[cwkoss]

How much revenue is raised from income taxes on people making <$50k?

Napkin math, I'd guess avg $5k from 100m people. Are we really collecting half a trillion dollars a year from people earning subsistence wages?

[bumby]

I think you’re misunderstanding my post.

I’m not saying it come tax is oppressing lower socioeconomic classes or that they disproportionately pay into it.

My point is the opposite. The income tax system helps those classes by funding social programs and we would either need to pare back those programs or find alternative ways of funding them

[cwkoss]

I started writing my comment with the assumption that low income earners weren't paying that much in taxes, then napkin math pointed that they may be paying an order magnitude more than my expectation. Is my napkin math accurate?

[bumby]

I don’t know. Maybe I’ll have time later today to look for research on the topic. I believe it’s the typical case that low income earners pay less (in federal tax, at least) as that’s the point of a progressive tax structure