The rich pay more than their 'fair share' of taxes

SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY JWR UPDATE. IT'S FREE. (AND NO SPAM!) Just click here.

One of the most persistent myths in politics is that rich have lower tax rates than middle-income workers. New data shows how false that is.

The Joint Committee on Taxation recently released an overview of the federal tax system. That's the nonpartisan committee of the U.S. Congress, which means its data is very reliable. Buried in the report is a table showing projections for 2024 income and tax rates.

Collectively, the bottom quintile, or lowest 20%, of the population earns aggregate income of around $540 billion. Their income tax rate is negative 16.8%. Overall, the income tax system will return members of that group more than $90 billion.

The second-lowest quintile reports a combined income of more than $1.5 trillion. Their average income tax rate is negative 4.5%. Yes, that's still a negative number. Americans in this group will receive back almost $69 billion more than they pay.

The middle quintile earns income of $2.6 trillion. Net, these wage earners will pay $41.5 billion in income taxes. That's an effective tax rate of 1.6%.

The story is vastly different for higher income earners. Those in the 95th to 99th percentile earn just more than $3 trillion in income. They'll pay an aggregate $481 billion in taxes, for a tax rate of 15.8%. That's almost 10 times higher than those in the middle.

The top 1%, excluding the top one-tenth of a percent, earned $2 trillion. They'll fork over $464 billion in taxes, which is an average tax rate of 23.1%.

The top one-tenth of 1% pay the most. On their $1.9 trillion in income, the government takes $481 billion. That's an income tax rate of 25%.

That's a lot of numbers, but here's the bottom line. There's a greater than 40 percentage point gap in income tax rates between the top and the bottom filers. And a sizable minority of taxpayers or possibly a small majority receive more back than they pay.

The U.S. tax code remains highly progressive. The top 1% earned 18.4% of national income, but paid 45% of income taxes.

During his most recent State of the Union address, President Joe Biden admonished millionaires to "pay your fair share in taxes." In a March 2024 Fact Sheet, the White House asserted Mr. Biden's tax plan has "reforms that will finally make the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share."

Never mind that Mr. Biden and his fellow progressives, for whom there is never enough of other people's money to spend, always avoid defining "fair share." The numbers reveal that the country's highest wage earners already shoulder a significantly larger tax burden than other Americans, both in terms of overall contributions and as a percentage of income.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Previously:
• 'Most predictable crisis' in history continuing as predicted
• Don't feed the pander-bear
• 'Grading for equity' leads to less learning
• Report again highlights need for entitlement reform
• Wage law is good news for . .. the robots
• Joe Biden should commit to presidential debates
• Biden tax plan would pummel average Americans
• Iran's brazen attack on Israel was 'utterly unsuccessful'
• More free stuff
• Biden proposes another massive spending spree
• Dems increasingly desperate over No Labels
• Biden hams it up during stemwinder
• Economies roar in red states
• To establish 'absolute tyranny over these States'
• Biden condemns himself in attack on shrinkflation
• If only Taylor Swift were dating the national debt
• Biden bows to Putin, environmentalists
• Defenders of 'democracy' want Voter ID off ballot
• 'No one is safe if they had any hand in' Oct. 7
• Biden infrastructure bill: A failure to launch
• US government revenues hit record highs
• Why Biden can't convince voters he's beat inflation
• Why Biden can't convince voters he's beat inflation
• Biden needs to stop the mixed messages
• The hating class as brave defenders
• Blinken only emboldens Hamas terrorists
• White House green Slush fund throwing around cash
• Biden immigration policies souring even Dems
• Dems fret as the bad news mounts for Biden
• Billions in coronavirus money still sitting around
• Senate delegation reassures Israel; where's the House?
• Senate delegation reassures Israel; where's the House?
• Chicago takes victim blaming to an absurd new low
• The utter failure of money to improve education
• Group identity drives American division
• The downside of Biden's drug price control scheme
• WARNING: Here's why top insurers are fleeing
• 'They even laughed in my face'
• Red states power Biden's economy
• 'If you have private insurance, you can' … OOPS!
• Ignoring the Bill of Rights when its convenient
• Hunter cops a plea --- but the Biden probes continue
• Will we every truly know the depth of pandemic fraud?
• Hello there, Big Brother! Please, come right in
• Its not perfect, but it's a start on immigration reform
• IRS wants to branch out
• Gas stove ban conspiracy theory comes true
• Biden's busy bureaucrats beef up regulatory state
• Don't even dare think of emulamating New Yawk!
• Where have all the nation's college students gone?
• Soft-on-crime policies hit hard wall of political reality
• Joe Biden and Monty Python is no comedy
• Global warming was supposed to wreak havoc on polar bears. Looks like someone forgot to tell the polar bears