The top 1% paid about 40% of all federal income taxes in 2018. That’s the highest percentage since 2001, when it was 33.2%, according to the IRS data.
The wealthy are paying a larger slice in part because of expanded tax credits and the near doubling of the standard deduction under the Republicans’ tax cuts which reduced the share paid by those in lower income brackets.
The percentage of federal income tax paid by the bottom half of taxpayers fell from 4.9% in 2001 to just below 3% in 2018.
The top 1% average tax rate was 26.8% that year, versus 25.4% in 2018. The tax rate for the bottom 50% was 3.4%, according to the IRS.
You can decide if this is a fair share or not, but it surely does not square with the tax avoidance rhetoric of progressives. Nor does it support the idea that recent changes in tax laws only benefited the wealthy.
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The facts have not mattered to Democrats and those voting for them for years. What matters is the soundbite and virtue signaling so they can “feel good” and think they are making a difference. I wish they’d see the world for what it is, but if people can’t understand the mess this Country finds itself in is completely inflicted by those virtue signaling b.s. of the Biden/Democrat administration. Hopefully seeing this info enough will be the red pill folks need.
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When the left says the “rich” don’t pay their fair share of taxes, what they mean is their share of income or wealth is “unfairly” large, and so it should be taken from them via taxes and redistributed. The billionaires hardly need me to speak for them. I write as one who is now merely financially secure in my old age after a lifetime of work, and resent those using loosely defined labels of “rich” or “wealthy” based not so much on financial criteria, but rather on greed, envy, resentment or anger.
When a politician talks about wealth, he must allow for age otherwise he is simply trying to stir up anger and resentment. They wish to tax wealth and would set the bar high at first, targeting billionaires, but no doubt will lower the bar so that eventually many of us who are successful but hardly super wealthy will be targeted too. My net worth, after adjusting for inflation, is much greater now at 68 than it was at age 21 and I suspect this is the case for most others too. Of course, most of my wealth I depend on for support in retirement and is not available for discretionary spending.
I’d like to hear more from our political leaders how they might incentivize the lower wage workers to build more wealth and less about how to cap the income of higher wage workers. And more about improving and enhancing the Earned Income Tax Credit to bolster those being left behind in a global economy with increasing reliance on automation and AI. Buffett has talked about this in one of his annual letters to shareholders.
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“The wealthy are paying a larger slice in part because of expanded tax credits and the near doubling of the standard deduction under the Republicans’ tax cuts which reduced the share paid by those in lower income brackets.”
Sure, they doubled the standard deduction, but they took away the $4,100 personal exemption for each family member. They also lowered the amount of local and state taxes that could be claimed. Many large families pay more in taxes today than they did in 2017.
The real problem is SPENDING, not TAX REVENUE!!!! Until we fix that nothing will change. IMO the facts show that no one is paying enough in taxes to fund the government and we are all going to suffer the results of this reckless spending. Higher prices and a lower standard of living for millions.
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Wealth inequality is far greater. According to an analysis of Federal Reserve data by the Economic Policy Institute, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans control 35.6 percent of the total wealth of the country — more than a third.
The top 1% of Americans have about 16 times more wealth than the bottom 50%
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So what? To make the top 1% you only need to earn $540,000, which is only 8.4 time the US mean household income ($64,324 in 2018). Is it fair that the 1% pay 26.8% of their $144,720 income in taxes while others pay 3% or nothing?
You wouldn’t like if you had to let me drive your car two days every week whether or not you needed your car? I didn’t earn the money that bought that car or put gas in that car.
Life is not fair. There is a big difference between equal opportunity and equal outcomes. I played little league baseball, but the Yankees never signed me. It’s not fair. And no one seems to complain that ball players can make millions either.
I am also sure that no fan would ever pay to see me sit the bench, so me not getting a Yankee’s contract was right, maybe not fair but correct.
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