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Comment by Jblx2 | Hacker News Reader

Here is one source (with 2022 data):

https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/latest-federal-in...

  - The top 1% of income earners pay 40.4% of the total U.S. Federal Income Tax receipts
  - Top 5% pays 61.0%
  - Top 10% pays 72.0%
  - Top 25% pays 87.2%
  - Top 50% pays 97.0%

...of course that doesn't include payroll taxes (Social Security).

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Focusing on a single tax is silly. We should look at all taxes paid across all levels of government. Federal income tax is one of the most progressive taxes out there, so of course that's what people focus on when they want to make the point that wealthy people are being sacrificed to the altar of taxation.

If you look at all taxes, the share paid is remarkably close to the share earned. According to https://itep.org/who-pays-taxes-in-america-in-2024/, in 2024, the top 1% earned 20.1% of income while paying 23.9% of taxes. The bottom 20% paid 1.5% of taxes while earning 2.6% of income.

This seems to show the same gradation but with less magnitude. Was there some other point you were making?

It’s way less, is the point. Top earners pay just a little more than their share of income. The tax system as a whole is nearly flat.

How do I sign up for this magical 25% “effective tax rate”? Last year mine was 46% and that’s only counting income tax (state + federal).

By being somewhere around the 40th percentile of income, according to that link.

> in 2024, the top 1% earned 20.1% of income while paying 23.9% of taxes.

Within that group, the share is not evenly distributed, though.

Most who are in the 1% club are people who are earning wage income, like doctors, and are getting absolutely reamed with taxes. The vast majority of the 1% are not rich enough to be doing elaborate schemes to avoid taxes.

Billionaires, who are in the top 0.0002%, are an entirely whole different story. There are many figures that show they generally do not pay their fair share in taxes.

And for reference, here's what kind of incomes those percentiles are:

Top 50%: $53k/year

Top 25%: $93k/year

Top 10%: $155k/year

Top 5%: $210k/year

Top 1%: $450k/year

I think these numbers are not suited to say anything substantial about the position of ultra rich people in society.

I agree which was why I included the context.

Please delete this comment before it bankrupts half of click-bait driven media outlets.

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