Wondering who shoulders most of the burden for paying federal income taxes? The most recent data available from the Internal Revenue Service (for tax year 2006) indicates the following:
Income category |
Adjusted Gross Income |
% of all income |
% of all income taxes paid |
Top 1% |
Over $388,806 |
22% |
40% |
Top 5% |
Over $153,542 |
37% |
60% |
Top 10% |
Over $108,904 |
47% |
71% |
Top 25% |
Over $64,702 |
68% |
86% |
Top 50% |
Over $31,987 |
88% |
97% |
Bottom 50% |
Under $31,988 |
13% |
3% |
As indicated above, the highest earning 1% of taxpayers earn 22% of all income, almost double the amount earned by the bottom 50% of taxpayers. Yet, those top earners also pay a significant portion of all federal income taxes (40%), while the bottom 50% of taxpayers only pay 3%.