Taxes

The words fair share are tossed around loosely when it comes to income tax. Most people are OK with raising taxes on someone else which makes it difficult to determine what is fair. Here are some facts. The top one percent of taxpayers pay 42.3% of all the taxes but they only earn 26.3% of the income. The bottom 90% of taxpayers pay 26% of the taxes but they earn 50% of the income. In 1980 the top 1% earned 9% of the income and paid 17% of the taxes. The bottom 90% earned 68% of the income and paid 52% of the taxes. The biggest reasons for this turn around are the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit.