NEW YORK TIMES: With 2013 bringing tax increases on the incomes of a small sliver of the richest Americans, the country’s top earners now face a heavier tax burden than at any time since Jimmy Carter was president.
The last-minute deal struck by the departing 112th Congress raised taxes on a handful of the highest-earning Americans, with about 99.3 percent of households experiencing no change in their income taxes. But the Tax Policy Center estimates that the average family in the top 1 percent will pay a federal tax rate of more than 36 percent this year, up from 28 percent in 2008. That is the highest rate since 1979, at least.
By some measures, the tax code might now be the most progressive in a generation, tax economists said, while noting that every American is paying a lower burden currently than they did then. In fact, the total federal tax rate is still vastly lower for the very rich than it was at any point in the 1940s through 1970s. It has risen from historical lows, but is still closer to those lows than where it was in the postwar decades… (more)
EDITOR: The 36 percent must be an average over all income. The top bracket is 39.6% and there is a 3.8% surtax on income that brings it to close to over 43%… over a 20% increase.
Moreover, Capital Gains goes from 15% to 20% plus the 3.8% surtax on most transactions, for a total of 23.8%, more than a 50% jump.
Now the very wealthy have been caused to sacrifice. The next step is what cost reductions starting in 2014 for defense and entitlements will result for negotiations to avoid the ‘Sequestering Cliff.’
Let’s see if the rich are stupid enough to work harder so the government can take it or will overall revenue decrease. Time will tell.