Economix Blog: More on Mitt Romney’s Tax Rate

There are any number ways to calculate a household’s tax rate. You can look at just the federal income tax and conclude that almost half of Americans don’t pay taxes, or look at all taxes and conclude that a vast majority of Americans do pay taxes.

DAVID LEONHARDT

Thoughts on the economic scene.

To my news analysis explaining that most households actually pay a lower federal tax rate than 15 percent — the rate Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, says that he pays — there are two postscripts worth adding:

First, I focused on direct taxes. If you also include indirect taxes — mainly corporate taxes, effectively paid by stockholders — Mr. Romney’s rate rises higher. On average, the top 1 percent of earners pay about 10 percent of their income in corporate taxes, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Companies officially pay these taxes. But by reducing the after-tax earnings of the company, the taxes ultimately come out of the pockets of the company’s owners. Economists, with good reason, like to apportion all taxes to people, rather than to an entity like a corporation.

Second, most of the article focused on federal taxes, not state or local taxes (for which the data is thinner). Because Mr. Romney’s income is so high, he pays relatively little of it in state and local taxes. A middle-class or poor family would pay a greater proportion.

These two factors obviously point in different directions. So if you widened the lens beyond direct federal taxes — to all taxes, including indirect, state and local taxes — the conclusion would likely be similar. Mr. Romney does not pay a lower tax rate than most Americans. He also doesn’t pay a much higher tax rate, despite being much more affluent.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=f3da1aa10e8b7e3e462ef5e19232256a