The Rich Pay All the Taxes
Friday, January 9th, 2009Taking a break from religion writing, I’d like to respond to the oft-repeated claim that only the rich pay a significant share of taxes. Thanks to Sullivan and Greg Mankiw, I finally got my hands on the numbers (from the Congressional Budget Office). While the top 20% of taxpayers owes about 69% of the total tax burden, they also earn about 55% of total income, so in proportion to their share of income (which is always left off such charts) it’s not that bad:
Share of Income and Tax Liability:
| Quintile | Median income | Share of income | Share of tax liability |
| Lowest quintile | 15,300 | 4.0 | 0.8 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Second quintile | 33,700 | 8.5 | 4.1 |
| Third quintile | 50,200 | 13.3 | 9.3 |
| Fourth quintile | 70,300 | 19.8 | 16.9 |
| Fifth quintile | 96,100-24,286,300+ | 55.1 | 68.8 |
This, folks, is what we call a “progressive tax system“.