U.S. Income Taxes Remain Highly Progressive

The IRS has released its latest tax statistics, disclosing date for tax year 2003. Some of the key numbers regarding progressivity:

a. The top 1 percent of U.S. taxpayers, who earn a minimum annual income of at least $300,000, paid more than a third of personal income taxes in 2003.

b. The top half of all U.S. taxpayers accounted for all but 4 percent of the 2003 individual income tax receipts.

c. The top 10 percent of taxpayers, with an income of at least $95,000, were responsible for two-thirds of personal income taxes paid for the year.

The next time you hear that a proposed tax cut will only cut the taxes of the richer half, well that's because they are the only ones paying taxes to begin with!