So, what does it say? What we already know. If you are extremely wealthy, you pay relatively little in tax each year. And, to run for president or even for congress today, you need to be wealthy.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tax returns of presidential candidates
In line with how much money they have, here is a graph (from here) showing their tax rates:
So, what does it say? What we already know. If you are extremely wealthy, you pay relatively little in tax each year. And, to run for president or even for congress today, you need to be wealthy.
So, what does it say? What we already know. If you are extremely wealthy, you pay relatively little in tax each year. And, to run for president or even for congress today, you need to be wealthy.
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I think to run for president it helps to be wealthy but if you compare Obama to Romney or even Bush, Obama's net worth was 5.5 million, where as Romeny, who is running is between 150-200 million and Bush was 20 million. This is not to say that 5.5 million isn't a lot of money but you dont have to have Romney's wealth to become president, but having that kind of wealth doesnt hurt when campaigning.
ReplyDeleteI don't particularly see the significance in comparing the effective federal tax rates of presidential candidates. Due to OWS, potential candidates are stigmatized for not paying their fair share. I think a better discussion is the potential to reform the election process so candidates that are not extremely wealthy have the ability to run. However, based on the current system, these candidates have little hope.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be great for candidates who are not extremely wealthy and who come from a more modest background to be able to keep up with those who are. However, I find it hard for a system to ever be put into place where the candidates money doesn't matter that much, seeing as they have to travel all around the country to gain support. Maybe I'm missing something crucial, but I can't ever see a time when a presidential candidate who doesn't have a great deal of wealth will be able to get ahead.
ReplyDeleteI think Grant is right. Would we really want to pay people to run for political office? We would have to figure out a way to do that if people without independent means were to be able to run for national office effectively. I do think it is interesting to see how little tax many of our national politicians pay mostly because tax reform that increases revenue has been stymied for years. Instead, we keep cutting rates at the top. People who have the wealth profile of a Romney or Bush (lots of long term investment income) are preferenced in the system. Others pay relatively more. And there aren't enough champions for middle class taxpayers in Washington.
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