Letter: Top 10% pay most of federal income taxes

In reading the letter concerning the solvency of the Medicare program, I noted that the proposed solution was the familiar litany of increasing taxes on the wealthy (“Greed involved in opposing taxes on rich,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, March 13).

Let’s define the wealthy as those whose income is in the top 10%. They are not all Warren Buffetts and Elon Musks. The annual income that puts one in the top 10% is about $152,000.

I would venture to guess that few in this group have “vast holdings in medical and pharmaceutical companies.” This group pays 74% of income taxes collected. That is to say, 1 in 10 taxpayers in the U.S. pays three-quarters of all income tax collected.

It would seem that the often-used phrase, “Make the wealthy pay their fair share,” would mean lessening their tax burden rather than increasing it. These numbers are not made up by me; they are the 2020 figures from the nonpartisan Internal Revenue Service, which is interested only in getting your money.

Gregory Wilson

Downtown Honolulu

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