National Taxpayers Union Foundation has released the annual analysis of Who Pays Income Taxes. Based off of newly released IRS data for Tax Year 2016, our analysis found that the top 25 percent of earners still shoulder nearly 86 percent of the federal tax burden. NTUF has analyzed the income tax burden distribution for nearly 30 years and has observed that the percentage of the tax burden carried by top earners has more than doubled, while the burden shared by low earners has decreased 4 percent.
To read NTUF's analysis, click here.
Author Demian Brady writes,
"The IRS has recently released an analysis of the distribution of the income tax burden for Tax Year 2016. The new data shows that the top one percent of income earners bear the burden of 37 percent of all income taxes. This is nearly twice as much as their share of income (19.7 percent). The top 25 percent of earners shoulder nearly 86 percent of the income tax load. Combined, the top 50 percent of earners are responsible for 97 percent income taxes collected. The other half of filers pay just 3 percent of all income taxes."
To speak with NTUF’s Director of Research Demian Brady about the our analysis of Who Pays Income Tax, please contact Kevin Glass, NTUF Vice President of Communications, at 703-299-8670 or at kglass@ntu.org.