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David Leonhardt OP Ed: "Watch how radically taxes on the wealthy have fallen over the past 70 years"
Link to tweet
TEXT
David Leonhardt
✔
@DLeonhardt
Watch how radically taxes on the wealthy have fallen over the past 70 years:
(Full column: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/06/opinion/income-tax-rate-wealthy.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage …)
The Rich Really Do Pay Lower Taxes Than You
By David Leonhardt
Oct. 6, 2019
Almost a decade ago, Warren Buffett made a claim that would become famous. He said that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary, thanks to the many loopholes and deductions that benefit the wealthy.
His claim sparked a debate about the fairness of the tax system. In the end, the expert consensus was that, whatever Buffett’s specific situation, most wealthy Americans did not actually pay a lower tax rate than the middle class. “Is it the norm?” the fact-checking outfit Politifact asked. “No.” Time for an update: It’s the norm now.
For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans last year paid a lower total tax rate — spanning federal, state and local taxes — than any other income group, according to newly released data.
The overall tax rate on the richest 400 households last year was only 23 percent, meaning that their combined tax payments equaled less than one quarter of their total income. This overall rate was 70 percent in 1950 and 47 percent in 1980.
More: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/06/opinion/income-tax-rate-wealthy.html
By David Leonhardt
Oct. 6, 2019
Almost a decade ago, Warren Buffett made a claim that would become famous. He said that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary, thanks to the many loopholes and deductions that benefit the wealthy.
His claim sparked a debate about the fairness of the tax system. In the end, the expert consensus was that, whatever Buffett’s specific situation, most wealthy Americans did not actually pay a lower tax rate than the middle class. “Is it the norm?” the fact-checking outfit Politifact asked. “No.” Time for an update: It’s the norm now.
For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans last year paid a lower total tax rate — spanning federal, state and local taxes — than any other income group, according to newly released data.
The overall tax rate on the richest 400 households last year was only 23 percent, meaning that their combined tax payments equaled less than one quarter of their total income. This overall rate was 70 percent in 1950 and 47 percent in 1980.
More: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/06/opinion/income-tax-rate-wealthy.html
I think it is unanimous here on DU that this is something we all knew, but the graph really puts a dramatic focus and exclamation point on the whole situation.
4 replies
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and the compensation issue (and corresponding divide between the top and bottom salaries) has been widely reported, with all kinds of data and charts. The tax issue has been more nebulous because the discussion often gets lost in the weeds of the "marginal tax rate" vs the "effective rate". 
