Swammerdami
Squadron Leader
Here's the actual paper: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w34170/w34170.pdf?utm_campaign=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&utm_medium=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&utm_source=PANTHEON_STRIPPED
"Table 2 presents our results on effective tax rates in 2018-20. For the top 400, the total effective tax rate is 23.8%. It increases as one moves down the distribution: from 22.0% for the top 100 to 26.6% for the next 300. We can compare these rates to the effective tax rate of top labor income earners, which is around 45%.11 We can also compare them to the total effective tax rate of the US population as a whole (i.e., adding all taxes paid by US residents divided by their total economic income), which is 30.2% in 2018-20.12 When taking a comprehensive view of taxation and income, ultra-high-net-worth individuals appear less taxed than the average American."
The paper spends pages and pages explaining how the 24% on the top 400 was calculated; as for how the 30% rate for all other U.S. taxpayers was calculated, you're looking at it. So when the authors say "the average American", they mean averaged by dollar, not averaged by head. According to US Treasury data here, https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Graph-Distributional-Analysis-2024-11162023.pdf, the households paying over 24% are the top 5%. So the paper is actually a comparison of the hyper rich with the merely rich, not with those whom any normal person would call "the average American". Labeling the results "Billionaires pay a lower tax rate than the rest of America's taxpayers, new study finds" is highly deceptive.
Not this again. Haven't we been through this ground before?
Billionaires pay approximately 0% in payroll taxes, while workers earning less than some $176,000 pay 15.3% in payroll taxes. 15.3%. That's not 24%, but it's close especially when you recall that taxes on gasoline and other sales tax are paid most heavily by the low-paid -- (High-income individuals invest, pay for untaxed services, etc.) -- and above a threshold these folk are also paying income tax.
Did the paper cited point this out? Did it speak of "all taxes" or just "income tax"? Don't know, don't care. We're not bound by errors or omissions in that paper; we're here to treat the facts. Payroll tax burden and sales tax burden are not eliminated by the incantation "Oh! We're speaking of income tax."
And the fact is that with the 15.3% payroll tax, and the regressive nature of sales tax, the working class IS paying about as high a percentage as the super-rich.
Yes, yes, a portion of the 15.3% tax is paid by employer in SOME cases. So what? It's an employer cost that comes with the employee's pay-check and reduces what he will afford as wage. IOW, the effect of the 15.3% payroll tax is unaffected by how it's split between employer and employee. (An employer might cut your wage $1000 while paying an additional $1000 of your SocSec tax. Net effect equals Zero.)