$447 bil

[shmike]

Originally Posted by fatbuckRTO

Not exactly. On the surface, a simple straight percentage would seem the most reasonable. But that still leaves the CEO driving an Aston Martin from his 20 room mansion who only pays a percentage of $1 a year, since his compensation is in company stock options or his bank account is in the Cayman Islands, or some other such nonsense. And it still leaves the single woman working for $10 an hour for as many hours as she can get, then mowing lawns and pet sitting in her spare time, because she's taking care of her disabled parents who have no means of supporting themselves. I really wouldn't mind seeing her pay no taxes, or a lower percentage than the rest of us.

So my answer to Ed's question is: don't ask for a simple answer to a complicated problem.

Now, here's the reality:

That woman is paying very little if any taxes.

She is probably not filing taxes on her lawn mowing and pet sitting jobs, so she is just as much of a tax cheat as your CEO.

The CEO may only make $1 a year in salary but those stock options aren't free. Depending on what type of options they are, they may be taxed as income or they may be taxed later as capital gains.

Of course you may never be taxed on your options if they expire worthless.

Cayman account or not, if your CEO is being paid through a legitimate source, he is being taxed. If he/she is actually trying to export money from the US with no taxes being paid, I assure you that the IRS would be interested to hear about it.

Now, it may seem unfair that Susie is paying 15% on her $30k AGI while Mr. CEO is paying 15% on his $10 million, but please explain to me how his $1,500,000 is less than her $4500...)