Reply #8

If this will make it more clear:
The author of the article (Sam Pizzigati) wrote, "America’s richest households in 1943, after exploiting all available loopholes, paid nearly 78 percent of their total incomes in federal tax." He claims to have special knowledge which he cannot possibly have. No one can know the extent to which the richest households exploited loopholes.

Tax attorneys and tax accountants don't even agree as to what "loopholes" are. It is a category that is not defined in the Internal Revenue Code, the Treasury Regulation, or the Revenue Procedures or Revenue Rulings. What one person might call a "loophole," e.g., another person might call it nothing more than a legitimate deduction. Another person might call the act of using certain creative thinking, which others might overlook, as a "loophole."

The richest households paid nearly 78 percent of total incomes in federal tax after exploiting all available loopholes? Excuse me, but I don't believe it. The claim is inherently incredible.