So lately Jonathan Stewart quoted a source as saying that average Americans pay 8% of their incomes annually in taxes – presumably Federal taxes, but much less than in a more Socialist state like Sweden. And years ago Mitt Romney went on about how 47% of Americans are “freeloaders,” evidently by comparison to the 15% he himself paid in income tax. But a few years back, before I retired, I was paying 6% of my paycheck in FICA taxes, and another 6% in Massachusetts state taxes. (Granted, the latter has deductions, but also taxes for interests and dividends.) So I paid 12% before I even started on my income taxes, and that doesn’t touch sales taxes, etc.
Does anybody know what a realistic number is for the famous “average American?”
It’s a bit complicated because some tax returns are for individuals, whereas others are for couples.
This website has lots of tax data chopped up different ways:
The mean rate for taxpayers was 13%, but that’s federal income tax only and excludes people who don’t pay that specific tax. Not all income is subject to FICA, etc. And the median rate will be lower based on how income is distributed. So it’s complicated and can be asked and calculated in different ways that are easily manipulated if one has a political axe to grind.
If you’d like people to stick to the facts, you may have better luck asking a mod to move this to FQ.
To the OP, I would be leery of putting much stock in media pundit quotes using terms like “average American”. One would have to see the underlying numbers, and have an understanding of the subtleties of “average” vs. “mean”, etc. It makes for good bumper-sticker copy, but is essentially meaningless in policy discussions, and should not be a source of emotional responses.
One reasonably straightforward presentation of international tax rates for comparison.
I’d definitely agree that you should be immediately suspicious of any comparison that boils down to one typical American figure. As the commentary notes, US state rates will depend on which state you’re in and sit on top of the quoted figures.
I know that I’ve read that the average total tax burden is relatively flat across the income spectrum, but I can’t find a cite. Most cites just look at income taxes, which is immediately wrong because that ignores wage taxes (social security and Medicare).
Other taxes are sales taxes (for those states that have them), real estate taxes (either direct for homeowners or implicit through rent), sin taxes on alcohol, cigarettes, and the like, use taxes (tolls, registrations). Real estate, sales, sin, and usage taxes all fall much more heavily on the poor, as a percentage of income.
Almost everybody in the USA pays sales tax. Almost everybody pays school taxes and town and/or county and/or village and/or city taxes, either directly or as part of their rent. Anybody who’s employed pays social security and medicare, which technically aren’t called taxes but are for all intents and purposes. Looking only at the income tax is often a way to present people as freeriders who are actually paying a large percentage of their income to cover government expenses.
Assuming that the average American is single, no dependents and making $54,132 (median wage according to BLS) and has done nothing to significantly reduce their tax burden. Using the 2023 FIT brackets and standard deduction the payroll taxes are
FIT $4613.84
SIT (Colorado) $1832.83 YMMV
SSI $3365.18
Medicare $784.91
Total Taxes: $10,587. 77
Effective Tax Rate: 19.56%
No, they are in addition. So like, the playing card company pays a nickle for each stamp for each deck of cards, but you also pay sales tax when you buy them.
