Comment by Jblx2
4 hours ago
Here is one source (with 2022 data):
https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/latest-federal-in...
- The top 1% of income earners pay 40.4% of the total U.S. Federal Income Tax receipts
- Top 5% pays 61.0%
- Top 10% pays 72.0%
- Top 25% pays 87.2%
- Top 50% pays 97.0%
...of course that doesn't include payroll taxes (Social Security).
And for reference, here's what kind of incomes those percentiles are:
Top 50%: $53k/year
Top 25%: $93k/year
Top 10%: $155k/year
Top 5%: $210k/year
Top 1%: $450k/year
Please delete this comment before it bankrupts half of click-bait driven media outlets.
Focusing on a single tax is silly. We should look at all taxes paid across all levels of government. Federal income tax is one of the most progressive taxes out there, so of course that's what people focus on when they want to make the point that wealthy people are being sacrificed to the altar of taxation.
If you look at all taxes, the share paid is remarkably close to the share earned. According to https://itep.org/who-pays-taxes-in-america-in-2024/, in 2024, the top 1% earned 20.1% of income while paying 23.9% of taxes. The bottom 20% paid 1.5% of taxes while earning 2.6% of income.
This seems to show the same gradation but with less magnitude. Was there some other point you were making?
It’s way less, is the point. Top earners pay just a little more than their share of income. The tax system as a whole is nearly flat.