[wat10000]

Focusing on a single tax is silly. We should look at all taxes paid across all levels of government. Federal income tax is one of the most progressive taxes out there, so of course that's what people focus on when they want to make the point that wealthy people are being sacrificed to the altar of taxation.

If you look at all taxes, the share paid is remarkably close to the share earned. According to https://itep.org/who-pays-taxes-in-america-in-2024/, in 2024, the top 1% earned 20.1% of income while paying 23.9% of taxes. The bottom 20% paid 1.5% of taxes while earning 2.6% of income.

[kube-system]

> in 2024, the top 1% earned 20.1% of income while paying 23.9% of taxes.

Within that group, the share is not evenly distributed, though.

Most who are in the 1% club are people who are earning wage income, like doctors, and are getting absolutely reamed with taxes. The vast majority of the 1% are not rich enough to be doing elaborate schemes to avoid taxes.

Billionaires, who are in the top 0.0002%, are an entirely whole different story. There are many figures that show they generally do not pay their fair share in taxes.

[zeroonetwothree]

How do I sign up for this magical 25% “effective tax rate”? Last year mine was 46% and that’s only counting income tax (state + federal).

[wat10000]

By being somewhere around the 40th percentile of income, according to that link.

[giantg2]

This seems to show the same gradation but with less magnitude. Was there some other point you were making?

[wat10000]

It’s way less, is the point. Top earners pay just a little more than their share of income. The tax system as a whole is nearly flat.