Get Publication 55-B (Rev. 3-2023). Internal Revenue Service Data Book

The newest data shows that the top 1 percent of earners (with incomes over $548,336) paid nearly 42 percent of all income taxes. The amount of income taxes paid in this percentile is nearly twice as much as their AGI share.

Income tax payments are concentrated amongst those with the largest incomes. The 10% of income taxpayers with the largest incomes contribute over 60% of income tax receipts. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) – an economic think tank – has analysed how much households pay in tax.

The highest-earning Americans pay the most in combined federal, state and local taxes, the Tax Foundation noted. As a group, the top quintile — those earning $130,001 or more annually — paid $3.23 trillion in taxes, compared with $142 billion for the bottom quintile, or those earning less than $25,000.

High-Income Taxpayers Paid the Majority of Federal Income Taxes. In 2020, the bottom half of taxpayers earned 10.2 percent of total AGI and paid 2.3 percent of all federal individual income taxes. The top 1 percent earned 22.2 percent of total AGI and paid 42.3 percent of all federal income taxes.