a Point about fair share

Below are some statistics regarding our current White House inhabitants mis-speak regarding fair share of taxes related to income. President O has consistently tried to incite a populous uprising against those who have elevated themselves and their economic worth. In any society there are those who have reached a place of economic status far above the most needy, regardless of idealogical belief systems of the government and the people. Our country is no different in that respect. Where the United States of America is different is in the upward mobility of economic status for the lower rungs of the economic ladder.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_Stateshttp://

www.ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html

Percentiles Ranked by AGI	AGI Threshold on Percentiles	Percentage of Federal Personal Income Tax Paid
Top 1%	$343,927	36.73
Top 5%	$154,643	58.66
Top 10%	$112,124	70.47
Top 25%	$66,193	87.30
Top 50%	$32,396	97.75
Bottom 50%	<$32,396	2.25
Note: AGI is Adjusted Gross Income Source: Internal Revenue Service

http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/250.html#table1

incomes reported by tax returns at the high end of the income spectrum fell from 2008 to 2009, as did their share of the nation's income and income taxes paid. In 2009, the top 1 percent of tax returns paid 36.7 percent of all federal individual income taxes and earned 16.9 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI), compared to 2008 when those figures were 38.0 percent and 20.0 percent, respectively. Both of those figures-share of income and share of taxes paid-were their lowest since 2003 when the top 1 percent earned 16.7 percent of adjusted gross income and paid 34.3 percent of federal individual income taxes

The top-earning 5 percent of taxpayers (AGI equal to or greater than $154,643), however, still paid far more than the bottom 95 percent. The top 5 percent earned 31.7 percent of the nation's adjusted gross income, but paid approximately 58.7 percent of federal individual income taxes.

[Note: This very top income group actually has a lower average effective income tax rate than the rest of the top 1 percent of returns because these extremely high-income returns are more likely to have income from capital gains and dividends, which are typically taxed at lower rates. It's worth pointing out that in the case of capital gains and dividends, income derived from these sources has already been taxed once by the corporate income tax, which is not included here, meaning the average effective tax rate numbers can be somewhat misleading.]

The source for the following charts is the Internal Revenue Service, http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/article/0,,id=133521,00.html ("Individual Income Tax Returns with Positive Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) Returns Classified by Tax Percentile - Early Release").

Summary of Federal Income Tax Data, 2009

	Number of Returns with Positive AGI	AGI ($ millions)	Income Taxes Paid ($ millions)	Group's Share of Total AGI	Group's Share of Income Taxes	Income Split Point	Average Tax Rate
All Taxpayers	137,982,203	$7,825,389	$865,863	100.0%	100.0%	-	11.06%
Top 1%	1,379,822	$1,324,572	$318,043	16.9%	36.7%	$343,927.00	24.01%
1-5%	5,519,288	$1,157,918	$189,864	14.8%	22.0%		16.40%
Top 5%	6,899,110	$2,482,490	$507,907	31.7%	58.7%	$154,643.00	20.46%
5-10%	6,899,110	$897,241	$102,249	11.5%	11.8%		11.40%
Top 10%	13,798,220	$3,379,731	$610,156	43.2%	70.5%	$112,124.00	18.05%
10-25%	20,697,331	$1,770,140	$145,747	22.6%	17.0%		8.23%
Top 25%	34,495,551	$5,149,871	$755,903	65.8%	87.3%	$ 66,193.00	14.68%
25-50%	34,495,551	$1,620,303	$90,449	20.7%	11.0%		5.58%
Top 50%	68,991,102	$6,770,174	$846,352	86.5%	97.7%	> $32,396	12.50%
Bottom 50%	68,991,102	$1,055,215	$19,511	13.5%	2.3%	< $32,396	1.85%

Source: Internal Revenue ServiceIncome tax after credits (the tax measure above) does not account for the refundable portion of EITC. If it were included (as is often the case with other organizations), the tax share of the top income groups would be higher. The refundable portion is legally classified as a spending program by the Office of Management and Budget and therefore is not included by the IRS in these figures

AGI is a fairly narrow income concept, and does not include income items like government transfers (except for the portion of Social Security benefits that is taxed), the value of employer-provided health insurance, underreported or unreported income (most notably that of sole proprietors), income derived from municipal bond interest, net imputed rental income, worker's compensation benefits and others.