The rich pay more than their fair share

by alexvanbuskirk

The rich pay more than their fair share

By Phillip Klein @ Washington Examiner (July 11, 2012)

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…When all federal taxes are included, the top 1 percent paid 22.3 percent of taxes in 2009, compared to the bottom 20 percent, who paid only 0.3 percent of the taxes. That means that the proportion of taxes paid by the top 1 percent is 74 times the amount paid by bottom 20 percent. In 1979, the top 1 percent was only paying seven times as much in taxes as a share of all taxes collected.

Some may counter that the rich pay a lot more because they earn a lot more. But even factoring in income inequality, wealthier Americans still pay a disproportionate amount in taxes. The top 1 percent, who as we see above paid 22.3 percent of all federal taxes in 2009, earned only 13.4 percent of income in the U.S. that year. The top 20 percent, who earned 50.8 percent of income, paid 67.9 percent of taxes. In contrast, every other income group paid a lower share of taxes than they earned in income.