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In the US context, people will say "X% of the people pay no taxes" when the more correct phrase is "X% of the people pay no income taxes but do pay sales tax, fuel tax, and other taxes."

This link appears to be the same, in that it only concerns income tax.

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Those arguments are usually when in context of the rich not paying their 'fair share' in the US. When the stats come out and show that the top 10% pay 90% of the federal taxes (not including all of the taxes you mentioned), it really puts things into perspective.

I see no way of understanding the perspective.

Is it because nearly all of the population is in poverty, and surviving be subsistence farming?

Is it because most of the country's income comes from other sources, and only those making $1M or more have an income tax?

Those are two very different scenarios which lead to the same observation, so I can't see how you can draw a single perspective out of it.

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