From John Lott, who points out what ought to be obvious about (1) double taxation and (2) which income groups pay what share of taxes:
[L]et's take a simple example. Suppose Warren Buffet invests his money in a company and that company earns $1. The company pays 40 cents in income taxes. If the remaining 60 cents is paid as a dividend, the 15 percent dividend tax rate leaves the stockholder with 51 cents, for a combined effective tax rate of 49 percent. The analysis is the same if the company keeps the money, raising the value of the company stock, and creating a capital gain. The rate would be higher if there is a state income tax.
Mr. Buffett's secretary in Nebraska simply doesn't pay a 49 percent marginal income tax rate. When President Obama addressed Congress on September 8, he claimed that his proposals didn't amount to "class warfare." Of course, the president then went on to claim that the wealthy aren't paying their "fair share" of the taxes.
But the wealthy are already bearing a much larger share of taxes than their share of income. For example, the top 1% of Americans in terms of earning might account for 20% of total income, but they already pay 38% of income taxes. By contrast, the bottom 75 percent of workers make 33 percent of total income and pay only 13.7 percent of income taxes.
