Freeloaders? Chris Edwards, using IRS Data on the top 400 taxpayers in the nation, examines Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s claim that billionaires are freeloaders who don’t pay their fair share:
The Top 400 paid $29.4 billion in federal income taxes in 2014, an average of $74 million each. These “freeloaders” together paid enough to more than fund the budgets of NASA and the EPA that year ($26 billion).
The Top 400 paid 2.13 percent of all federal income taxes in 2014. That share has trended upwards over time, as shown in the chart. Indeed, the Top 400 share of taxes has doubled from 1.04 percent in 1992, which is the first year of IRS data.
This top group is just 0.0003 percent of all taxpayers yet paid 2.13 percent of all income taxes.
[Chris Edwards, “Taxes on Tippy Tippy Top,” Cato Institute February 12]
