From a post on Reddit: I'm a member of the 1% and I'm voting for Bernie Sanders. Here's why

[LiberalArkie]

Last edited Thu Jul 16, 2015, 08:26 AM - Edit history (2)

http://imgur.com/gallery/v5hWg

I'm a white male in my 30s. I grew up in a fairly poor family, didn't inherit anything from anybody. Spent the better part of a decade in the Military and then left and started my own consulting firm which has become quite successful and has earned me membership in the 1% by pretty much any definition of the phrase. My lowest paid employee (early 20s, only 2 years out of college) makes just over 100k/year right now even though I could definitely pay him less (I bill him out at a rate that supports his cost to me plus a reasonable profit).

TL R I'm a white, self made, well off guy



This is 100% accurate.

After all the write offs, business expenses, mortgage interest deductions etc... My Taxable Income is less than half of my Gross Income.

Add in my capital gains earnings at their super low tax rate even though my gross income is well over the top tax bracket my effective tax rate is usually around 17-18% every year and could actually be quite a bit lower if I put actual effort into (legal) tax avoidance strategies.

This gives me a slightly lower effective tax rate than my housekeeper.




An annual income of $1,000,000 (makes math easy) under Eisenhower's tax plan would result in a $630,000 tax bill assuming you paid full marginal tax rates on the gross earnings leaving $270,000 left over.

Assume every single deduction and basic tax avoidance strategy still applies to shrink your AGI (i'll use my own as an example).

That 1,000,000 gross income would end up paying about 337,000 in taxes. So please don't let the "91% top tax bracket" fool you. The rich will still be PLENTY rich. My standard of living will change exactly 0% if I have to pay an effective 33% instead of an effective 18%. I'll still drive an expensive car and go on nice vacations and pay my employees and buy the same things I always bought.




Snip

http://imgur.com/gallery/v5hWg


NOTE: This is not me.. This is a post from Reddit. I am not in the top 1% but the Bottom 1%.

[cantbeserious]

1. And There You Have It - Cold Hard Truth - Thank You For Your Honesty

eom

[Dustlawyer]

2. Congratulations on your success and on maintaining your humanity while achieving

so much!

[DFW]

3. The Reddit poster should get himself a calculator

"An annual income of $1,000,000 (makes math easy) under Eisenhower's tax plan would result in a $630,000 tax bill assuming you paid full marginal tax rates on the gross earnings leaving $270,000 left over."

$1,000,000 - $630,000 leaves $370,000, not $270,000.

(not that netting $270,000 is exactly poverty subsistence level.....)

[Depaysement]

4. Plus few paid full marginal tax rates nt

[LiberalElite]

7. The Reddit poster should get himself a proofreader -

looks like a typo to me, not bad math.

[Enthusiast]

5. Wow! This is awesome!

[DeeDeeNY]

6. The point is often overlooked

that it's not a question of taxing the rich more just because they are rich but rather to make it fairer all around for everyone else. Every time the 1% get a tax cut, everyone else's standard of living suffers.

[merrily]

8. And the trickle down never happens.

As Judge Judy might say, "Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's trickle down."

[cui bono]

12. It's also to give them the incentive of putting it back into their business rather than pocketing

it and taking it out of the economy. Putting it back into the business will save them the taxes but helps others as well.

[JDPriestly]

14. That's the point.

Wages paid to employees should be deductible. But tax breaks that are more favors than really helpful to the economy or the stability of society should be ended.

[hifiguy]

15. That's what smart business owners at all levels did

before Raygun.

[world wide wally]

9. Its not about how much you pay in taxes...

Its all about how much you have left afterwards.

[geretogo]

10. I still remember when Eisenhower was running for president and the 90% marginal tax rate . Life was

a paradise in America then for the working man and the wealthy compared to now . What we have now is trickle down Fascism after 35
years of Reaganomics and it's destroying America .

[appalachiablue]

11. +1

[loudsue]

13. +1,000,000 So totally agree with you

It makes me sick what reaganomics has screwed this country beyond recognition to what it was in Eisenhower's time.