That's right - 1.59% of the nation's income was earned by only 400 households - out of 143 million tax returns.
What's even crazier is this:
In its annual update of the taxes paid by the 400 best-off taxpayers, who aren't identified, the IRS also said that only 220 of the top 400 were in the top marginal tax bracket. The 400 best-off taxpayers paid an average tax rate of 16.6%, lower than in any year since the IRS began making the reports in 1992.
The average tax rate was only 16.6%? ...Really?
And how much do you have to earn in order to make it into the top 400?
To make the top 400, a taxpayer had to have income of more than $138.8 million. As a group, the top 400 reported $137.9 billion in income, and paid $22.9 billion in federal income taxes.
And finally, why did these rich families only pay an average of 16.6% of their income to the IRS?
About 81.3% of the income of the top 400 households came in the form of capital gains, dividends or interest, the IRS data show. Only 6.5% came in the form of salaries and wages.
There are many conservatives and liberals (including our president) that think the capital gains rate should go down! Think about these numbers the next time you hear someone claim that the capital gains tax rate should be reduced.
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Tags: income inequality, IRS
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