[candiddevmike]

> taxpayers are not funding their lives

Right, because they all still pay their fair share of taxes, medicare, and social security?

[sickofparadox]

The top 5% of earners paid 62.7% of all federal income taxes in recent years[1], so I'd imagine that yes, they do pay their fair share.

[1]https://taxfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/FedData...

[TheCoelacanth]

Limiting it to federal income taxes gives an incredibly skewed picture.

It's basically equivalent to saying: "If you exclude all the taxes that the poor pay, then the rich pay the most taxes".

Federal income taxes aren't the only taxes. They aren't even the only federal taxes on income. FICA taxes are regressive with the rich paying a lower rate on income. State and local taxes also tend to be regressive with the poor paying a larger portion of their income than the rich.

[kej]

It's not quite so lopsided when you look at the whole picture, but it doesn't make as good of a talking point: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/fact-check-richest-1...