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This is taking an ugly turn.
People like to point at that statistic to make it look like the well to do are getting a raw deal in the U.S. or something. That statistic is only for federal income tax, which is just one of dozens of revenue streams that exist for federal, state, and local governments.
Even with a zero federal income tax liability, the person in the 50th percentile pays a much larger share of their total income in taxes (payroll tax, medicare, property tax, sales tax, state and city income tax, etc) than a person who makes $1 million per year or more.
It's like that old saying, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics, with statistics being the worse.
This one is particularly misleading because it leads people to draw the conclusion that 47% of people pay no taxes at all....which is far from true.
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