FAIR TAX?

From a friend of the Blog comes this entry:

I usually don’t pass these kind of things along, let alone write them but in this case I’ll make an exception because it amplifies the whole issue of fairness in taxation. 

When asked about raising taxes on people who make over $250,000 in the recent Vice Presidential debate Senator Joe Biden responded  “where I come from that’s known as fairness”.  To put that comment into perspective, consider the latest available statistics released by the IRS for 2006:

· The top 1% of filers paid 39.9% of all federal income taxes. 

· The highest 5% of filers paid 60.1% of total income taxes

· The top 10% of filers, those with AGIs of $108,900 or more, bore 70.8% of the total income tax burden.

· The bottom 50% of all filers paid 3% of the total income tax bill and the lowest income earners actually had a NEGATIVE income tax rate. 

I’m not sure these statistics portray fairness unless the definition of fairness is taken from something written by Karl Marx.