You're really stretching

Reader comment on: Bloomberg's BMW

Submitted by Averages (United States), Sep 18, 2010 07:53

As the other commentator says, you're comparing apples and oranges. And for that matter, the stories don't even say different things.

This piece is about someone who earns a million dollars with no deductions. It's a hypothetical situation (someone who earns a million bucks is undoubtedly going to have lots of deductions to begin with). The tax increase totals fifty grand.

The other story says the average increase for people making a million bucks and up is ... $100,000. Why did you omit this and focus on the lower range in the previous story? Yes, it's apples and oranges.

The first story also says that the average tax increase for people who make between $250,000-$500,000 is $532. That makes sense since most of those people are most likely clustered around the $250,000 mark rather than the $500,000 mark, statistically speaking. Since the tax increases are on marginal rates and we're talking averages of an income grouping, $532 seems surprising but upon closer inspection sounds right. After all, their first $250,000 of income is being taxed at lower rates that would be preserved by Obama.

So, no, you don't make a convincing case for a huge flip-flop.

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