Income and Taxes

Getting Richer, Paying More

Chart Data

	% all US income earned by top 1% of households	% all federal taxes paid by top 1% households
1980	7.7 %	14.2 %
1985	10.6 %	14.8 %
1990	11 %	16.2 %
1995	10.3 %	20.1 %
2000	15.5 %	25.5 %
2005	15.6 %	27.6 %

The presidential campaign has sparked debate about whether the rich are paying a fair share of taxes. Above, from a study by the Congressional Budget Office, is the percent of total after-tax income earned and percent of all federal taxes paid by the top 1% of U.S. households. The study includes taxes directly paid by individuals, such as income and payroll taxes (including taxes on dividends and capital gains), as well as estimates of the share of other taxes, such as corporate taxes, borne by each income group based on data on dividends and capital gains on income tax returns. Latest data is from 2005.