When looking at the percentage of taxes paid by an individual, you should always look at the amount of money retained by the individual vs the amount of money paid in taxes. Essentially then, the tax rate paid is the amount by which in-pocket money is reduced compared to total earnings.
This works pretty well for income taxes. Capital Gains Taxes are a slightly different matter. These are taxes on investment, which typically means taxes on profits from stocks.
If corporate profits are disbursed to you, a stockholder, that is money in your pocket. On that MiyP you than pay income tax. But wait - there would be even more MiyP but for business taxes as well. See, b/c the corporate profit is being disbursed to you, if the business didn't pay taxes you would get more MiyP from your investment. So given that we are looking at effective tax rate as money in pocket vs total earnings, a business tax paid by a business you own stock in IS a tax on your income.
If you apply this to the wealthy, who tend to gain a large portion of their income through capital gains, you realize that far from only paying 15% on their capital gains income, the government also gets whatever corporate income tax is paid on the portions of companies they own.
Upshot? This article talks about Mitt Romney specifically, but it is applicable to everyone in his general situation. They pay a lot more than 15% taxes. And, seeing as the average American pays between 10-15% effective tax rate, that means they pay more than the great majority of us.
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