The Tax Foundation says new Internal Revenue Service data for tax year 2023 shows the US federal income tax system continues to be progressive, as high-income taxpayers pay the highest average income tax rates.
Some key points:
- In 2023, taxpayers filed 153.1 million tax returns
- They reported earning nearly $15.2 trillion in adjusted gross income (AGI), and paid $2.1 trillion in individual income taxes.
- The average income tax rate in 2023 was 14.1%.
- The top 1% of taxpayers paid a 26.3% average rate, seven times higher than the 3.7 percent average rate paid by the bottom half of taxpayers.
- The top 50% of all taxpayers paid nearly 97% of all federal individual income taxes, while the bottom 50% paid the remaining 3%.
Click here to read the full report at the Tax Foundation.
