It is a true shame that fact-checkers don't directly call Biden's statement lies.  Instead, they talk about putting things in context.

The way Biden and the White House come up with 8% is to count appreciation of unsold stock as income.  So why don't they tell us the tax rate when stock prices drop?  My guess is that for some, it would be over 100%

Biden's statements refer to a White House economic analysis that included earnings on unsold stock as income. After factoring in this change in wealth, the analysis estimated the average federal individual income tax rate for the 400 wealthiest families was 8.2%, based on the years 2010 to 2018. (On Feb. 9 and 15, Biden incorrectly said 3%.)

The following are truthful tax numbers.  The top 1% of taxpayers paid an average of 26% on their adjusted gross income.  The richest 1% of taxpayers paid around 44% of income taxes while earning 22% of income.  That is 200% of what looks like a fair share, but it is never enough for Democrats, who always want the government to take more. 

Reported Income and Taxes Paid Increased in Tax Year 2020

Taxpayers reported more than $12.5 trillion in AGI on 157.5 million tax returns in 2020, an increase of $650 million in AGI and 9.3 million in returns above 2019.[2] Total income taxes paid rose by $129 billion to $1.7 trillion, an 8 percent increase above 2019. The average individual income tax rate inched up slightly from 13.29 percent in 2019 to 13.63 percent in 2020.

Table 1. Summary of Federal Income Tax Data, Tax Year 2020

 

Top 1%

Top 5%

Top 10%

Top 25%

Top 50%

Bottom 50%

All Taxpayers

Number of Returns

1,574,942

7,874,712

15,749,424

39,373,561

78,747,121

78,747,121

157,494,242

Average Tax Rate

26.0%

22.4%

20.3%

17.1%

14.8%

3.1%

13.6%

Average Income Taxes Paid

$458,894

$136,091

$79,897

$38,396

$21,187

$504

$10,845

Adjusted Gross Income ($ millions)

$2,780,754

$4,775,995

$6,198,022

$8,862,578

$11,257,092

$1,276,009

$12,533,102

Share of Total Adjusted Gross Income

22.2%

38.1%

49.5%

70.7%

89.8%

10.2%

100.0%

Income Taxes Paid ($ millions)

$722,732

$1,071,681

$1,258,335

$1,511,786

$1,668,410

$39,671

$1,708,081

Share of Total Income Taxes Paid

42.3%

62.7%

73.7%

88.5%

97.7%

2.3%

100.0%

Income Split Point

$548,336

$220,521

$152,321

$85,853

$42,184

$42,184

 

Source: IRS, Statistics of Income, "Individual Income Rates and Tax Shares."

Another big lie that Biden and others regurgitate is that Trump's tax rate cuts cost trillions and were not paid for.  The truth is income taxes have gone up substantially since rates were cut.  Lies are when they say the Inflation Reduction Act and Obamacare were paid for. 

Then there is the lie that Biden had no choice to build the wall now.  It's as if he doesn't override all sorts of other laws, such as paying off student loans and refusing to enforce immigration laws. 

On a side note: Hillary says Trump-supporters are in a cult and need to be deprogrammed.  Here is the definition of a cult: "A misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing."

A good current example of a cult is the left's obsession with climate change.  They continually regurgitate talking points to program and indoctrinate the people to believe that humans and our use of natural resources cause temperatures to rise and are destroying the planet. 

The truth is that temperatures have fluctuated the last 160 years around a flat line while our use of natural resources has skyrocketed. There is zero correlation among the variables.  The purpose of the scam is to transfer a massive amount of money and power from the people to the government, the cultists. 

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.