Re: Romney's tax rate is only half as high as the middle class pays
Yeah, that's true. A fuller analysis would break it up by state. But the overall picture would average out like I said. The median American paying 27% and the median top 1%er paying 30%.
But, it doesn't really vary that much from state to state. The lowest state (Alaska) for taxes is at 6.3% and the highest (NJ) is at 12.2%, but they're pretty unusual exceptions.
Most the states are clustered right around 9%. What varies more is that some states' taxes are more regressive than others.
Forgive my laziness, but I'm too tired to read through the incredibly long pdf in there. Is that an effective rate including property, death, sales, and income taxes? I would believe it, but I wanted to confirm.
Either way, I still feel the same that the federal government does not have a role of balancing out state taxes. That is for state level government and elections.
But today, the guy who sells oranges in Florida has more shared interests with the guy who sells oranges in California than he has with the bartender in Florida. That didn't used to be the case. It used to be that the interests of the guy who sold oranges in Florida were closely tied to the interests of the bartender in Florida, but hardly tied to the interests of the guy who sold oranges in California at all. He most likely sold his oranges exclusively to other people in Florida. If the economy of Florida was doing well, both he and the bartender would be doing well. If the schools improved, that would probably give both the bartender and the guy who sells oranges a better shot at being able to hire somebody who knew how to do the books.
Today it isn't like that at all. The guy in Florida sells his oranges on a national commodities exchange. He buys his pesticides from the same place the guy in California does. The schools in both states may be irrelevant them because they try to hire people out of various agricultural programs around the country. The orange seller in Florida may well be much more heavily impacted by a policy about orange packaging in California than the same policy in Florida because there are more orange consumers in California. His interests overlap very little with the bartender in Florida anymore. If Florida's economy booms or falls it really doesn't have any more impact on him than if the economy of Pennsylvania booms or falls and probably less impact than if they economy of California booms or falls.
Many people live in multiple states during their lives. I've lived in 4 states in the last 18 months personally. Heck, many people live in one state and work in another. Families are spread across multiple states. People have friends scattered all across the country. At work many people spend all day communicating with people from different states far more than they communicate with anybody in their own state. Many people couldn't tell you for sure which state they'll be living in 10 years from now. People identify as Americans first and Minnesotans second where they used to see themselves as Minnesotans first and Americans second. The culture doesn't vary from state to state like it used to. It's become one big country instead of 50 different ones.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not on a mission to get rid of states. I just think they aren't as meaningful as political units as they once were.
The prices of Oranges go up, the guy in CA sells another fruit. It might suck a bit, but he isn't out of work. However, all those people picking, prepping, and packaging the oranges in FL now are worried about their jobs. They don't go to the bar down the street because it's a luxury item they don't want to spend on now that their income is in jeopardy. The bartender loses income and possibly his job. The bar tender starts cutting luxuries ... etc etc.
There is definitely more of an impact locally.
People can and do move states. That's right. So do businesses. That's why states need to watch what and how they tax and the federal government shouldn't be trying to counteract those choices. They use the money to fund emergency services and local roads and other programs. They need to base their taxes on what employers and businesses do well and which ones don't and who has the most income and what amenities that state has to offer.
Regarding culture, take a look at the demographics, spending habits, and religious affiliations in GA, then look at them in IA, then look at them in OR. I think you'll find there are some pretty big differences left out there.
EDIT: Wanted to add that I'm headed to bed for the night. I will try to get a bit of time to address responses tomorrow. Always a pleasure debating!