This probably amounts to the 600^th post I’ve read in the last two decades — from Steve Hayward — about how “unfair” it is that the wealthy pay so much in income taxes.

Of course, this is a crock of shit. He always talks absolute dollars paid, rather than percentages, or even what those percentages might mean in terms of what the truly rich might notice in disposable income.

Not once in those 600 or so posts, did Steve Hayward ever indicate what percentage of the disposable income of the top two or higher percent of American taxpayers actually pay.

On the other hand, he obscures the fact that the lowest one-third (by disposable income) of Americans pay out something like 48% of their overall available income in various taxes. [Think here of gas taxes, food taxes, sales tax generally, state income taxes, and even tollway payments.]

For the very wealthy, no matter how much tax they pay, they will never notice it in their day-to-day living. This is true because they pay under 10% and typically under 3%, for longer term capital appreciated assets as they sell them, through the various carried interest rules.

That is to say, that while they may pay up to a nominal 39% (in corporate income taxes, or dividend taxes) — with capable tax planning, services which they can clearly afford — by far, most of the truly wealthy’s disposable income comes from capital gains rate taxed assets. So their “fair share“ amounts to well under 5% of the liquidity they tap each year.

That is what most people mean when they say the ultra wealthy, don’t pay their fair share, but ride on the backs of the lower one third… Who end up paying close to half of their disposable income out each year in obligatory taxes of one kind or another.

Of course Steve knows all of this, but he’s just a churlish cad, or if you prefer — a malevolent a-hole.

Done.