The Huffington Post, How the Wall Street Journal Distorts the Truth About Taxes, by Jeffrey Sachs (Columbia University, Department of Economics):
The Wall Street Journal is the leading mouthpiece for cutting taxes for the rich. The Journal editorial board is fully in the service of that cause. An editorial at the start of this week is a vivid case in point. The Journal claims that IRS data prove the “fiscal futility of raising rates on the top 2%, or even the top 5% or 10% of taxpayers to close the deficit.” The IRS data in fact prove exactly the opposite of what the Journal claims.
I direct readers to the Summary of Latest Federal Income Tax Data presented by the Tax Foundation. … There the reader will find the data they need to discover how the Journal has gotten it all wrong. …
It’s really hard to understand what the Journal was thinking in writing its flawed editorial. Whatever that might have been, they have done us a huge service by drawing attention to the astonishing incomes received by America’s richest taxpayers, coupled with the declining rates of average personal income taxation paid by this group.
