'HALF of America pays NO taxes. Zero...'

“So they’re happy for tax rates to be raised on the other half that DOES pay taxes.”

The above is Rick Warren's tax tweet.  Or at least it was before it was unceremoniously pulled down and replaced with a retraction stating how it could have been a bit "mean".

Pray tell, Mr. Warren, which half do you speak of when you say they don't pay taxes? Surely you're not talking about those making under $18,530 (for a family of 3), which happens to be the 2011 federal poverty level and for whom a 35% top marginal tax rate would eat at least a third of their income, if they happened to be dropped into that bracket without any change in income. As it stands, the current tax bracket in this case is just 15%, which doesn't sound bad until you realize that at $18,530/yr for a family of 3, every dollar counts.

Meanwhile, the wealthy have a much easier time avoiding their 35% top marginal tax rate, through the creative use of loopholes and tax breaks generously gifted by our past and previous government. Even corporations get in on the act and find ways of paying absolutely no taxes. And the proceeds go straight to the stockholders and executives' bonuses. I'd guess this is the half Mr. Warren was talking about, but I have a feeling it isn't....

It amuses me to no end how people in this country want to see the poor and less-well-off get loaded down with taxes, while making every excuse in the world for the wealthy to get off scot-free from paying taxes, as though their wealth has somehow given them the Divine Right™ to stockpile and sit on as much money as they please. Not that I'm an advocate of the stereotypical "redistribution" schemes conservatives love to cry about, but there's this obligation to take care of the golden goose that lays your golden eggs. We all know how that story went....