Average Income: PreTax vs AfterTax 2005

by Catherine Mulbrandon

in Other

I created this graph showing the average income for different household percentiles, comparing pretax income and aftertax income. The minimum income threshold for each percentile is noted in the graph.

{Click on the image to take a closer look}
Average Income: PreTax vs AfterTax magnifying glass

Data from Congressional Budget Office

[tags]United States, Income tax, average income[/tags]

Post Revisions:

There are no revisions for this post.

Tagged as: Bar Chart, Congressional Budget Office, Income - Average, Median, Income - Share of, Tax collection, Tax Rates, United States

  • https://www.torproject.org Thinker

    This graph hides the percent tax rates for those not in the Top 1%. Perhaps a better graph is to show pre and after-tax rates for each percentile, leaving off the total income. This graph really shows that the Top 1% make vastly more than anyone else.

  • Larry Duncan

    I believe that this graph if for Federal INCOME TAXES not Federal Taxes (Social Security, Mecicare, excise taxes, etc)otherwise the effective Tax rate could not be less than 7.65% for social security and medicare

  • Dale Ward

    Mr. Duncan forgets that those earning more than $100,000 do not pay the FICA tax on income exceeding that first $100,000. So it is indeed possible to have a tax rate that is less than 7.65% for all federal taxes. If the inheritance tax (the so called “death tax” that affects only those leaving millions in inheritance) is abolished, then meaningful wealth redistribution from the richest to the poorest will cease to exist. The pot at the end of the wealth rainbow will grow larger and larger, and fewer and fewer people will have access to it. Meanwhile, the “American” dream of owning a home, a car, and being debt free is being denied to a far greater percentage of people here than in any other “first world” nation on Earth, even with the inheritance tax in place. A far better chart to show disparity would be one that shows wealth distribution. That chart can be described easily. If you take all the wealth held by the 80% of the population on the lower end of the chart above, and scaled the bar representing that wealth to one inch high, how high would the bar for the top 1% need to be? Over 33 feet tall…

Previous post:

Next post: