“Almost nobody says we should have the richest pay the least. And yet when we look around the country, the vast majority of states have tax systems that do just that.”

Nearly every state and local tax system in the U.S. is fueling the nation’s inequality crisis by forcing lower- and middle-class families to contribute a larger share of their incomes than their rich counterparts, according to a new study published Tuesday.

Titled Who Pays?, the analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) examines in detail the tax systems of all 50 U.S. states, including the rates paid by different income segments.

In 41 states, ITEP found, the richest 1% are taxed at a lower rate than any other income group. Forty-six states tax the top 1% at a lower rate than middle-income families.

Report: https://itep.org/whopays-7th-edition/

  • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
    742·
    10 months ago

    Yup and some of it is just absolutely insidious too. Take for example my state’s 529 plan, it actively punishes the poor and working class. They charge a 4% fee/tax that decreases as you put more in at one time so a working stiff putting in part of their paycheck every month will get 4% stolen from them while the rich guy that can afford to put in 10K at once pays not a damn thing. To me that’s completely and utterly screwed up and punishing those who need help the most.

    It’s absolutely sick how this “Christian Nation” actively goes and hurts the poor.

    • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
      46·
      10 months ago

      It’s because the hyper-Christians in Government think the poor are poor because of their own failings. They are sinful and not favored by God. People who are rich got that way by being in God’s favor, so why shouldn’t we reward that?

      It’s called the Prosperity Gospel. It’s uniquely American. And it’s frightening.

      https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/9/1/15951874/prosperity-gospel-explained-why-joel-osteen-believes-prayer-can-make-you-rich-trump

      Throughout the twentieth century, proponents of this particularly American blend of theology envisaged God as a kind of banker, dispensing money to the deserving, with Jesus as a model business executive. Both of these characterizations were, at times, literal: In 1936, New Thought mystic and founder of the Unity Church Charles Fillmore rewrote Psalm 23 to read, “The Lord is my banker/my credit is good”; in 1925, advertising executive Bruce Bowler wrote The Man Nobody Knows to argue that Jesus was the first great capitalist. The literal money quote reads, “Some day … someone will write a book about Jesus. Every businessman will read it and send it to his partners and his salesmen. For it will tell the story of the founder of modern business.”