Community Columns / News 33
Ponte Vedra Recorder · September 17, 2015
Top 10 amazing and mind boggling stats in finances, taxes
Did my headline grab your attention?
C’mon, you know it did! There are
truckloads of studies that confirm that
it is in our DNA to gravitate towards
Top 10 lists. What is the reason behind
this phenomenon? I think it’s easy to
see; most of us are remarkably busy
and incredibly lazy! Furthermore, we
demand clarity and simplicity... now!
In other words, we want somebody
to “uncomplexify” for us! Regrettably,
far too many authors and columnist
(me included) use unnecessary fluff
to make their point. In the end, many
of our words amount to a whole lotta
nothing! We would arguably better
serve our readers if we wrote in bullet
points, as this writing style essentially
gets right to the message. In the end,
bullet points provide straightforward
precision that saves readers an exceedingly amount of their most precious
commodity, time! Therefore, when
viable, please bullet away! Without further chit-chat (fluff), away we go!
10. The personal savings rate in
the USA was +5.3% as of 3/31/15. The
savings rate of the average Chinese
household is +30% (source: Department of Commerce).
9.
To rank in
the top 1% of all
wage earners (for
tax year 2012) required an adjusted
gross income
level of $434,682
(source: Internal
Revenue Service).
8.
Harry Pappas
Columnist
Of the 40
million Americans
that currently hold student loans, 8
million of the borrowers are in default
(source: Bureau of Consumer Financial
Protection).
7.
The government took in $471.8
billion of tax receipts in April 2015, the
largest monthly total ever collected in
history. (Source: Treasury Department).
6.
Twenty current members of
the US House of Representatives (out
of 435 members in the House) have
no educational degree beyond a high
school diploma (source: Congressional
Research Service).
5. The trust fund backing Social
Security retirement benefits took in
payroll tax contributions that exceeded
retirement benefit payments made to
retirees for the 26 consecutive years
1984-2009. Since 2010, benefits paid
have exceeded payroll taxes collected.
For example, in 2014, covered workers
paid in $646.2 billion of payroll taxes,
but retirees received $706.8 billion in
benefit payments (sou