Who Is Paying Taxes?

As you can see from the official IRS data, anyone who believes the rich don’t pay taxes is wrong.

In summary:

The top 1% earning more than $295,000 per year paid 34.27% of all taxes. Think of that, 1% paid 34% of all taxes.

The top 5% pay 54.36% of all taxes.

The top 10% pay 65.84% of all taxes.

The top 25% pay nearly 84% of all taxes paid.

And, the top 50% paid 96.54% of all taxes paid.

Tell me how that is fair. Think about this; 50% of all taxpayers only pay 3.46% while the rest of us pick up the remaining 96.54

We better hope the folks paying the taxes never decide they have had enough.

Here are the family earnings for each group. You might be surprised to find where you are in the group.

Top 1% -- Top 5% -- Top 10% -- Top 25% -- Top 50%
295,495 -- 130,080 -- 94,891 -- 57,343 -- 29,019

After you consume all of this. Think of this as well, no matter where you are on the earnings scale, you are entitled to no more government services than anyone else. In fact, if you are in the top half of the earnings scale, you are not eligible for many of the services these tax dollars support.

You can get all of this information at the IRS website if you doubt these facts. One thing I have noticed is that most of the folks who protest tax cuts are those who rely on tax dollars for income.

Energy Cost

Energy prices have risen and perhaps one of the largest benefactors of these sharp increases has and continues to be the state of West Virginia. The state has collected more taxes on energy than it could have ever expected. In addition to the severance taxes paid by the coal, oil & gas and timber industries, the public utilities pay enormous B&O taxes that are ultimately paid by the consumers. The West Virginia people and more particularly the folks who will have trouble meeting their energy needs this winter should be able to expect the state government to help them by using the surplus funds paid to the state as a result of higher energy prices.

These industries are doing their part by investing billions of dollars into production and extraction. They are trying to produce more in hopes that prices will stabilize. They are paying a disproportionate amount of their revenue in taxes compared to other states and other industries. Its time the state gave something back and thanked the extraction industries such as coal, oil, gas and timber for their contributions to the overall economic success of West Virginia. Let us not worry about who is right and concentrate on what is right. Some of the severance tax fund should be put aside to help those who will have trouble meeting the cost of energy.