Twelve Charts This Week - 4/19/2024

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Since we just passed April 15, let’s start with taxes. This chart shows the percentage of the FEDERAL BUDGET PAID BY EACH INCOME QUINTILE. The top quintile (top 20%) of earners pay 69% and the next quintile pay 18%, which means that the top 40% pay 87%. The share paid by the top 20% has grown from 55% in 1979 to 69% in 2019. The bottom quintile pay zero, which is less than the 2% that they paid in 1979. For a fuller picture, there is another consideration. Total federal receipts do not cover the entire budget and there is a sizable and growing deficit every year. The mere existence and size of this deficit make interest rates and inflation higher, and impact the lower quintiles more severely. The fact remains however that the higher earners are the main contributors to the federal budget. (via @Brian_Riedl)