Income Made and Taxes Paid by the Rich

by Stephanie
(USA)

The income that is made and taxes that are paid by the rich vs the not so rich has been quite a hot topic. With most being resistant to any and all kinds of tax increases regardless of whether you are considered rich or not.

So I agree it’s worth posting this graph to help provide some context as it appears that over the past 30 years, the very rich have seen their real taxes decrease even as they’ve seen their incomes increase.

This graph is good to keep in mind when hearing about how the rich are paying a greater proportion of federal income taxes than they have in previous years. While this is true, it is also true that the reason they are paying more in taxes is that they are making much more money. Not because they are being taxed more heavily than they have been in the past.

If you look at the taxes they are paying on any given dollar of income, it has been falling, and for most of us, that's what is actually relevant in terms of our individual tax burdens.