On Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:17:23 -0700, Mark & Juanita wrote:

Top Total Income Tax Revenue (%) Adjusted Gross Income Share (%)
50% 97.01 87.49
25% 86.27 68.16
10% 70.79 47.32
5% 60.14 36.66
1% 39.89 22.06

So, from the IRS data: the bottom 50% are making 12.5% of adjusted gross
income and paying less than 3% of all income taxes while the top 1% are
making 22% of adjusted gross income while paying nearly 40% of all federal
income taxes.

I may be wrong on the numbers, but I seem to recall a recent article that
said about 10-15% of the population is living in poverty. So they would
make up 20-30% of the bottom 50%. I doubt they, or even the group
directly above them, pay any income taxes, given that there is a standard
deduction. That helps to explain some of the discrepancies. And if you
add in other taxes, like sales taxes, that helps even more.

At least Warren Buffet had the decency to complain that his secretary paid
more income taxes than he did :-).