Does the Federal Tax Code Pass the Tax Burden from Wealthy to Lower Income Taxpayers?
Fiction: A release issued by the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) on October 15, 2007 explains that: The share of total federal income taxes paid by the top one percent of tax filers increased to 39.38 percent in 2005, while the tax share of the top 5 percent climbed to 59.67 percent. The income tax share of the top half rose to 96.93 percent, according to recent Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data. The tax shares are the highest on record for these groups in comparable IRS data going back to 1986. The share of adjusted gross income generated by the top one percent has also increased. As noted in media reports, this share was 21.20 percent in 2005, relative to a level of 20.81 percent reached during the height of the stock market bubble in 2000 (when the income tax share of the top one percent was 37.42 percent). Congressman Jim Saxton, ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee, made the following remarks on the IRS data: “Some have noted that the 2005 income share for the top one p
