Thoughts on Tax Day

UPDATE: Buttonholing ultra-rich liberal Teddy Kennedy. Video Michelle Malkin. Enjoy.
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There was quite a line at the post office yesterday. Today millions of Americans file their taxes, online or otherwise. GOP Sen. John McCain addressed the economy today--Dems promise a trillion dollars in new taxes over the next 10 years and just about everyone would suffer from their tax increases. Video highlights here.

And Steven Malanga, City Journal, RealClearMarkets, "The Rich and Their Taxes":

In 1980, with Jimmy Carter still as president, the top 1 percent of filers, those who reported an adjusted growth income of $80,580 or more, paid 19 percent of all federal income taxes. [snip]

A decade later, despite tax cuts in the 1980s that many critics claimed benefited the rich, our top 1 percent of filers were paying more of the total--25 percent of the country’s tax bill—than anyone else. The portion of taxes paid by the top filers continue to grow throughout the 1990s and into the new century, pausing only for recessions, which are generally periods in which the share of taxes paid by the rich falls because their incomes tend to decline the most. By 2005, the most recent year data are available, our top 1 percent of filers were paying nearly 40 percent of the federal income tax bill, while those in the 2nd to 5th percentile paid another 20 percent. Every other group saw its share of the tax bill decline, sometimes substantially.

Malanga highlights a few states where high taxes go hand in hand with corruption and mismanagement. Illinois was not on the list, but it might as well have been. Obama's not running on any Illinois Miracle, nor Hillary on a new and improved New York.

UPDATE: Some familiar names in mall-retailing are filing for bankruptcy. Though Obama's and the NY Times' hedge fund buddies on billionaire's row should be fine. As Malanga notes, the ultra rich like (Obama-backer) Warren Buffet pay a lower tax rate than "the rich".

P.S. A liberal at Illinois Reason chooses this day (and only this day) to be thankful for our freedom and security and opportunities, "Happy Invest in America Day".

For sure, taxes are the best investment of our hard-earned dollars.