Boo hoo hoo
by digby
So even the NY Times reporter who wrote “Too Big To Fail” and his editors don’t understand marginal tax rates. In his article this morning he frets over the fate of the poor folks at the edge of the $250,000 a year tax hike, worrying that they really aren’t rich enough to afford the burden.
But as Dean Baker points out, if he can’t afford his burden then maybe he’s got other problems:
It told readers that the richest 2 percent of the population face money problems also, suggesting that those near this cutoff for tax increases by President Obama might be unfairly victimized.
The poster child for this story is a person named Mason, who live in Manhattan with 2 young children and reportedly makes $262,000 a year. Since the 3 percentage point increase in the tax rate would only apply to income above $250,000, or $12,000 of his income, Mason would have to pay an additional $400 a year in taxes.
The humanity.
There is a lot of financial illiteracy in this country and I’m sure I suffer from my share. But this one is the one that annoys me the most because the only people who ever seem to use it in argument are the people who stand to gain from the misunderstanding. Perhaps everyone thinks they pay the top rate on every penny of their income. But it’s only the rich people who mischaracterize it this way and rend their garments whenever anyone suggest that rates be raised over 250k a year.
Sorkin, however, is a financial reporter and he should know better. Indeed, if he doesn’t know something this elementary, everything he writes suspect. But then, we already knew that.
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