[NeilCJames]

What makes Golub's point so misleading is that he counts consumption taxes, payroll taxes, state taxes, and even future estate taxes when he pays them, but only looks at federal income tax to get the "half the people pay nothing" line.

[eric-hu]

Ah, thank you for clarifying on that. I was wondering how he came up with the figure that 90% of his income would be taxed.

I wonder how much the average lower and middle class person would be taxed according to this accounting scheme.

[mrgubmint]

I don't think it's possible to come up with the 80 to 90 percent that he claimed. The top marginal rate for federal tax is 35%. State taxes and sales taxes can be deducted from income for federal tax. Social Security tops out at $106,800.00, and Medicare taxes are 1.45% on all income. As far as the estate tax, he won't pay that - unless he inherited the money. His heirs will pay an estate tax on anything over 5 million dollars that they inherit from him

The federal estate tax tops out at 35%, but also excludes some property and deductions. New York state's estate tax is also capped at 35%.

Finally, the estate tax is seldom actual double taxation since a large percentage of estates subject to taxation are in the form of stocks or property which are not taxed until they are actually sold.