A question about the "rich paying their fair share" charge...

[Fern]

I know I did. I was trying to identify in what areas the rich did pay their "fair share". With reference to federal income taxes, they do. With reference to state and local taxes, that does not appear to be the case.

Correction: Sales tax rates tend to be regressive. Is there any way to get data on a total tax burden across all income categories?

Most state/local govts have 3 types of taxes we pay directly:

1. Income tax. You can probably find that. State/local income taxes are progressive like the fed income tax.

2. Sales tax. Any data you find on this is gonna be a guess. Sales taxes are collected at the retailer. State info can only say much how is collected and from which county. They have no way to know who pays what.

3. R/E taxes. Another tough one in terms of getting decent data, anything beyond 'more expensive property pays higher amounts of tax' is likely just a guess.

Fern

 

[ElFenix]

afaik per parcel real estate tax info is available for all counties in texas online.

i'd hate to have to mine that, though. and of course, there's no way to know where in particular any owner falls on the income curve.

 

[theeedude]

The poor renters pay real estate taxes too, indirectly through their landlords. It's priced into rent. So if anything, it's a regressive tax.