Are You Rich? $92,000.00 Puts You in Top 10%

The Tax Foundation ^ | The Tax Foundation

[Weimdog]

Newest Data Show High-Income Taxpayers Earning and Paying More

Top 25 Percent Paid 84 Percent of Income Taxes; Top One Paid 37.4 Percent

According to preliminary data released by the Internal Revenue Service and a new Tax Foundation Special Report, the top-earning 25 percent of taxpayers earned more than two-thirds of the nation's income (67.3%) and paid more than five out of every six dollars collected by the federal income tax (84%) in 2000. There were 32 million tax returns in the top 25 percent, all with adjusted gross incomes (AGI) over $55,225.

The top one percent of U.S. taxpayers (annual income over $313,469) made 20.8 percent of the income earned in 2000 and paid 37.4 percent of the total federal individual income taxes collected that year. This fraction of the tax burden paid by the top one percent - well over a third of the total - is up from 25.1 percent ten years earlier in tax year 1990.

At the other end of the income spectrum, the bottom 50 percent of the nation's taxpayers earned only 13.0 percent of all income in 2000, but they paid an even smaller fraction of the federal individual income taxes collected - 3.9 percent.

The data come from Tax Foundation Special Report No. 118, titled, "Who Pays the Federal Individual Income Tax?" by economist David Hoffman.

"Americans at the upper end of the income scale continue to bear an increasing share of the total federal individual income tax burden," observed Hoffman. "In a progressive tax system like ours, economic growth inevitably results in a steady shifting of the tax burden up the income scale. Although the current economic slowdown did begin in 2000, the annual growth rate for that year was still 5 percent, so a higher percentage of tax collections came in from high earners."

As the table shows, the top five percent of income earners (adjusted gross income over $128,336) and the top 10 percent (adjusted gross income over $92,114) both pay a significantly greater portion of federal individual income taxes than they did a decade ago.

[VermiciousKnid]

I certainly don't blame you. Take that hefty capital gain from the house and move out of the big city - you'll not have a house payment again.

That's the plan, meyer...every night, I do a search for nice real estate somewhere civilized. I am VERY happy with the results, and I hope to live a life of quiet leisure far from the maddening (and in NY they truly ARE maddening) crowds.

Regards,

[spetznaz]

If the Sub7 program you want is the one that can be used as a Trojan horse (like the black orfice) then i think the most prudent thing for me to do is to send you a link to a website that would clarify such matters (without putting me in legal jeopardy).

Link to Trojan program Sub-7

I will not ask why you want to know such stuff. LOL

Spetz!

[Howlin]

John Kerry is nowhere near worth 600 million. John Heinz was though. And that is NOT Kerry's money.

[BJungNan]

what schoolteacher makes 92k? You can find a bunch of them in Pennsylvania, and many that were allowed to retire a few years back at 90% of their salary.

For some, the 92K would be arrived at by calculating their annual income, divided by the number of days a teacher works and multiplying it times the number of days most people work.

I don't know what teacher you know, but they are probably just dropping the well rehearsed "I'm not getting paid what I should be routine" on you. It is the national anthem of the NEA.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

OK, so he lives off his wife. The point is that he doesn't care about little people's tax rates because his senate salary is comparatively peanuts.

[Woodman]

First of all $70,000 wouldn't buy an empty lot 10'x 40' where I live. I'm sure your local tax burden is much lower as well. I basically work for the State and the Bank (taxes & mortgage) with some left over for my family. Thank God I'm Rich or I would never make it.

[Alissa]

You don't mention kids. All my childless friends drive Mercedes or Beamers.

[MissAmericanPie]

Smucks need to remember this when Democrats talk about "the rich", they mean anyone who isn't a yard man or on welfare.

[Puddleglum]

I guess this makes me rich, too. That's how I was able to afford my wife's used station wagon and my 1996 "racing" Neon.

[Kevin Curry]

The way I prefer to look at it is, two-thirds of the income earned by the business I created and sweated to maintain went to pay commissions and salaries (and all the associated FICA, medicare charges etc), another big chunk went to pay other overhead, and well over half of the tiny margin left over for me as owner--while sufficient to place me in this "exalted" top ten percent (and I don't feel the least bit wealthy)--was swallowed up by federal, state, and local taxes of all kinds.

This countries's tax laws still exist to punish and deter risk-takers and job creators.

[Kevin Curry]

countries's = country's

[southland]

very good point

[southland]

very good point

[NRA2BFree]

Does this mean I get a trophy wife?

Just how much does that job pay? LOL

[luckystarmom]

We're rich too! Of course I live in California, and all of our money is in our 30 year old fixer upper house that sucks.

[SeeRushToldU_So]

If we can make do....why cant everyone else?

You tell me how to do it, or write a book and get rich on how to do it.

[luckystarmom]

Try adding 3 kids with lots of medical expenses. I can break you quite easily.

[HairOfTheDog]

the top-earning 25 percent of taxpayers earned more than two-thirds of the nation's income (67.3%) and paid more than five out of every six dollars collected by the federal income tax (84%) in 2000.

That is really the punch-line the Democrats need to hear.

[Yaelle]

You cannot find a decent 50's 3-bedroom 1 bath in a decent (not gang-infested) neighborhood anywhere in the Los Angeles basin for less than $500K. My parents bought their home, miles from town at that time, in 1960 for $15K and thought it was expensive. Their home is now closing in on $2 million in a prime neighborhood. Same home. It's been remodeled a few times though.