I can understand why the Democrats continue to regurgitate their lies about the tax system in America. Based on the emails and comments I received in response to my post a few days ago. It seems there are many out there who don’t understand how taxes are calculated. Let me try to explain it:

When you see a tax table that shows the rates as follows:

2004 Tax Rates
$0 - $7,000 � 10%
$7,001 - $28,400 � 15%
$28,401 - $68,800 � 25%
$68,801 - $143,500 � 28%
$143,501 - $311,950 � 33%
over $311,951 � 35%

This DOES NOT mean you take your income, figure out which bracket you’re in and then multiply your total income by the rate for that bracket. In fact, that method would mean your tax burden is actually higher than if you calculated the right way.

Here’s how you do it:

$0 - $7,000 � 10%
If your taxable income (total income less decuctions/exemptions) is $7,000 or less, your tax is calculated by multiplying your taxable income by the 10% rate. This is the only bracket where your tax is calculated by a single bracket percentage.

Example:
Taxpayer’s taxable income is $5,000 a year.
Multiply the whole $5,000 x 10% = $500 (total tax liability)

$7,001 - $28,400 � 15%
If your taxable income is $7,001 but not more than $28,400, you would calculate your first $7,000 of taxable income at 10% (see above). Then you would take the leftovers, the amount over $7,000 up to $28,400 and multiply just that portion by 15%.

Example:
Taxpayer’s taxable income is $25,000 a year.
Multiply the first $7,000 x 10% = $700
Multiply the next $18,000 (the amount over the already calculated $7,000) x 15% = $2,700
Then add the two together: $700 + $2,700 = $3,400 (total tax liability)

$28,401 - $68,800 � 25%
If your taxable income is $40,000, you follow the steps above, by calculating your first $7,000 at 10%, your next $21,400 at 15% and anything leftover at 25%.

$68,801 - $143,500 � 28%
If your taxable income is $80,000, you follow the steps above, by calculating your first $7,000 at 10%, your next $21,400 at 15%, your next $40,399 at 25% and anything leftover at 28%.

$143,501 - $311,950 � 33%
If your taxable income is $200,000, you follow the steps above, by calculating your first $7,000 at 10%, your next $21,400 at 15%, your next $40,399 at 25%, your next $74,699 at 28% and anything leftover at 33%.

over $311,951 � 35%
If your taxable income is $80,000, you follow the steps above, by calculating your first $7,000 at 10%, your next $21,400 at 15%, your next $40,399 at 25%, your next $74,699 at 28%, your next $168,449 at 33% and anything leftover at 35%.

Again, you DO NOT take your total income and multiply it by one rate. This is basic tax paying 101, but apparently there are many out there who still don’t get it. If you’re willing to educate yourself, it’s not that difficult to understand. If you’d prefer to buy the lies and remain uneducated, that’s your prerogative. Just don’t complain when you figure out you’ve been lied to because you refused to take a moment to learn the facts.

Over two decades, the income gap has steadily increased between the richest Americans, who own homes and stocks and got big tax breaks, and those at the middle and bottom of the pay scale, whose paychecks buy less.

To back up their claim, they offer a nice little chart, too:

But here’s the issue I have. Based on this chart, those at the bottom are making $5.20 per hour. That’s the kind of wage one makes flipping burgers at McDonalds or mopping floors at WalMart. That’s a high school summer job or the job of someone starting a ground level. That’s where most of us get our start… and we certainly didn’t expect over a hundred grand for pushing shopping carts across a parking lot, did we? These kinds of statistics are deceptive, as they try to compare hourly jobs with the pay of professional careers. This allows them to paint “two Americas” in their attempt to guilt the successful into giving up what they have for those who are either unqualified to do equal work, or unmotivated to do so.

The reason the top income has doubled is that those at the top are generally more productive, more skilled or more highly trained in what they do. Therefore, it’s understandable that those who’ve worked their way to the top are motivated to keep growing and earning more. It’s also understandable that there will always be jobs that require little skill or motivation and as such, just won’t pay much. It’s even further understandable that while we all begin at the low end, not all of us have the motivation, or the skill and ability to do what it takes to advance. Those who remain behind aren’t motivated to increase their income and as such, one would expect it to remain stagnant.

Maybe the AP will find a sense of intellectual honesty and post a graph that includes skill, ability, education, work ethic, motivation, ingenuity and passion - the REAL factors behind why some people make a lot of money and some people don’t.

John Kerry has taken a bold new stance on what he’d do as President in the War on Terror. His advisors, today have announced the “Kerry Recalendaring Initiative”.

�A new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report produced at the request of Congressional Democrats confirms that tax cuts since 2001 increased the share of federal income taxes paid by the highest earners while decreasing the tax share of lower- and middle-income groups. The CBO analysis, Effective Tax Rates Under Current Law, 2001 to 2014, shows that the income tax remains highly progressive, with the top 5 percent of earners paying more than half of all federal income taxes.�

Order yours today!

“Over the last four years, again and again, we were promised that tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals would create millions of new jobs,” Kerry said in a speech prepared for delivery at California State University Dominguez Hills. “Since Bush took office, 1.1 million jobs have been lost.“

• On March 3, 2004, it was �the economy has lost 2.9 million private sector jobs under Bush.�
• Then on March 26, 2004 , it was “Instead we have lost 2.2 million jobs.�
• And on August 6, 2004 it became “1.9 million have lost their jobs�
• Finally on August 12, 2004 it is “Since Bush took office, 1.1 million jobs have been lost�

We’re learning of al-Qaeda’s next cowardly plot on innocent civilians. Apparently evidence has been found that they’re going to target anything that won’t fight back because they’re a bunch of worthless little sissy assholes.

But we’re also learning what they think about President Bush’s response to their fanaticism and how they view a potential John Kerry presidency. A U.S. intelligence official has reported:

“The goal of the next attack is twofold: to damage the U.S. economy and to undermine the U.S. election … the view of al Qaeda is ‘anybody but Bush.’ ”

African-American