Make Class War No More

The unexamined assumption behind Democratic Party class-war attacks on any cut in federal income tax rates proposed by Republicans is that such a cut invariably benefits the rich at the expense of the poor.

The truth: Poor people do not pay income taxes. The real burden of income taxes, as these charts demonstrate, escalates progressively as incomes rise through the middle- and upper-middle classes to the truly wealthy.

Families earning $50,000 to $75,000 are the largest class of income taxpayers (according to IRS statistics for 1999, the latest year available). They paid, on average, $6,788.34 in federal income taxes-almost four times as much income tax as a worker making only $25,000 paid ($1,729 in taxes). The Bush tax cut reduced what these earners pay, but did not eliminate it. And, in both cases, these numbers do not count what these earners owed in fixed-rate Social Security and Medicare taxes, and in state and local income and sales taxes.

Indeed, the Tax Foundation calculated that in 1998, the median American family paid 39% of its earnings in combined federal, state and local taxes.

Tax cuts aren’t just for the "rich," they are for everybody who isn’t poor-which, no thanks to the tax rates, remains the vast majority of Americans.

Income Level of Taxpayers in Earnings Group*	Number of Tax Returns from Earnings Group	Average Tax Payment by Individuals in Group
Under $5,000	2,464,729	$143.36
$5,000 to $10,000	5,582,051	$334.44
$10,000 to $15,000	7,058,131	$750.38
$15,000 to $20,000	7,711,411	$1,224.76
$20,000 to $25,000	7,773,301	$1,729.92
$25,000 to $30,000	7,442,202	$2,276.82
$30,000 to $40,000	12,802,035	$3,100.75
$40,000 to $50,000	9,741,580	$4,461.67
$50,000 to $75,000	16,676,288	$6,788.34
$75,000 to $100,000	7,803,395	$11,766.56
$100,000 to $200,000	7,098,067	$22,854.81
$200,000 to $500,000	1,875,383	$69,465.25
$500,000 to $1,000,000	348,002	$192,426.39
$1,000,000 or more	204,951	$889,445.23