>The share of income taxes paid by the top one-fifth of earners has risen
>since the depths of Reaganomics - a big part of cutting the deficit.
You're leaving out the Bush-era tax increases here.
> The
>top 5 percent of earners now provide more than half of federal income tax
>revenues. The share of the income tax take from the top 1 percent, the
>truly wealthy, has gone from 20 percent in 1983 to 29 percent now.
If you broaden the analysis to include all federal taxes - income, social insurance, corporate, and excise - the take from the top 1% went 16% of the total in 1993 to 20% in 1999.
>Individual income taxes amount to an estimated $982 billion for 2000 (and
>growing every day). Federal revenue from capital gains taxes was
>$42.7 billion in
>1995. It was risen since then, but it is still far less than the rest of
>normally taxed income.
Not in percentage terms. I haven't checked with the CBO in a while, but last year's estimate for 1999 was $82 billion, a doubling from 1995's level. Ordinary incomes haven't doubled. The effective tax rate on CG fell from 20% to 15% or so between 1995 and 1999, too.
>Why progressives want to deny the fact that tax hikes on the wealthy
>worked to cut the deficit and create a surplus is beyond me.
Who is denying that? I said it was a good thing, didn't I? Does anything less than total fealty to Big Bill & the Dems scandalize you?
Doug