Rich pay fair share while others pay absolutely nothing

By Richard Leonetti
Oregon Tax News,

Steve Wheeler had it backwards when he wrote a letter to The Oregonian saying “here really is only one issue at stake when it comes to tax fairness:Every dollar that the rich don’t pay in taxes, the rest of us have to pay for them.” The real truth is that the 40% of total taxes paid by the “rich” are needed to replace the taxes not paid by the bottom 40% who pay no taxes at all. Some further data below to illuminate the point:

Percentage of Income Taxes Paid 2008

Brackets______% Total Paid
Top 1%………….38.0%
Top 2-5%……….20.7%
5-50%…………..38.6%
50-60%…………..2.7%
bottom 40%……. zero

Source: Tax Foundation