I do understand the concept of progressive taxation. $65K is an average household income, but there's no way that the average household is paying $10K in feder

I do understand the concept of progressive taxation. $65K is an average household income, but there's no way that the average household is paying $10K in federal income tax, that's laugh-out-loud far of the mark. Let's just say that's a couple married-filing-jointly. In 2020, you'd take first of all a $24,800 basic deduction. Then you'd pay $4,429 in income tax on the $40,200 taxable income. If you had two kids, you'd take two Child Tax Credits for $2,000 each and pay $429 in federal income tax. An average household with two kids pays essentially no federal income tax in 2020. Even in the absolute worst-case, a single filer pays no more than ~$7,400 on $65,000 of income. In 2021, thanks to the increase in the Child Tax Credit ($3000 per child or more younger children), the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the average household will pay no federal income tax at all on income under $75,000 per year.