Middle Class Said To Pay Higher Tax Rate Than Heinz Kerry And Kerry

[Desertdog]

Middle Class Said To Pay Higher Tax Rate Than Heinz Kerry And Kerry
http://drudgereport.com/flash2.htm

Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth, writes in the WALL STREET JOURNAL on Monday: "According to the Kerrys' own tax records, and they have not released all of them, the couple had a combined income of $6.8 million in income last year and paid $725,000 in income taxes. That means their effective tax rate was a whopping 12.8%.... "Under the current tax system the middle class pays far more than the Kerry tax rate. In fact, the average federal tax rate -- combined payroll and income tax -- for a middle-class family is closer to 20% or more. George W. and Laura Bush, who had an income one- tenth of the Kerrys', paid a tax rate of 30%. ...

"Here is the man who finds clever ways to reduce his own tax liability while voting for higher taxes on the middle class dozens of times in his Senate career. He even voted against the Bush tax cut that saves each middle-class family about $1,000." The Kerrys "have unwittingly made the case for what George W. Bush says he wants to do: radically simplify and flatten out the tax code. ... So before John Kerry is given the opportunity to raise taxes again on American workers, shouldn't he and Teresa at least pay their fair share?"

 

[fedlaw]

Just another case of Kerry having it both ways. As he reminded us last Friday night, he was also a major beneficiary of Pres. Bush's tax cut.

 

[El Tejon]

Kerry's not a moron; he's not going to voluntarily pay taxes. He's got tax lawyers and CPAs.

Another reason why the Left loves progressive income tax. It hurts the working, not the wealthy.

 

[MikeK]

I'm surprised they (I mean teresa) pay that high a percentage. He needs to get some advice from his running mate.

 

[Daemon688]

Anyone have the article link to the wallstreet journal?

 

[R.H. Lee]

Depends on the sources of their income. Generally, investment income enjoys a more favorable tax rate that earned income, which is also subject to social security and medicare taxes, another 15%. The tax code is nothing short of corrupt. The entire system needs to be gutted and rebuilt.

 

[Standing Wolf]

[SMIRK] Yeah, but he cares so much about the common man. [/SMIRK]

 

[artherd]

I'm no fan of either Bush or Kerry, but anyone who makes any signifigant ammount of money knows this is horsepocky or at least yellow journalism at the least.

Sure they made $6.8mil... that puts them in the roughly 45% tax bracket. Yeah, 45 PERCENT! To pay only $750k somebody is either:

a) 'not getting all the records', as they say. Ooops, there's the other 2mil on page2, so sorry...

b) they're actually making 7mil and losing 5mil, leaving them with 2mil of 'real' income, in which case, 750k is about right.

c) somewhere in the middle, with really good tax attorneys.

Now, we can talk about Kerry pretending to be the 'common man' with all those millions in the bank later

 

[Lone_Gunman]

Wouldn't most of Kerry's income be earned from capital gains investments, which are naturally taxed at a lower rate than earned income?

 

[c_yeager]

paid $725,000

Whatever rate he got charged at he still put more in the pot than most people.

Thats more than i will pay in the next 20 years.

 

[Soap]

I have a CPA for the same reasons they do. We won't hear the end of tax finger-pointing until we have a flat rate.

 

[c_yeager]

It would be more in tune with our capitalist nature to charge a flat fee for citizenship. Why should the amount of our tax payment be based on how much money we make? Because it is "fair"?

How is it fair for Kerry to pay $750,000 per year for the same services that i get for $10,000?

 

[wingman]

I'm always amused when Kerry speaks of taxing the rich, guess who pays
when you tax the rich, where does the rich get there money, yep, from you
and me average working dude.