Why do rich Americans believe they pay enough taxes, according to two charts

People with higher incomes are frequently the target of criticism from the American middle class and progressive politicians who accuse the rich of not paying their fair share of taxes.

Two Deutsche Bank graphs illustrate a common replica of these high-income people.

The first chart below shows that the top 10% of income (blue, red and gray) paid 70% of all income taxes in 2016. The richest 1% paid more than 35%, the richest 5% contributed nearly 60% before adding the top 6-10%.

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"This is not necessarily surprising for people who follow taxes," said Yahoo Finance Senior Tax Researcher Joe Rosenberg. "If you look at the personal income tax … there are a lot of taxpayers who pay relatively low rates, some even negative effective tax rates on the refundable credits. And, most of the share of income tax is paid by high income taxpayers. "

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "In & nbsp;2016a single person who earned more than $ 190,150 paid an average of 33% of his federal income tax. The highest portion paid 39.6%. These rates remain & nbsp;relatively unchanged& nbsp; according to the new tax law passed in late 2017. "data-reactid =" 39 "> In 2016, a single person earning more than $ 190,150 paid an average rate of 33% on his federal income tax. higher rates paid 39.6% and these rates remain relatively unchanged under the new tax law passed at the end of 2017.

"The underlying distribution of income is pretty skewed, so high-income people earn and report a disproportionate share of total income," said Rosenberg. "Combined with the fact that policy changes have once again made income tax at the federal level quite progressive, the share of income tax is even greater than their share of income."

"Somewhat of a misinterpretation"

The second graph expresses the problem from another angle, pointing out that 50% of the population paid 97% of income tax in 2016.

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"I think the general consensus is that the rich do not pay enough federal taxes," G.W. Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, told Yahoo Finance. The graphs indicate, however, that the consensus is "a somewhat misleading interpretation of current tax laws".

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Yahoo Finance has already reported a & nbsp;results of the survey& nbsp; according to Politico and Morning Consult, who indicated that 76% of registered voters think & nbsp;rich Americans& nbsp; should pay more taxes. "Data-reactid =" 64 "> Yahoo Finance has already reported results from surveys by Politico and Morning Consult that 76% of registered voters believe that wealthy Americans should pay more taxes.

<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "And these respondents to the survey are not the only ones – Democratic politicians love & nbsp;Senator Elizabeth Warren& nbsp; be p. & nbsp;Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez& nbsp; have proposed wealth taxes. The presidential candidate, Warren, has introduced the idea of ​​an annual tax of 2% to 3% on the net worth of a household if the wealth exceeds $ 50 million. & Nbsp;Ocasio-Cortez proposal& nbsp; suggests taxing the highest tax bracket at a rate of 70% in order to finance environmental projects. "Data-reactid =" 65 "> And these respondents to the survey are not the only ones – Democratic politicians like Senator Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposed a wealth tax. the Warren presidential has proposed the idea of ​​an annual tax of 2% to 3% on the net worth of a household if wealth exceeds $ 50 million rate in order to fund environmental projects.

"For any policy, there will be advantages and disadvantages, as well as benefits and costs," said Rosenberg. "There may be more effective policies than simply raising marginal tax rates, but they all have flavor. You could think of different policies that achieve a similar goal in terms of increasing the amount of tax paid by high income taxpayers. "

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