Different types of income at taxed at different rates. The US Federal Income tax is rather progressive, with those at the bottom paying a negative rate (so they

Different types of income at taxed at different rates. The US Federal Income tax is rather progressive, with those at the bottom paying a negative rate (so they get more back than they pay in) and the bottom 40% paying effectively 0%. Taxes on investments, as this author is likely alluding to, are taxed at a different rate that can sometimes be lower than, say, someone in the top 20% is paying, even though the person earning the money through investments may be making millions and have a net worth of $1 billion. Warren Buffet posts his taxes each year, if you want to see a simple example of this. There are various arguments for and against this, but most of them are too simple and focus on the extremes. Overall though, this could be improved and optimized. US taxes are weird (I think?) in that there are the posted rates, and then we all deduct lots of things (mortgage interest, charitable contributions, etc) and end up with an effective rate that is sometimes significantly lower.