Are Our Taxes Progessive Enough Yet?

from American Thinker
November 10, 2008
A ‘Center-Right’ Country? We Shall See.
By Steven M. Warshawsky

Or consider the progressive income tax. According to a recent article in The American, IRS data shows that in 2006 the top 1% of taxpayers earned 22% of total national income, but paid 40% of federal income taxes. The top 5% of taxpayers earned 37% of total national income, but paid more than 60% of federal income taxes. The top 10% of taxpayers earned 47% of total national income, but paid almost 71% of federal income taxes. In contrast, the bottom 20% of taxpayers earned a little less than 5% of total national income, but paid less than 1% of federal income taxes. The next 20% of taxpayers earned almost 10% of total national income, but paid only 4% of federal income taxes. Moreover, in the past 20 years, the federal income tax has become more progressive, not less. This means that today “rich” people pay an even larger share of federal income taxes than they did when Ronald Reagan was president.