Consider the following chart taken from the Congressional Budget Office:
This article points to this chart as evidence that the rich pay more than their "fair share". I don't know how to define fair in this context, but I know the question is immensely susceptible to framing effects.
For example take this quote from the article:
The second-highest income quintile basically just barely covers its transfer payments, so it’s really the top 20% of “net payer” households that are financing transfer payments to the entire bottom 60% AND financing the non-financed operations of the entire federal government.As far as I can tell everything in this quote is 100% true. At the end of the day the top 20% finance basically everything, while the bottom 60% at net beneficiaries. It sure seems like the rich pay their fair share.
But wait, also consider that the top quintile only pays an effective 18.9% federal tax rate after transfers, but they make 50% of all income in the economy! Does that seem fair?
Lesson being; what is or is not fair usually has more to do with the words we use to describe the situation than the reality of the situation itself.
Much of the data in this post is nearly 10 years old. I would like to see updated versions.
A hat tip to Bryan Caplan who pointed at this article to argue for The Insanity of the Welfare State.
