5 ms·
https://itep.org/who-pays-taxes-in-america-in-2020/ https://itep.org/who-pays-taxes-in-america-in-2020/ When summing up top earners: - Top 1% of earners paid
by cheph 5y ago
https://itep.org/who-pays-taxes-in-america-in-2020/ https://itep.org/who-pays-taxes-in-america-in-2020/
When summing up top earners:
- Top 1% of earners paid 24.3% of total income tax.
- Top 5% of earners paid 40.6% of total income tax.
- Top 20% of earners paid 66.4% of total income tax.
Guess their efforts are not that good.
- Yizahi 5y agoAnyone looking at these numbers should remember that % of income tax number is a flat one, linear, meaning that 20% + 20% = 40% etc. But top % of earners is exponential, meaning that second percentile of earners doesn't equal first percentile, it is actually several orders of magnitude different.
- rorykoehler 5y agoThese figures are meaningless without also stating what % of income the top x% earned. for example if the top 1% earned 99% of all income then paying 24% of all tax doesn't look so good.
- cheph 5y ago> These figures are meaningless without also stating what % of income the top x% earned. No they are not. But those numbers are also in the link, and it is more or less the same, top 1% earned 20.9% of all income.
- rorykoehler 5y agoThose numbers are ridiculous if you think about them for a second. The bottom earners probably have zero excess earnings but somehow pay similar tax per dollar earned as the top 1% earners who have pretty much only excess earnings, even when not accounting for inflated lifestyle inefficiencies. That is just insane. Here is another view on the mess of income inequality in the US (with Europe for comparison): https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DjRkWPeU8AIeWtG?format=jpg&name=large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DjRkWPeU8AIeWtG?format=jpg&name=... Indefensible really. Digging your own grave.
- cheph 5y ago> The bottom earners probably have zero excess earnings but somehow pay similar tax per dollar earned as the top 1% earners who have pretty much only excess earnings, even when not accounting for inflated lifestyle inefficiencies. Again, this is in the source I linked, and if by similar you mean, differing by 14.4%, then sure.
- rorykoehler 5y agoThat is basically nothing when you consider the other parts of my comment.
- dredmorbius 5y agoBoth you and OP are conflating the income and wealth question, which is what ProPublica's article specifically addresses. By considering income but not wealth as taxable, the system skews automatically to highly regressive, furthering wealth inequality.
- rorykoehler 5y agoI'm not conflating it, I'm just looking at it in isolation.