Huffington Post Accidentally Destroys The Left's Entire Tax Fairness Argument
But in making his case, Huffington Post senior White House correspondent S. V. Date inadvertently reveals a dirty secret about our current tax code.
Namely, despite endless claims that the rich don't pay their "fair share" of taxes, they actually pay more than their fair share — much more, in fact.
Not only that, but the share of the tax burden paid by the rich has increased over the past several decades — despite repeated cuts to the top rate — while the share paid by the middle class has drastically shrunk.
"The tax code," Date writes, "already leans heavily on the country's wealthy." He cites data from a 2016 Congressional Budget Office report, which finds that the infamous Top 1% — you know, the folks who don't pay their "fair share" — actually pay 25% of all federal taxes.
The top 20%, Date goes on, pay 69% of all federal taxes. The middle 20? They pick up just 9% of the tax bill.
What's more, Date notes that the average federal tax rate has dropped significantly for every group over the past 30 years — except the wealthy.
"The poorest 20% saw their average federal tax rate drop from 8.7% in 1983 to 3.3% in 2013," Date writes. "The next one-fifth of households saw their federal tax rate drop from 12.8% to 8.4%. Only the wealthiest one-fifth saw their average federal rate go up, from 23.8% in 1983 to 26.3% in 2013."
But in making his case, Huffington Post senior White House correspondent S. V. Date inadvertently reveals a dirty secret about our current tax code.
Namely, despite endless claims that the rich don't pay their "fair share" of taxes, they actually pay more than their fair share — much more, in fact.
Not only that, but the share of the tax burden paid by the rich has increased over the past several decades — despite repeated cuts to the top rate — while the share paid by the middle class has drastically shrunk.
"The tax code," Date writes, "already leans heavily on the country's wealthy." He cites data from a 2016 Congressional Budget Office report, which finds that the infamous Top 1% — you know, the folks who don't pay their "fair share" — actually pay 25% of all federal taxes.
The top 20%, Date goes on, pay 69% of all federal taxes. The middle 20? They pick up just 9% of the tax bill.
What's more, Date notes that the average federal tax rate has dropped significantly for every group over the past 30 years — except the wealthy.
"The poorest 20% saw their average federal tax rate drop from 8.7% in 1983 to 3.3% in 2013," Date writes. "The next one-fifth of households saw their federal tax rate drop from 12.8% to 8.4%. Only the wealthiest one-fifth saw their average federal rate go up, from 23.8% in 1983 to 26.3% in 2013."