“Note how Douthat compares the fictional present-day federal tax burden on this family (15 percent in federal taxes) with much higher taxes in the future. In 2035, he writes, “payroll and income taxes would claim 25 percent of that family’s paycheck.” As we’ve just noted, though, a family of four with an income of $94,000 is already paying 22.5 percent of its income in payroll and income taxes. And when the temporary Social Security payroll tax cut expires in a couple of years, that family will be paying almost 25 percent of its paycheck in payroll and income taxes. In other words, assuming he’s got the numbers right on the C.B.O.’s projection for 2035, the fictional median family of four earning a fictional $94,000 today will be paying almost exactly the same proportion of its income in federal payroll and income taxes in 2035 that it is today. Which pretty much refutes the whole point of his column.”

Dan Gross, once again demonstrating my argument that the NYT really needs to fact-check its opinion columnists. 

NYTimes Columnist Douthat Needs a Clue on Taxes - Yahoo! Finance

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Notes

  1. zanshinart reblogged this from thatandycohen and added:
    that Douthat doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
  2. thatandycohen reblogged this from markcoatney
  3. markcoatney posted this