Al Sharpton tried to make the argument that the average American is taxed 30% - but was he right? Of course not! Instead, he was regurgitating progressive talking points that can be easily disproven with a little bit of (wait for it)...TRUTH! Glenn, Pat and Stu gave the facts on radio this morning.
Watch the comments below:
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The Blaze reports:
“Is it fair? Is it fair? One of your candidates for president, Willard Mitt Romney, reported himself that he paid around 14 percent in taxes. The average middle class American — Warren Buffett’s secretary pays 30 percent about. Is that fair?” Sharpton asked.“Reverend Al, the average American doesn’t pay 30 percent in income taxes,” Huelskamp said.
” — Is it fair??” Sharpton cut in.
“It’s not true, Al,” Huelskamp said.
“Is it fair? Is it fair? Is [sic] those statistics that I reported that they’re saying are true, is it fair?” Sharpton asked.
“It’s not true according to the IRS,” Huelskamp said.
“Oh so you won‘t answer whether it’s fair,” Sharpton said. “You’re trying to argue — on the basis of the report, if the report is inaccurate, fine, you stipulate that. I’m asking you, is it fair? is the arrangement fair?”
But as Glenn pointed out, Buffet's secretary makes no where close to the the average American salary.
"Warren Buffett's secretary if she is the average salaried person I will eat my hat and my pants and my shoe right now," Glenn said.
As the guy's pointed out, for her to pay a 30% tax rate she would actually have to be one of the wealthier people in America.
"If she is paying 30% in taxes her income is $200,000 at the very bottom, and $500,000 at the top depending on her deductions, and what else is going on in her life. It's at least $200,000," Pat said.
Stu pointed out that the only loophole would be that is she made about $40,000 - $60,000 but was married to someone in the $200,000-$500,000 range.
As Noel Sheppard pointed out on his blog, "In reality, according to the IRS and highlighted near the top of table one, the average American paid 12.8 percent in 2009."
Shepherd continues:
Unfortunately, because we have marginal tax brackets going up to 35 percent, the average person INCLUDING folks in the media thinks the wealthy pay 35 percent, and that any wealthy person - including Romney! - who pays less than this is somehow cheating.The truth is that nobody pays taxes exclusively at the rate of this top bracket; in 2009, the highest average tax rate for any income bracket was 25.8 percent for those making $2 million and under $5 million.
So what can we conclude about Sharpton's comments?
Straigt up lies.