Taxing Kentucky's Rich

Ryan Alessi of cn2 has an interesting piece on just how many of our few, but egregious, Kentucky rich would be subject to higher taxes.

First Warren Buffett and now U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth of Louisville has suggested that the tax cuts should expire for those earning $500,000 a year or more.

SNIP

In Kentucky, the $500,000 threshold would affect the top .32 percent — about one-third of one percent of households, according to 2010 tax filings with the IRS. In the region, only West Virginia has a smaller share of half-millionaires with a quarter of one percent bringing home more than $500,000, according to the Pure Politics analysis of IRS data. Meanwhile, Illinois had the highest share with about two-thirds of percent of the households earning more than a half-million dollars a year.

The IRS doesn’t itemize earners at the $250,000 mark. But it does categorize those who earn more than $200,000 a year.

Here’s how Kentucky rates to most of its surrounding states:

……………. households earning more than $200k ……… % of filers
Kentucky ………….. 33,062 ………………………………… 1.78%
West Virginia …….. 11,433 ……………………………….. 1.46%
Indiana ……………. 54,847 ………………………………… 1.84%
Ohio ………………. 107,837 ………………………………… 1.98%
Tennessee ………… 59,815 ………………………………… 2.10%
Missouri …………… 60,475 …………………………………. 2.25%
Illinois …………….. 200,337 ………………………………… 3.31%

SNIP

Kentucky had 1,673 tax filers whose 990s in 2010 showed them bringing in more than $1 million. That’s not quite one-tenth of one percent. Again, only West Virginia has a smaller share with .07% (seven one-hundreths of a percent) — or 553 filers — earning more than $1 million in 2010, according to the IRS data

So the rich are one-tenth of one percent of Kentuckians. Sounds like it should be amazingly easy to vote the motherfuckers down.