It's no secret that individuals bear most of the tax
burden. According to the Tax Foundation, 51% if total federal tax revenue
will come from individual income taxes and another 32.9% will consist of payroll
taxes, whereas only 10.1% will represent corporate income taxes. It's also
true that the tax burden among individual taxpayers is highly progressive.
Here, according to the IRS, is how it is divided:
| Percentile |
Total Share of AGI |
% of Federal Income Tax |
| Top 1% |
19.5% |
36.2% |
| Top 5% |
34.0% |
55.5% |
| Top 10% |
44.9% |
66.5% |
| Top 50% |
86.8% |
96.0% |
| Bottom 50% |
13.2% |
4.0% |
The top 1% of taxpayers has an adjusted gross income of
$293,415. To be part of the 5% group, you had to have an adjusted gross
income of at least $120,846, according to the IRS.
