Tim Walz, Barack Obama and their willing co-conspirators in the media are constantly trying to divide our citizens on the basis of income (poor versus rich). We hear from these people over and over that the rich do not pay their fair share. This class envy is an attempt to stir up an issue that doesn’t exist. Walz, Obama and the Wall Street occupiers would have you believe that the worst offenders are the richest among us.

The facts are the top 1 percent of the earners in 2009 paid a whopping 28.3 percent of the taxes collected by the IRS.

The facts are the top 20 percent of earners in 2009 paid a substantial 67.9 percent of the taxes. That means two out of 10 wage earners paid almost seven out of 10 tax dollars.

The facts are the bottom 49 percent of earners in 2009 paid zero percent of the taxes collected. That means five out of 10 wage earners paid no taxes to the IRS.

The facts are that if all wealth (not just income) was confiscated from every millionaire in the country it would only provide enough money to run the government for about four months.

It is obvious that we have a very progressive tax system heavily weighted against the wealthy. We do not need higher taxes; we do need lower spending by the current administration and congress. We have a spending problem, not a tax problem.

 

Bob Sasser

Albert Lea