How much more income did they make

Reader comment on: David Leonhardt's Latest

Submitted by ben (United States), Apr 14, 2010 14:26

Paying a higher percentage of the tax rate is not necessarily inconsistent with a lower tax burden. If in 1980 I made 1 million and paid 300k in taxes, and made 5 million and paid 1 million in taxes, my tax rate actually decreased from 30 to 20%, even though my taxes went up 700k. This is not surprising in a society where the where income gains in the past decades were overwhelmingly concentrated in the top 10, or even 1 percent of income earners.

So, is the "tax burden" the absolute dollars paid, the percentage of income paid, or ones share of the overall taxes collected? I think it makes the most sense to look at percentage paid, which has decreased for the wealthiest (and other as well).

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