If you’ve just filed your income taxes, it might interest you that the U.S. tax code is incredibly progressive. That’s meant in a mathematical sense, not a pejorative one. It’s progressive because it collects far more taxes from you when you make more income. As a household’s income approaches a modest amount, the tax burden can zero out entirely or even turn negative.
This isn’t the message we usually hear from today’s left. They claim “the rich” should pay “their fair share.” We also hear this in recent times from liberal wolves in sheep’s clothing on the “New Right,” people like Oren Cass. What we’ve never heard liberals do is define in numerical terms how much is “fair.” Still, we do know their definition of “rich” tends to include more everyday Americans than they let on.
How progressive is our tax code? According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the average federal tax rate (all federal taxes of all kinds divided by income) for the top 0.01 percent of households — the 12,000 wealthiest families in America — was more than 30 percent. These households give the federal government 30 cents of every dollar they earn.
Given the rhetoric, that might be surprising. Let’s keep going down the income ladder. The highest “quintile” (one-fifth) of earners, those making $350,000 annually, paid 22 percent of their income in federal taxes. The middle quintile, those making $80,000 yearly, paid 13 percent of their income. And the lowest quintile, those making $20,000, paid 1 percent of their income in federal taxes.
Remember, this isn’t just the federal income tax — it’s also the Social Security and Medicare payroll tax, the corporate income tax, the inheritance tax, and all federal excise taxes. So, it’s a comprehensive look at the country’s federal tax burden. And it shows a very steep and very progressive tax system. If you’re working a minimum wage job, you hardly pay anything. If you’re in the middle class, you’re paying a respectable but modest amount. And if you’re a millionaire, you’re paying out your ears more than twice what the middle class pays as a percentage of income.
Congress is scheduled to vote on making President Trump’s “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” law, which is about to expire, permanent. This will ensure that taxes don’t increase in January 2026 on middle-class families and small businesses. Unless Congress acts, income tax rates will rise across the board. The child tax credit will be cut from $2,000 to $1,000 per child. The standard deduction and inheritance tax exemptions will be cut in half. The dreaded “alternative minimum tax” will return. The tax rate paid by most family-owned small businesses will rise 25 percent on top of the income tax rate hikes.
In a misguided attempt at frugality, Congress is considering “paying for” this avoidance of a tax hike with higher taxes, which is itself a fairly insane thing to do that only makes sense to some in Washington. The form of this tax hike is particularly painful given what Trump’s tariff experiment is putting Main Street employers through. Congress is considering removing the ability of businesses large and small to deduct their state and local income taxes paid on their profits. Doing so would increase businesses’ average federal tax rate from anywhere between 2 and 5 percentage points, depending on the business and their state tax rates.
Why on Earth, on the front end of what most economists now say is an unavoidable recession, would Congress consider raising taxes on anyone, let alone the businesses that must pay the gargantuan tariffs imposed by Trump? In fact, Congress should be talking about how it is cutting taxes for businesses to help them counteract the higher costs they are paying when they import goods from abroad. Congress should look to lower tax rates, not raise taxes by denying deductions for ordinary and necessary business expenses like state business taxes.
Our tax system is already plenty progressive and needs Congress to focus on growth, not liberal talking points about greedy rich business owners.
Reprinted with permission from DC Journal by Ryan Ellis.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
“Check Your Math, Bernie: The Rich Pay the Most in Taxes”
Please don’t trouble the Leftists with facts; they get upset and then they get violent.
Leftist ideology and the Leftist agenda are, and have always been, based on lies, misinformation, and deception. The greatest enemies of the Left are truth, facts, and reality.
If the Democrats couldn’t lie they couldn’t even talk.
This conversation is going nowhere but round and round. I think politicians and Dems. know exactly what would have to be done to put this derailed train back on track but it is so drastic and scary and dangerous to their comfy couch that they would not dare to disturb status quo and acknowledge the fact that bottom has fallen out ,we are broke. Easter bunny is not bringing the basket of goodies. Trump knows there is only one way to go about it and it scares them out of their wits.
Bernie Sanders has a special kind of STUPID.
Notice how Bernie quit complaining about millionaires and billionaires as soon as he became a millionaire? He’s the richest socialist I know I don’t even know him I don’t want to.
Write your senators and representative to vote for the tax bill ASAP. Not a month from now, now. I know the dems are delaying and delaying. The tariffs will be in place before this bill is passed. Bernie is dreaming if he thinks the uber rich can pay all the taxes to cover the yearly budget. Hell it won’t even pay the interest on our debt. The tax bill Trump got passed in his first term should be made permanent. And once tariffs kick in maybe even lowered more or eliminated. That would take care of any tariffs costs. Only tge dems want to hold this bill hostage as long as they can. Nothing good can happen under Trump. After all he is making America great again when they just were so close to bankrupting it. Even Biden was saying with his demented mind look at the destruction Trump did in 100 days. To undo all the damage you did Joe. Please go home, your speech showed your dementia is worse and you don’t know what’s going on. PASS THE TAX BILL. MAKE TAX CUTS PERMANENT. NO TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY, NO TAX ON TIPS OR OVERTIME. Get this country moving again.
I filed on the 5th and received my refund on the 14th. Never got a refund that quickly. Could DOGE have had anything to do with it?
Last year I had to pay 82.00 in Federal taxes. The previous year I had to pay 152.00 in taxes. All because I had to be on Obamacare. I took an early retirement at 62 to take care of my husband due to his health issues. Between the two of us our income was just above the poverty level by 400.00. We can’t get government aid due to being above the poverty limit. He is a veteran, but his disability social security is not military related. We live very frugally, and Iam thankful we are not homeless. Yes, the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, so why can’t the left stop their hypocritical complaining. When will Bernie realize he is living as a capitalist- the very thing he is ripping on???!!!
Bernie should know this, since he is a MILLIONAIRE. One of my least favorite things about liberals is that they believe their own lies, even when they know for a fact that they ARE LIES! I guess that is the only way they can sleep at night? What else do you say about a party that has been scaring citizens for months by warning them that Trump wants to cut all the benefits they depend on. Not even on the radar, not in one single bill (I read BOTH of the budget framework bills), yet there they are lying straight into the camera. Disgusting.
Bernie never had a job until he ran for mayor and hasn’t ever had a real job. All he knows are Marxist talking points.
To quote jimmy buffett, math sucks!
Cortez and Bernie are the reason there are instructions on toilet paper.
Followers of Sanders, AOC, etc listen to them, because they believe what they want to believe, regardless if true or not. They simply rein enforce that notion
The talking points that every Democrat uses instead of using their heart and their brain (that is not allowed in the Democrat Party) to determine their direction but the elite of the party demands specific loyalty from its members!! The “millionaires and billionaires don’t pay enough taxes” and talk about a real policy that would satisfy even Bernie still hasn’t happened yet because they can’t get off of the talking point!!!!
Of course the rich pay more taxes. That’s where the money is. Corporate income taxes used to bring in about one-third of total revenue in 1950 and that’s now under 10%. The individual income tax base has been narrowing, with more people paying no income tax at all. I doubt Congress will let the 2017 tax cuts lapse, but they will need to look for other sources of revenue, possibly by broadening the tax base. This won’t be popular with lower income individuals who currently have no tax liability.
Bernie just isn’t very bright. Really a dullard. When will all these old politicians die?
bern is a RICH SOCIALIST….we don’t see him giving away his money to the lower paying people. Can you spell HYPOCRITE???? arse hole independent that he is….now aoc–hmm she be a millionaire now has drunk bernies KEWL aid….
The next time Bernie is right will be the first time.
Bernie Sanders admits he is a Socialist, so he is an enemy to our country! Furthermore, you already know he is a liar and friends with communist, Marxist and other enemies of America! They must be dealt with
What Burnie and the rest of the Demonrats are really saying is “the rich republicans (not demonrats) should pay more in taxes. I’m sure Burnie, Pelosi, and the likes of them take as much as possible in tax breaks, if not more.
Let’s get on board with the FairTax. It will solve a lot of problems and get rid of IRS. Before decrying this plan make sure you read the whole bill. It will put a lot of money back into the pockets of the middle and lower class. This far surpasses any “flat tax” plan. Read the details. Everyone should want to support the FairTax when they understand it.
Bernie is just another disgusting and lying LEFT politician. He knows better but has no skin in the game. He never worked for his bread and lies about the rich and he workers. He has nothing to say worth listening to. As he always has done, trying to be relevant.
Appreciate the article. However, from what I can glean of my liberal friends, is the misconception that the wealthy do not pay ANY income tax. The left is convinced that the wealthy use deductions and “loopholes” to dodge paying ANY income tax. They (the liberal press) find a handful of examples of some wealthy dude not paying tax in a particular year and assume this is true all of the time, for all of the wealthy. Can someone please create a chart or statistics to refute this claim? For example, how many millionaires filed their taxes vs. how few paid no tax? The left doesn’t seem to have any understanding of deduction changes from year to year. Over the years, I have seen break outs of what a whopping percentage of income tax is paid in by that top 1%, or 5%, or 10%, but that seems to make no difference to my liberal friends. Proving how infrequent the non-payment of taxes by the wealthy just might prove the point. (Thank you for letting me vent a bit!)
Bernie may be the exception. He probably weasels his way out of paying the tax rate for his income bracket, or, just possibly, paying any tax at all.
FairTax does even more. Just have to read the whole bill unbiased and understand the ramifications.
This is the standard operating proceedure for the socialists like Bernie…putting a lie out there to propagandize others. They never share numbers or truthful stats because that would open the eyes of the listening public. And the more they spew their lies the more people believe, because most folks are just not discerning in thought, or they just don’t give a hoot. So folks like Bernie will continue to twist words, mis-state numbers and tickle the ears of people with what they want them to hear that supports their agenda….the ultimate destruction of America…by hook or by crook, at all costs.
I bet the wily old fox owes millions in back taxes same as any other rich socialist ,Hollywood included
To democrats, anyone that has a job is rich and they want to tax us.
Why should we give a Tax Break to those who import from abroad? The idea is to make it in the USA!
AMERICAN BUSINESSES DO NOT PAY TARIFFS.
TARIFFS ARE PAID BY THE COMPANIES IMPORTING THINGS TO THE USA
It’s interesting and saddening to witness covetness raise its head. Just be grateful for what you have.
We also have to consider the ‘death taxes’, actually inheritance taxes. Add this to the ‘progressive’ [sic] federal income tax and even persons earning less than $350K / year get to pay more than their fair share in taxes – worse yet, even states get involved. It’s legal robbery. An example of this thievery is as follows. A person sells an estate for $1M. By the time the fed and the state get their ‘cut’, the individual takes home (Ha ha!) half of the sale price. At that point the persons named in the Will who get a portion of the sale get taxed again! So in this example, the inheritors, all of whom earn less than $100K / year receive far less than they should have gotten, almost 50% less. It’s a crime carried off by government. No wonder legislators like Bernie, Pelosi, Schumer, Warren and many others become wealthy working in government. The shame is they and their counterparts in state governments pursue taxation as a way to keep people down.
I wish Bernie would move to Russia. Bet they don’t want him. He is a trouble maker and another hater.
OK. Question for you. Why should retirees on Social Security, who pay no federal taxes, now have to pay an 8% tax with no tax cut to offset it? Those still working would benefit but retired seniors would be hit hard with nothing to compensate for it. Where do they get the offset to this new tax on them?
The progressive tax system is ridiculous. First, I am far from being rich. But a dollar is a dollar is a dollar. Nowhere in life is any price based on a percentage of income, other than taxes. If a rich person buys a loaf of bread, they pay the same as a poorer person. In other words the dollars spent are equal. So if a rich person pays $1,000,000 in taxes and a poorer person pays $1. They have paid a million times more of dollars with equal value. The percentage of income is irrelevant (except for jealousy purposes). I am sick of theses libtards envy and jealousy driven desire to punish success. It is totally unfair to pay so much more because you are successful.
Right on. Taxes should hold or even drop. Govt is spending ~20% oh GDP. Enough!