STUMP » Articles » Taxing Tuesday: We're Number 50! » 27 February 2018, 11:50

Where Stu & MP spout off about everything.

Taxing Tuesday: We're Number 50!  

by

27 February 2018, 11:50

States where Americans pay the least (and most) in taxes

50. New York
Taxes paid as pct. of income: 12.7%
Income per capita: $59,563 (4th highest)
Income tax collections per capita: $2,208 (2nd highest)
Property tax collections per capita: $2,581 (5th highest)
General sales tax collections per capita: $662 (14th lowest)

Well, that’s where I live, not where I work…

49. Connecticut
Taxes paid as pct. of income: 12.6%
Income per capita: $69,311 (the highest)
Income tax collections per capita: $2,279 (the highest)
Property tax collections per capita: $2,774 (3rd highest)
General sales tax collections per capita: $1,137 (8th highest)

Oh shit.

Dammit.

GOVERNOR CUOMO IN DENIAL

Well, this isn’t at all a surprise.

Cuomo’s denial on NY’s awful taxes

Yet another report — this one from the news site 24/7 Wall Street — confirms New York’s sad status as the highest-taxing state in America. Naturally, Gov. Cuomo continues to deny the ugly reality.

The study found that Empire State taxes amount to 12.7 percent of total salaries, which reflects its income taxes (second highest per capita nationally) and property taxes (fifth highest).

The report echoes what the Tax Foundation and other watchdogs have said for years. And what New Yorkers know firsthand, which is why so many move away. Indeed, in 2013, income-tax-free Florida overtook New York as the third-most-populous state.

So how do Cuomo & Co. react to the news? An aide simply dismissed it as “old data” and repeated the gov’s claims that he has cut taxes dramatically — with middle-class taxes now their lowest in years.

Those claims are misleading: Yes, Cuomo trimmed middle-class income taxes, but only slightly. And at the same time, he also, in effect, hiked taxes for high earners — by repeatedly reinstating a surcharge that was scheduled to expire in 2011.

….
Yes, he also OK’d other cuts in 2016 that start to phase in this year. But those are small, too: A married couple with $100,000 in income would save less than $100 a year. Similarly, his 2 percent property-tax-hike cap won’t bring those levies down from the stratosphere any time soon.

How ironic that Cuomo opted to channel House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and call the federal tax cuts “crumbs from the table” — even though they’ll save the average household $1,600 this year, according to the Tax Policy Center.

Well, Cuomo needs to get on the new wording, and just own that New York is the highest tax state out there: it’s the patriotic thing to do!

TRYING OUT A NEW LINE: BE PATRIOTIC! PAY MORE IN TAXES!

Seeing that the “crumbs” line isn’t working well, Pelosi has a new attack word:

Pelosi: GOP Tax Bill Is ‘Unpatriotic’

On Tuesday [Feb 20], Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) held a town hall to cobble support to repeal of the so-called Trump tax.

…..
Oh, but Nancy has a new one. The GOP tax bill is unpatriotic (via NTK Network):

“Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stepped up her rhetoric regarding the GOP tax bill Tuesday, calling it ‘unpatriotic’ during a town hall in Texas.

“‘We could have, as we’ve done before, written a tax bill in a bipartisan way that had transparency that people could see what it was about,’ Pelosi said about the GOP tax bill.

“Pelosi said that instead, Republicans passed the GOP tax bill in the dead of night so that America people would not know about the legislation, allowing Republicans to ‘pin a rose on it,’ as she described it.”

…..
Yeah, it’s “unpatriotic”…is that why a majority of Americans now support it? If I was a Democrat, I would be very worried that this woman, who has proven to be a serial failure when it comes to retaking the House, is quarterbacking the midterm effort.

…..
So, when Democrats can’t win, they just say whatever they’re against is racist or unpatriotic. Sounds like par for the course.

The thing is, nobody associates Democrats with patriotism anymore – perhaps the last Democrat with a definite patriotic selling point was JFK, but Jimmy Carter had also been in the U.S. Navy, so sure, we’ll let him in, too. But after that? Come on.

Yesterday’s post had an example of equating taxes with patriotism (kinda)…. from World War I.

Of course, people may ask exactly what war is being waged with our money, and the answer seems to be the war against people keeping their own money.

IT IS TOO TOTALLY A CHARITY TO GIVE MONEY TO THE STATE

…..that you have to anyway.

New Jersey congressman pitches taxes as charity from CNBC.

It’s not you or me who has to buy that, but the IRS.

And I don’t think the IRS is going to let this one pass. Or, more to the point, Trump.

But hey, I think Trump still has New York officially as his residence, and he’ll get taxed in NY no matter what, so maybe they can pitch it as being in his own personal interest. That’ll look great to the proles, right?

Or maybe you should just suck it up.

TAX TWEETS

Just a little selection.



(I forgot to mention – I went into the city yesterday to do a bit of shopping (as I finally got all my tax refunds, and I’m feeling a bit ready to spend a little)… had a very interesting discussion with the saleswoman about people in my neck of the woods trying to be clever to avoid NYC sales tax. I paid over $50 in tax on my purchase, which gives you an idea of what kind of avoidance goes on here. I told her I was used to the taxes, and had budgeted for it.)



Do they have to?




A note: some of the companies announcing bonuses, etc., are either privately-owned (i.e. closely held by a few owners, and the stock doesn’t trade publicly) or are non-profits (this is not the same as a charity — mutual insurance companies are non-profits – all surplus is owned by the policyowners).


Man, I’m going to have material all year for this. This is more reliable than soda tax bitchery.


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