... [T]he incongruity derives from state and local governments reliance on sales, excise and property taxes rather than on more progressively structured income taxes that increase rates on higher earnings. They argue that the tax disconnect is helping create the largest wealth gap between the rich and middle class in American history. In recent years, multiple studies have revealed the growing chasm between the wealthy and everyone else, Matt Gardner, executive director of ITEP, said. Upside-down state tax systems didnt cause the growing income divide, but they certainly exacerbate the problem. ... The 10 states with the largest gap between tax rates on the rich and poor are a politically and geographically diverse group -- from traditional Republican bastions such as Texas and Arizona to Democratic strongholds such as Illinois and Washington. The latter state is the most regressive of all. Four years after billionaire moguls such as AMAZONS JEFF BEZOS and Microsofts Steve Ballmer funded a campaign to defeat an income tax ballot measure, Washington now makes low-income families pay seven times the effective tax rate that the rich pay. Capital letters mine. alternet.org/economy/why-toxic-myths-rich-people-believe-about-poor-are-so-dangerous
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 06:55:05 +0000
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