So here are the federal income tax rates in 2015:

[$0 to $18450] 10%

[$18450 to $74900] 15%

[$74900 to $151200] 25%

[$151200 to $230450] 28%

[$230450 to $411500] 33%

[$411500 to $464850] 35%

[$464850+] 39.6%

(These brackets of income are for "Married filing jointly." "Single" and "Head of Household" income brackets are a little different, though the rates aren't.)

When you hear about politicians wanting to cut taxes, you hear about them wanting to cut those top rates. Get rid of that 39.6% rate. Get rid of the 35% rate. Make the top tier 33%. That sort of thing.

Now let me point out again: Everyone is taxed 10% on the first $18K of their taxable income (income after deductions and exemptions and such). Everyone. That includes high earners. If you're making a million dollars a year, the first 18K is taxed at 10%. Everything that the high earner makes over that 18K is taxed, but different amounts are taxed at different rates. So after he pays 10% on that first 18K, he pays 15% on the next 56K, just like everyone else who earns $74,900.00 or less is. Then on the next incremental amount, he pays 25%, then 28%, then 33%, then 35%, then 39.6% finally.

So most "tax cuts" are presented as being good for the middle class, though no one in the middle class will benefit directly from the tax savings. When someone mentions this fact, they are usually met (it seems) with the rationale that these wealthy business owners and CEOs and high frequency stock traders and hedge fund owners and investment bankers will, because of the fact that the government is allowing them to keep an extra x% of the money they earn over $464,850.00, somehow invest in their businesses and hire more employees or pay their existing employees better.

The exact opposite seems to have occurred. Taxes were cut by President Bush sometime in the early 2000's, and since then, more wealth has become concentrated in the hands of fewer Americans than ever before. Meanwhile, wages have stagnated or gone down in terms of real dollars, costs of living have continued to escalate, and Americans in general (not the super rich ones) seem to feel that they are not as well off as they were 15 years ago.

I have a proposal. Since all Americans love their tax cuts, let's have a real tax cut for everyone. I wouldn't focus on that 10% bracket; that already seems pretty low to me. I'd focus on that 15% bracket, the $18450 to $74900 income range. Let's cut taxes on that 54K of income to 10%. Or lower. Let's make that first bracket from $0 to $74900 and make the rate 8%. Everyone will benefit from that tax cut. Oh, it won't matter so much to the super rich. Going from paying 10% and 15% on that first $74900 dollars of their income to paying a flat 8% on that amount would save them a little over $4300 dollars. To them, that's a rounding error. To someone making $75K a year, it's real money. But the tax cut is for everyone, not just for the people at the top.

I never see a politician proposing this sort of tax cut. The Republicans seem to want only to cut those top tax rates. Why is that? Maybe because those earning incomes that are affected by such cuts are their REAL constituency, and the rest of the Tea Party/conservative/right wing/Libertarian types are just being duped or mislead or just don't care enough to see what's really being proposed? And Democrats just don't propose tax cuts at all, it seems. Instead, they generally want to increase taxes on the Republican true constituency in order to pay for more spending.

Spending decreased a lot during Obama's presidency, on almost everything except military. (Maybe there, as well, but it is so hard to tell because the budget for military is so massive -- around 50% of all federal expenditures go to our military, I believe). Those spending cuts affected a lot of people in ways that they don't really understand, except to know that stuff is costing them more. Roads go unrepaired, bridges go un-replaced, education gets less funding and schools get closed.

But if what everyone wants is more tax cuts, fine, then make them truly for everyone. Cut the bottom tiers, not the top tiers. Of course the rich pay the lion's share of the taxes in this country -- they control most of the money and their high income levels make it inevitable that the 1% will pay what appears to be an inordinate amount of taxes as a percentage of the whole. But when you judge against what they have left after paying for their basic needs (Ha!) and their tax burden versus what some middle class factory worker has left, they're doing just fine. Why do we worry about them? They aren't worrying about us, except to worry about how they can get more by taking from us.

Oh well, it is what it is, right?

All I can say is "wise up!" Look at the facts, and look for yourself, not by listening to a right wing (or a left-wing, for that matter) apologist.

*****