Who’s paying taxes; distribution of wealth
February 4, 2010Jon Brooks 3 Comments »Some surprising info on this Mint.com chart of which income levels pay what percentage of U.S. income taxes. 47% of American households on the lower end, for example, pay no taxes, while 2% on the upper end pay 40% of all income taxes.
Fair?
On the other hand, this chart from the book Who Rules America? puts a different spin on things.
In the United States, wealth is highly concentrated in a relatively few hands. As of 2007, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 50.5%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 85%, leaving only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers). In terms of financial wealth (total net worth minus the value of one’s home), the top 1% of households had an even greater share: 42.7%.
Fair?
Draw your own conclusions…
April 26th, 2010 at 10:44 am
[...] Who’s paying taxes?; Distribution of wealth – charts showing which income levels pay what percentage of taxes in the U.S., and the [...]
April 26th, 2010 at 11:34 am
[...] Who’s paying taxes?; Distribution of wealth – charts showing which income levels pay what percentage of taxes in the U.S., and the [...]
April 29th, 2010 at 11:20 am
[...] Who’s paying taxes?; Distribution of wealth – charts showing which income levels pay what percentage of taxes in the U.S., and the [...]