Saturday, April 11, 2015

Top 20% of Earners Pay 84% of Income Tax

Top 20% of Earners Pay 84% of Income Tax - WSJ
And the bottom 20%? 
They get paid by Uncle Sam. 
We compare tax burdens as Tax Day approaches.
Who pays what in income taxes?
With April 15 just around the corner, filers may be curious about where they fit into the system as a whole.
...Meanwhile, these two tables offer a snapshot of who is paying what for the 2014 tax year.
The tables show just how progressive the income tax is.
The three million people in the top 1% of earners pay nearly half the income tax.
Why is the share of income taxes negative for 40% of Americans? 
In recent decades Congress has chosen to funnel important benefits for lower-income earners through the income tax rather than other channels.
Some of these benefits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and the American Opportunity Credit for education, make cash payments to people who don’t owe income tax...

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