Walter E. Williams: Who Pays What in Taxes? — The Patriot Post

Walter E. Williams: Who Pays What in Taxes? — The Patriot Post:
"Politicians exploit public ignorance.
Few areas of public ignorance provide as many opportunities for political demagoguery as taxation. Today some politicians argue that the rich must pay their fair share and label the proposed changes in tax law as tax cuts for the rich.
Let’s look at who pays what, with an eye toward attempting to answer this question: Are the rich paying their fair share?
According to the latest IRS data, the payment of income taxes is as follows.

• The top 1 percent of income earners, those having an adjusted annual gross income of $480,930 or higher, pay about 39 percent of federal income taxes. That means about 892,000 Americans are stuck with paying 39 percent of all federal taxes. 
• The top 10 percent of income earners, those having an adjusted gross income over $138,031, pay about 70.6 percent of federal income taxes. About 1.7 million Americans, less than 1 percent of our population, pay 70.6 percent of federal income taxes. 

Is that fair, or do you think they should pay more?
By the way, earning $500,000 a year doesn’t make one rich.
It’s not even yacht money.
But the fairness question goes further.

• The bottom 50 percent of income earners, those having an adjusted gross income of $39,275 or less, pay 2.83 percent of federal income taxes. Thirty-seven million tax filers have no tax obligation at all..."

Read on!