Taxpayers in the top 5 percent of income already pay for more than 43 percent of the U.S. government, and taxpayers in the top 1 percent pay for more than 27 percent; at some point, taking more resources from the wealthy yields diminishing returns. Many of the Obama reforms, including much of the stimulus bill, and the health care bill, redistribut

Here’s a fun fact: An income of $35,000 puts you in the top .81% of world incomes. Congratulations 1%’er! Want to know where your income puts you? Check it out here: www.globalrichlist.com

Taking income from the rich and giving it to the poor is one way—again, temporarily—of boosting the real income growth of the poor and lower middle class. Like unfunded tax cuts, this remedy cannot be applied forever. Taxpayers in the top 5 percent of income already pay for more than 43 percent of the U.S. government, and taxpayers in the top 1 per

For each dollar earned in 2005, the top 10 percent received 48.5 cents.

“47 percent” (the fraction of the population who currently pay no federal income tax).

Emmanuel Saez of the University of California, Berkeley, found that an astonishing 95 percent of total income gains during the years 2009 to 2012 were hoovered up by the wealthiest 1 percent.