(Corporate socialism) In one year the average American taxpayer making $50,000 a year pays:

[applegrove]

https://www.threads.net/@end.the.republican.party/post/C2YtbCMsg5R/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

In one year the average American taxpayer making $50,000 a year pays:

$36 towards food stamps

$6 for other safety net programs

$870 for corporate subsidies

$1600 to offset corporate Loopholes

$1231 to offset losses from corporate tax havens overseas

https://www.flickr.com/gp/198124749@N03/23cSYERf6e

* Thanks to Emile for the words "corporate socialism"

[Orrex]

1. Can't be repeated often enough

[niyad]

2. KNR and bookmarking.

[SunSeeker]

3. I agree with the sentiment, but the numbers appear off.

Last edited Mon Jan 22, 2024, 05:12 AM - Edit history (4)

There are articles that have you plug in what you paid and they tell you where it went, like this one: https://www.nationalpriorities.org/pressroom/articles/2023/04/18/where-does-my-tax-money-go-calculator-what-happens/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20National%20Priorities,Lockheed%20Martin%2C%20and%20nuclear%20weapons )

They show a different distribution.

Using the above National Priorities link, for example, out of every $10,000 paid in 2022 Federal Income Tax, $291.34 of it goes for food stamps (SNAP), i.e., 2.9%.

Using the income of $50k used in the meme, a single wage earner would pay about $5700 in federal income tax.
https://www.etax.com/resources/videos/how-much-is-tax-on--50000-salary/#:~:text=If%20you%20are%20single%20and,state%2C%20additional%20taxes%20my%20apply.

So at 2.9% of $5700, that is $165.30, not $36, for food stamps.

[Abolishinist]

4. You linked to the same "meme" posted on both

Threads.net and Flickr.com

I don't see ANY supporting data for this. If you actually believe this, then please post something more substantial to support your claim.

From Wiki...

Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was previously a common way for amateur and professional photographers to host high-resolution photos. It has changed ownership several times and has been owned by SmugMug since April 20, 2018.

Threads is an online social media and social networking service operated by Meta Platforms. The app offers users the ability to post and share text, images, and videos, as well as interact with other users' posts through replies, reposts, and likes. Closely linked to Meta platform Instagram and additionally requiring users to both have an Instagram account and use Threads under the same Instagram handle, the functionality of Threads is similar to Twitter.

[applegrove]

6. I post the flickr one in case someone doesn't get Threads.

Threads is the official link for this. I don't verify. I guess I assume if they go to the trouble of getting it done in graphics, then they mean it to last in a way a false meme would not. I guess I assume wrong. I'll leave it up till someone proves it wrong.

[SunSeeker]

8. The person who posted it on Threads said it was extracted from this CBO link:

Last edited Mon Jan 22, 2024, 05:20 AM - Edit history (1)

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58888

Post by @michaeljgolub

View on Threads

I really don't know how they got the specific numbers, but I think they use this CBO chart from that CBO link showing the federal government's source of tax revenue. Compared to the $2.6 Trillion individuals pay in, corporations' paltry contribution of $425 Billion is a truly tiny percentage. In other words, we are carrying the load, while corporations are not paying their fair share. Thus, what we pay is in large part to make up for corporations getting away without paying their fair share, i.e. we're paying more than we should because we have to pay to offset for corporate loopholes and tax havens.

[Abolishinist]

19. Thanks! As you say, who knows where they got their numbers?

Which to me makes it useless, nothing that would allow one to engage in a conversation regarding what was stated.

Even the premise, the "Average American Taxpayer Making $50,000 A Year Pays", means what, exactly? Take a random sample of those making $50K and you'll find everything from single individuals without deductions to someone with 3 kids and a mortgage.

And then there's the Corporate subsidies, loopholes, and tax havens, which amount of $3,701 represents 98.9% of the total listed. Nothing for defense? Education? Health? Veterans Benfits? A ridiculous meme.

And then there's this, with supporting data...

In 2020, taxpayers filed 157.5 million tax returns, reported earning nearly $12.5 trillion in adjusted gross income (AGI), and paid $1.7 trillion in individual income taxes.

The top 1 percent paid $723 billion in federal income taxes, representing a 42.3 percent share. Why, the amount THEY paid for corporate subsidies, loopholes, and tax havens must be through the roof!

The top 50 percent of all taxpayers paid 97.7 percent of all federal individual income taxes, while the bottom 50 percent paid the remaining 2.3 percent.

https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/summary-latest-federal-income-tax-data-2023-update/

[diva77]

5. Excellent messaging for Dems to use --but not certain of reliability of source of info, so I'm just rec'ing this type of

messaging.

[RussellCattle]

7. These last comments illustrate another difference between us and the Repubs. They read stuff (or, more likely....

......hear it on Fox) and don't for a moment question it's validity. We question stuff even when it supports our positions.

[SunSeeker]

9. It seems to track this piece by Robert Reich:

https://prospect.org/economy/tax-dollars-really-go/

But Robert Reich is referring to discretionary spending.

[Emile]

15. +1

[mntleo2]

10. Institution on Taxation and Economic Policy

If you REALLY want to know where your tax dollars are going this website, which has been around for at least a couple decades, this is the place you may want to check out. https://itep.org//
It goes state by state and breaks down who is paying taxes, who is not paying taxes and take in account corporate as well as groups of individual taxes by economic class.

Incidentally, according to the ITEP, in every single state the poorest of the poor make the greatest sacrifice in paying their taxes. So NOBODY should be upset that they "pay too much" because all other classes are living off the poor and their families in order not to pay as much themselves so they do not pay as much unless they are from the least among us. In my state (Washington), the poor pay about 14% of their incomes in taxes, but the poorest among us pay upwards of 15-19% of their income in taxes. Meanwhile one of our residents, one of the richest men in the world, Bill Gates, pays less than 4% of his $biilions. If he were to pay the percentage a welfare mom pays in our state, his fairly paid taxes alone would raise our state completely out of debt ~ and he is but one of three of the richest men in the world in my state.

Check your state out here: https://itep.org/whopays-7th-edition/. To show I am not making any of this up check out my state here, which is the most regressive taxed population in the nation; https://itep.org/whopays/washington-who-pays-7th-edition/ . Boeing pays ZERO taxes here, as they have not paid a single dime in decades, the same with the Nordstroms.

So if you are from the upper classes, stop feeling sorry for yourselves. Your local poorest always makes a greater sacrifice for your state than you ever thought.

Just my 2 cents. Cat in Seattle

[applegrove]

11. Thanks for rounding out my OP.

[Emile]

12. Corporate socialism

[applegrove]

13. Those two words could go far. Can I put them in the tittle of my op?

[Emile]

14. Please do!

[Takket]

16. What is the basis of this? I mean, I don't even know what "$1600 to offset corporate loopholes" means

[progressoid]

18. You and I have to make up the difference in the taxes that corporations avoid through loopholes in the tax code.

[orthoclad]

17. My fav CBO graph

From comments above, it looks like someone analyzed Congressional Budget Office data to look at the spread of tax dollars.
It's a complex issue. For one thing, it ignores the ability of wealthy people to pay accountants to find the abundant tax shelters written into our complex laws. It gives a nod to the issue in the "corporate loopholes" line.

Here's my favorite CBO. It's simple, and clear. Find that little band at the bottom that covers 50% of the US population.
A little OT because it's personal, not corporate, but in the end, "corporations are people".
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58533

[senseandsensibility]

20. That's it right there folks

It explains everything. Of course the billionaires could never enact these policies alone, so that's where the propaganda comes in. Only the cult is dumb enough to fall for it.