Apparently, it’s not just the US taxpayers who are complaining that those in lower tax brackets actually pay a higher percentage of tax overall. UK taxpayers are making a similar claim.
According to the Sunday Times, the UK’s richest people are paying 4p in the pound less in tax than any other section of the population. While the tax brackets for income tax are higher, when mixed in with other taxes such as VAT (similar, though a bit different to a national sales tax), the top 1% of households pay 31% of their income to tax, compared with an average of 35% for the remaining 99%.
There have also been complaints about the low tax burdens for private equity “tycoons”. This summer, there was controversy in Britain over the low rates of tax paid by these folks, when it became public that they may pay tax on as low as 10% on their earnings. This argument sounds a wee bit familiar, no? The US Congress is reviewing a similar issue this fall.
And finally, confirming what my colleague has previously written, at the other end of the spectrum those in the middle bracket appear to be hit the most: households on the median income of £24,700 (@$50,000) pay 35.3% in tax.
I guess the “rich get richer” is a universal truth.
