Bruce Jenket: Use of percentages a common tactic to sway public opinion

To The Daily Sun,

I read Eric Herr’s response to my letter on the TC&JA being a tax cut for the lowest wage earners and a tax increase on the wealthiest wage earners. The title of his letter “They paid more, but got greater tax breaks than the poor” confirmed my original premise. Here is Eric’s letter again: tinyurl.com/9mr7fec3.

I know Eric, we wrote a joint letter on this very subject back in January 2020. Here is that letter: tinyurl.com/nhyxpcn5. Eric is intelligent, respectful and involved in the community. He is also a partisan Democrat. Eric focused on Effective Federal Tax Rate (EFTR) in his recent letter and ignored total dollars paid which is the measure of who really were the beneficiaries of the TC&JA.

His use of percentages is a common tactic by Democrats to sway public opinion. Using that same approach, let’s look at it from the dollars paid as a percentage of total income taxes collected. In 2017, those making under $100,000 per year paid $299B of the $1,582B collected or 18.9%. Those making over $500,000 per year paid $604B of the $1,582B or 38.2%.

In 2022, those making under $100,000 per year paid $277B of the $2,099B collected or 13.2%. Those making over $500,000 per year paid $946B of the $2,99B or 45.1%.

Huh, using Eric’s “percentage” logic, those making under $100,000 saw a decrease of 5.7% (18.9%-13.2%) and the rich saw an increase of 6.9% (45.1%-38.2%) as a percentage of taxes collected. Which was exactly what President Donald Trump promised.

I’m always amazed at how Democrats can manipulate perception. Between 2017 and 2022, total taxes increased $517B. Those making over $500B paid $341B more, those making between $100,000 and $500,000 paid $198B more and those making under $100,000 paid $22B less. If Eric wants to dispute those numbers, he has my email address.

Bruce Jenket

Moultonborough