing out checks on April 15th seems a bit superfluous.
According to Deloitte Tax Consultants a family of four making $50,000 a year would end up with a $31 dollar check from the government for their owed income tax for the year. I have never worked anything more than a summer job nor have I tried to raise a family of four so my understanding of incomes might be a bit warped. Do you think that these families should come away from tax day in the green?
I actually had a debate in Business Ethics about this topic and we concluded with some interesting points. For one, have the top 10% of Americans pay so much is ridiculous and defeats some of the key principles of capitalism. Also, that the money taxed from the top tier tax bracket is given to the lower through Uncle Sam checks. I don't agree with the system at all. I know Andrew Hamilton believed, "It is the responsibility of the rich land owners to run this nation." I'm sure he would be happy today.
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