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First, the media and the general public are, by and large, missing the point about the Tea Party crowd. It's not a protest purely over taxes but rather the broader issue of how invasive the government is getting into our lives and how we're paying for programs that significant portions of the nation are opposed. This brings me to point number two:
As a result, we end up getting this group called "The Other 95%" who is touting the fact (yes, technically a fact) that a large portion (maybe up to 95%) of working families (note that frequently they don't qualify that and there's the debate over 95% of Americans when 47% don't pay any federal income taxes) realized a tax cut this year. For most, it was a modest tax cut, but one nonetheless. This crowd is pushing for media air time and growing via social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Let's cut through all the rhetoric on both sides of this. It is undeniable that these people are short-sighted - to the point of only looking at this year. I wonder what happens next year when the Obamacare taxes, Cap and Trade and other democrat spending programs kick in? Will they be out in force like they are now saying, "oops, yeah, that $400 tax cut we got last year is gone and I owe $4,000 more this year." Doubtful.
Consider the data below from the Tax Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan tax research and educational organization that has been around since 1937.
| Table 1 Summary of Income Redistribution Before and After Health Care Reform Fiscal Year 2016 | |||
Market Income Percentile | Average Income Redistribution (OMB Baseline) | Average Income Redistribution (Post-HCR) | Change in Income Redistribution |
| 0 - 10% | + 20,309 | + 21,236 | + 927 |
| 10 - 20% | + 12,363 | + 14,396 | + 2,033 |
| 20 - 30% | + 9,862 | + 11,546 | + 1,685 |
| 30 - 40% | + 7,907 | + 8,684 | + 777 |
| 40 - 50% | + 6,917 | + 7,172 | + 255 |
| 50 - 60% | + 4,921 | + 4,717 | - 204 |
| 60 - 70% | +187 | - 248 | - 435 |
| 70 - 80% | - 4,862 | - 5,426 | - 564 |
| 80 - 90% | - 12,131 | - 12,804 | - 674 |
| 90 - 95% | - 18,800 | - 19,776 | - 976 |
| 95 - 99% | - 61,681 | - 64,852 | - 3,172 |
| 99 - 100% | - 484,493 | - 536,697 | - 52,204 |
| ALL | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Exhibit: | |||
| Top 20% | - 47,594 | - 51,450 | - 3,856 |
| Top 10% | - 83,030 | - 90,066 | - 7,036 |
| Top 5% | - 147,250 | - 160,345 | - 13,095 |
| Top 1% | - 484,493 | - 536,697 | - 52,204 |
| Main Sources: Tax Foundation Fiscal Incidence Microsimulation Model; CBO final score of health care bill; President's FY 2011 Budget | |||
Obamacare will increase the distribution of wealth, on average, from top 20% of taxpayers (which are people earning above $158K approximately) to lower tax bracket earners by almost $4,000 per year. That is more taxes and fees to those in the top 20% for less services and benefits. With the fiscal insolvency of Social Security and the mess that we're in with various parts of Medicare, this doesn't bode well.
"Excessive taxation... will carry reason and reflection to every man's door, and particularly in the hour of election." --Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1798.
