Who Pays Taxes in America in 2018?

https://itep.org/who-pays-taxes-in-america-in-2018/

April 11, 2018

America’s tax system overall is marginally progressive. The share of all taxes paid by the richest Americans slightly exceeds their share of the nation’s income. Conversely, the share of all taxes paid by the poorest Americans is slightly smaller than the share of the nation’s income going to that group.

As illustrated in the graph below, in 2018 the richest 1percent of Americans will pay more than a fifth of all taxes in the U.S. (22.9 percent), but this same group will also receive more than a fifth of the nation’s income (20.3 percent). The poorest fifth of Americans will pay a small fraction of the nation’s taxes (1.9 percent) but will receive a small fraction of the nation’s income (3.5 percent).

Some Americans have the impression that our nations’ tax system is much more progressive than it is partly because the tax on everyone’s mind around Tax Day is the federal personal income tax, which is relatively progressive. But Americans pay several types of taxes at the federal, state and local levels, and many of them are regressive, meaning they capture a larger share of income from low- or middle-income families than from wealthy families.

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