Their Fair Share

March 21st, 2011

Yes, the rich pay their “fair share,” whatever that means:

The first column shows that the top 10 percent of households in the U.S. pays 45.1 percent of all income taxes (both personal income and payroll taxes combined) in the country.  Italy is the only other country in which the top 10 percent of households pays more than 40 percent of the income tax burden (42.2%). Meanwhile, the average tax burden for the top decile of households in OECD countries is 31.6 percent.

(Via Greg Mankiw.)

In other words, the top 10 percent of households in the U.S. pay a larger share of taxes than any other developed nation. Calling for the rich to “pay their fair share,” e.g. for them to pay a greater percentage of taxes than they currently do, isn’t sound and considered policy. It’s class warfare.