Politicians like to say that the rich don’t pay their “fair share” in taxes. The Tax Foundation <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/latest-federal-income-tax-data-2025/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ran the numbers</a> for the federal individual income tax on new IRS data from tax year 2022. Here’s what it found:

When politicians prattle on about the rich’s “fair share,” ask what that would look like compared with the extremely progressive income tax the U.S. already has.

The U.S. already has an extremely progressive income tax.{ai:summary}<p>Recent IRS data reveals a stark contrast in tax contributions between income groups. The bottom 50% of taxpayers, earning under $50,399, pay an average tax rate of 3.7%, while the top 1% pay 26.1%. The top 1% accounted for 40.4% of federal individual income taxes in 2022, despite earning 22.4% of total income.</p><p>Since 2001, the tax burden on the top 1% has increased by 22%, while the bottom 50%’s share has dropped by 39%. In absolute terms, the top 1% contributed $864 billion in taxes, surpassing the $599 billion paid by the bottom 90%. This raises questions about what constitutes a "fair share." #economy</p>

The Corner: What Is a ‘Fair Share’ in Taxes?

Loading...