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  • Mike Tx
    No Longer Active
    • Jul 2001
    • 4287

    Taxing facts

    www.federalist.com

    FOR THE TAX RECORD

    2002 Tax Facts

    "The total (year 2000) U.S. government haul in taxes -- income,
    corporate, capital gains, gasoline, excise taxes, telecommunications,
    payroll, and so on -- amounts to about 20% of the nation's gross
    domestic product (GDP), more than any time since 1944." --Washington
    Post

    For 124 years prior to the 1913 Sixteenth (Personal Income Tax)
    Amendment there was no direct tax levied on each person in proportion
    to personal income. As a matter of fact, Article I, Section 9,
    paragraph 4 forbade taxation of individuals' incomes.

    At the beginning of the 20th century, federal taxes were equal to 3%
    of GDP and the entire tax code was only a few hundred pages. Now at
    20% of GDP and 46,000 pages (481 separate tax forms), Americans will
    spend 6.1 billion hours complying with the code. Due to the code's
    complexity, more than half of filers will pay for "professional
    preparation" of their taxes (up from only 20% in 1960) at a cost of
    more than $200 billion -- almost 10% of what the IRS actually
    collects.

    "From its beginnings as a simple, two-page form in 1913, the income
    tax has grown into a monstrosity because politicians have been unable
    to resist the temptation to use it for political purposes," according
    to taxation expert Daniel M. Mitchell. "No longer are taxes merely the
    means to raise revenue. They have become the tools politicians use to
    pursue social engineering, backdoor industrial policy and ham-fisted
    attempts to steer private behavior with subsidies and penalties. And
    what is the result after 87 years of letting politicians and lobbyists
    run amok? A tax code nobody can understand. When Money magazine sent a
    hypothetical family's tax return to professional tax-preparers in
    1998, they got back 46 different responses, every one of them wrong."

    U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill notes, "There is a constituency
    in the Congress that sees the tax code as a way to do favors for
    people which is a way to get elected that's not as obvious as actually
    writing them a check from the American people."

    The Internal Revenue Code:
    Number of Words: Over 2.8 million
    War and Peace
    Number of Words: 660,000
    The Bible
    Number of Words: 774,746

    The Internal Revenue Service:
    Annual Budget $9.4 billion (FY 2002)
    Number of Employees: 99,887

    The F.B.I.
    Annual Budget: $4.2 billion (FY 2002)
    Number of Special Agents: 12,582

    The Border Patrol
    Annual Budget: $1.5 billion (FY 2002)
    Number of Agents: 10,551

    Individual Income Tax Returns Filed (projected CY 2002) 132 million
    Filers using 1040EZ 9.8 million (7%)
    Filers using 1040A 13.9 million (11%)
    Filers using 1040 57.9 million (44%)
    Electronic Filings 50.1 million (38%)

    Filers Using Professional Preparers ('99): 69.2 million (53% of all
    returns)
    1040EZ 761 thousand (3% of EZ filers)
    1040A 3.7 million (13% of 1040A filers)
    1040 64.7 million (91% of 1040 filers)

    Estimated Preparation Time (TY 2001):
    Form 1040 13 hr., 27 minutes
    Schedule A (Itemized Deductions) 5 hr., 37 minutes
    Schedule B (Interest and Dividend Income) 1 hr., 26 minutes
    Schedule C (Profit or loss from a Business) 10 hr., 35 minutes
    Schedule D (Capital gains and losses) 7 hr., 36 minutes

    Filing Status (TY 1999):
    Single Filers: 56.9 million (45%)
    Joint Filers: 49.9 million (39%)
    Married Filing Separately: 2.4 million (2%)
    Head of Household: 17.9 million (14%)

    Federal Tax Revenues:
    Total Taxes Paid (Fiscal Year 2001): $1.991 trillion
    Individual Income Taxes: $994 billion (49.9%)
    Social Insurance Taxes: $694 billion (34.8%)
    Corporate Income Taxes: $151 billion (7.6%)
    Other (excise, estate, and others): $152 billion (7.6%)

    Who Pays The Income Tax? (Calendar Year 2001):
    Income Category Share of Population Share of Income Taxes

    $200,000 and over 2.7% 49.7%
    $100,000 to $200,000 9.0% 23.9%
    $75,000 to $100,000 9.1% 11.6%
    $50,000 to $75,000 9.2% 3.5%
    $30,000 to $40,000 11.1% 2.4%
    $20,000 to $30,000 13.0% 0.4%
    $10,000 to $20,000* 16.4% -1.3%
    Less than $10,000* 14.0% -0.7%
    (*due to cash payments to EIC recipients)

    Cost of Government Day (COGD), n. The date of the calendar year,
    counting from January 1, on which average Americans have earned enough
    in cumulative gross income to pay for their share of government
    spending (total federal, state, and local) plus the cost of
    regulation. In 2001, Cost of Government Day was July 6, 2001.

    Payroll Taxes:
    Employee Tax Rate 7.65%
    Employer Tax Rate 7.65%
    Social Security, or Old Age and Survivor's Disability Insurance
    Portion 6.2%
    Medicare, or Hospital Insurance Portion 1.45%
    Self-Employed Tax Rate 15.3%

    "Give me a break -- They say taxes are inevitable ... like death. At
    least death doesn't come every year." --John Stossel
  • Joseph
    Forum Member
    • Aug 2001
    • 1607

    #2
    Lots of facts and figues glad someone done them for me. I had enough trouble filing my taxes today.
    Stay safe and watch your back. Survived Katrina. Now a Official member of the Chocolate City Police.

    Comment

    • klar
      Forum Member
      • Mar 2000
      • 3738

      #3
      Hmmm I wonder how much the top 250 richest people in america paid total for taxes this past year.

      I recall one time I looked and they all together paid a total of $0.00 and I figure that is just not fair but then again since I am in the poor catagory I will be taxed and aduited a lot more than anyone else because they all figure I am too poor to fight them.

      Klar
      Are you a Veteran? If so join AMVETS the only organization that accepts all vets no matter when or where they served. Contact me for more info.

      Comment

      • Mitzi
        Forum Member
        • Sep 2000
        • 3331

        #4
        WHen my husband get's a bonus, which isn't very often, the government takes about 40% of it. He once got a $30,000 bonus (rare). We saw $18,000 of it. Yes, that's a lot of money but it sure is a knife in the heart to know he worked so hard for it and had to give so much to other people.

        Comment

        • Don
          Forum Member
          • Apr 2000
          • 4765

          #5
          from THE INFERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

          to ALL FORUM MEMBERS

          date DOESN'T MATTER THIS APPLIES ANYTIME

          You can shut up about your taxes and pay them.

          You can bitch about your taxes and pay them.

          We really DON'T CARE what you think or how you feel.

          Just pay your taxes! AND PAY AND PAY AND PAY

          inSincerely

          Joe Schark
          IRS PUBLIC AFFAIRS

          ps: Our motto is: WE'VE UPED OUR TAXES, NOW UP YOURS!

          [ 04-16-2002: Message edited by: Don ]
          6P1 (retired)

          Comment

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