The overall system of taxation in the United States is progressive. There are three types of taxation system, the first being progressive tax, the percentage of income an individual (or household) pays in taxes tends to increase with increasing income. The second is regressive tax, which the opposite of progressive tax. The last type of taxation is proportional tax, which means that everyone pays the same percentage of tax. The US tax system according to William G. Gale is outdated. Gale says that “…payroll taxes — which cover fast-rising Social Security and Medicare expenditures — simply cannot meet future needs.” Gale is saying that a good tax system would keep the taxes low and fair. Yet they should also raise enough revenue for the government to run. There are many reasons why the US tax system is unfair, here are a few.
Though the US taxation system is progressive, each state’s tax system is fundamentally unfair, by taking a much greater share of income from low- and middle-income families than from wealthy families. The absence of a graduated personal income tax and overreliance on consumption taxes worsens this problem. Itep.org says that “State personal income taxes are typically more progressive than the other taxes that states levy (e.g. property, consumption).” Sales taxes in the states are more regressive than progressive, poor families paying almost eight times more of their income in these taxes than wealthy families, and middle income families paying five times more. ITEP also says that States commended as “low tax” are often high tax states for low- and middle-income families, which means high taxes are imposed on the poorest while low on the wealthiest. The ITEP shows how states will manipulate their wording to make people think that the wealthy pay more than the poor, also shows how each state’s tax system is unfair and not what the US tax system says it runs on.
When taxes were first imposed, we would write a check to the government at the end of the year, this kept the government spending in the check because the complaints were actually heard, says Craig Thornburrow on Is The Federal Income Tax System Fair. The way we pay taxes today doesn’t allow the voice of the people to be heard because taxes are charged at the time we are purchasing something. Thornburrow shows us how the government can take our money and not listen to our problems and yet some people say that the tax system is fair. Though it might be fair, but to an extent and not listening to the problems of the citizens of the US is passing that extent.
As a working person I would say that the tax the government cuts from my paycheck is too big. I understand that by working it helps me get health insurance and other opportunities that I may need in the future. I believe the US tax system is unfair because after the tax cut I do not have enough money to buy what I need for living such as, food, clothing, and gas. Even though I work small hours a week and make less than $5,000 a year I am part of that 60% that John Light in “Is Our Tax System Fair? Survey Says: No” describes as people that believe the rich do not pay their fair amount. I highly believe that the money I earn should not go to those that do not even try to get a job and make excuses.
In Current Tax System Unfair to Working Class Buell says that “When all levels of government are considered, poor and lower middle-class citizens often pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than do the wealthy. Once Social Security tax (the employer’s part really comes out of the paycheck of the worker) and state and local sales and income taxes plus assorted fees are considered, even lower middle-class workers are paying a startling percentage of their income to government.” Buell is basically saying that the US tax system is unfair because anyone under the top 1% pay more tax and that any hard working person has too much tax deducted from their paycheck leaving them with almost nothing to live on.
In conclusion, the US taxation system is considered by me unfair. From the statistics given above and other information we know that the rich pay almost nothing from their paycheck, thus accumulating billions while the lower classes are making around $30,000 – $70,000 if lucky. Though the US government says that we run on progressive taxing processes, which states that the wealthy pay more than the poor, the state taxation process is completely different when it comes to purchasing goods from stores and online websites.