The chart about effective tax rates is incorrect. The chart I provided is from the Tax Policy Center which is non-partisan.
Lets be honest, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that human nature is to do the thing that causes the least pain. Clearly Mitt Romney was hammered for two weeks about his tax returns, and there is no question that it will and has affected him in the polls. Obviously the Romney people have calculated that if he releases the returns, it will be MORE damaging than the heat he will got by not releasing them. Plain and simple. Risk vs Reward. Any pundit or analyst with half a brain will tell you this.
As far as tax rates go, have you all forgotten that just because someone files his return and paid $0 in federal tax, that doesn't mean he didnt pay 5-8% in payroll tax out of their paycheck, + state sales tax on all the goods they buy, + road tolls and other fee's. For example in New York, we have an 8.5% income tax rate, 8.875% sales tax, and 7% payroll tax. So even if I paid NO state and fed taxes, I STILL have paid 16% of my entire income in taxes which is more than Mitt Romney paid....Mitt Romney may make 10,000x as much money as me, but that doesn't mean he buys 10,000x more paper towels than me to be taxed on and it means he stops paying payroll tax after $10,000. A New York family making $75,000 with no mortgage will pay:
15% fed inc
8.8% state inc
8.9% sales tax on say $38,000 worth of goods = 4.5%
6% payroll taxes
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TOTAL: 39% of all income paid in taxes even though his fed tax rate is only 15%. Why is this fair?