Tuesday, April 13, 2010

How much do you owe?


According to this website, the national debt is $12,691,221,577,248.59 or about $41,191.12 per person...but not everyone pays the same amount since there are several tax brackets. Here is a simple breakdown of how much each person pays in taxes based upon their income level:

Number of Returns with Positive AGI Income Taxes Paid ($ millions) Group's Share of Income Taxes Income Split Point Average Tax Rate
All Taxpayers 141,070,971 $1,115,504 100%   12.68%
Top 1% 1,410,710 $450,926 40.42% > $410,096 22.45%
Top 2-5% 5,642,839 $225,367 20.20% > $160,041 20.53%
Top 6-10% 7,053,548 $118,139 10.59% > $113,018 12.66%
Top 11-25% 21,160,646 $171,443 15.37% > $66,532 9.43%
Top 26-50% 35,267,743 $117,368 10.52% > $32,879 7.01%
Bottom 50% 70,535,485 $32,261 2.89% < $32,879 2.99%
Source

Using simple mathematics, we can calculate how much each group must pay to reduce the debt to zero.  Of course, this does not include any corporate taxes…but then it doesn’t include any state or local taxes.

  Number of Returns with Positive AGI Group's Share of Income Taxes Owed
Top 1% 1,410,710 40.42% $3,636,319.13
Top 2-5% 5,642,839 20.20% $454,315.06
Top 6-10% 7,053,548 10.59% $190,542.46
Top 11-25% 21,160,646 15.37% 92,182.48
Top 26-50% 35,267,743 10.52% $37,856.59
Bottom 50% 70,535,486 2.89% $5,199.88
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