4 ms·

45% of Americans pay no federal income tax. The top 20% of earners pay 80% of taxes.

• biddit 7y ago
  This stat is disingenuous when used out of context. The bottom 45% still pay SS/payroll taxes, which is quite regressive due to the $127k cap. When you consider that along with consumption and property taxes, their effective rate of taxation is still moderate.
• bogus_323423 7y ago
  There has never been a society wherein the most productive do not bear the majority of the costs. This is simply due to necessity; nothing else is possible. At the least they also have the most say in how society is run, given money is the deciding factor in electoral politics such as ours. Were sortition or some other noncorrupt means of choosing rulers used, this would actually be an unfair arrangement. I suspect this is why oligarchy such as ours is so popular; it recognizes the reality of elites while creating the illusion of popular legitimacy.
• standardUser 7y ago
  That's not a useful thing to add to the conversation without the context of how much income is going to those two different groups of income earners. Some might even say it is purposefully misleading.