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Source 1 & Source 2

Average Pre-tax family income by percentile
(in projected 1999 US Dollars)

The Wealthiest 20% of Americans (23.6 Million families) earn an average of $132,000 per year
The Upper Middle Class 20% of Americans (22.6 Million families) earn an average of $53,000
The Middle Class 20% of Americans (22.5 Million families) earn an average of $35,400
The Lower Middle Class 20% (23.3 Million families) earn an average of $21,200
The Poorest 20% (22.7 Million families) earn an average of $8,400

The national average for all (116 million) families is $49,500

The Wealthiest 1% of Americans (1.2 million families) earn an average of $719,000
The Wealthiest 5% of Americans (5.9 million families) earns an average of $276,000
The Wealthiest 10% of Americans (11.9 Million families) earns an average of $188,000



Who shoulders the burden?

Legend


Income Tax Burden (1977-1995)


1999 Projected Tax Burden




or to put it more succinctly

out of every income tax dollar that is collected

the poorest pay 1 cent
the lower middle class pay 5 cent
the middle class pays 11 cents
the upper middle class pays 19 cents
and the wealthiest americans pay 65 cents

the wealthiest one percent of americans (or 1.2 million families)
pay 21 cents out of every income tax dollar collected

as much as I am not a big fan of Bush
I have to admit these numbers
make his tax cut plan seem quite a bit more fair

The wealthiest 20% earn roughly 53.7% of the taxed income
but pay 65% percent of the income tax collected

80% or roughly 91.1 Million American families
earn 46.3% of the taxable income
pay 35% of the income tax collected

20% or 23.6 Million American families
generate 116% of the income of the other 80%

Each of the 23.6 million wealthiest american families
generates on average 2.276/million% of the total income in the US

While the remainder of 91.1 million familes which makes up for the rest of you
generates on average 0.5/million% of the total income in the US

Whichs means that average wealthiest family (20%) generates 4.5 times
the income of the average american family (80%)

The Average 80% family pays 0.38/million% of the income tax collected
The Average 20% family pays 2.75/million% of the income tax collected
or 7.25 times as much as the rest of you.

So while they earn 4.5 times as much as you
They pay 7.25 times as much in taxes

This points to a fairly large income gap in the US
and while depending on your politics
you may feel it is the deserved result of industrious
or a sign of larger social problems




Below are the numbers which I used for the total and per capita income % statistics
which were generated by multiplying the average income for a group
by the population of that group to obtain rough total income for the populations
[yes I am aware of the inadequacies of the method, but it accurate enough]


$3,115,200,000,000 Highest Quintile
$1,197,800,000,000 Fourth Quintile
$796,500,000,000 Middle Quintile
$493,960,000,000 Second Quintile
$190,680,000,000 Lowest Quintile

80% subtotal
$2,678,940,000,000

Total:
$5,794,140,000,000

Date: 2004-04-26 02:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thoughtgolem.livejournal.com
1. You can't give numbers for one type of tax and then use them as the sole basis for a discussion about the tax burdens of the economic classes.

2. Federal taxes (for the most part) go towards improving and maintaining our quality of life. Anything from military protection to infrastructure maintenance to international diplomacy. Let's see some graphs on who enjoys the highest quality of life, as well as who most benefits from a healthy military and infrastructure and good international relations.

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