A large chunk of the income tax in the U.S. is paid by a small slice of the population

See Your Income Taxes Are Due. Here’s Who Pays The Most by Laura Saunders. Excerpts:

"Which of these statements is true about 2022 individual income taxes? 

(A) They’ll provide 35% of federal revenue for the year. 

(B) Most of the 180 million taxpayers will be lower earners, as about 70% are expected to earn less than $100,000. In aggregate, they will earn nearly 30% of the income of individual U.S. taxpayers and owe about 1.5% of the income taxes. 

C) About one quarter of filers will earn between $100,000 and $500,000, and they’re expected to have nearly half the aggregate income and owe nearly half of income taxes.   

(D) The top earners will owe the most compared with their share of income. A small group—about 900,000 filers earning $1 million or more—will have 16% of income and owe nearly 40% of income taxes. 

The answer: All the statements are true except (A). Individual income taxes are expected to provide 54% of federal revenue for 2022"

"the data show that the lowest U.S. earners—about 43% of taxpayers with $50,000 or less—will earn about 10% of total income and owe -4.8% of income taxes."

"This picture changes if levies such as payroll and excise taxes are counted for this group, in part because they include flat taxes that can apply from the first dollar. In this case, filers earning $50,000 or less in aggregate will pay 3.5% of total taxes."

"nearly 80% of projected income taxes for 2022 will be paid by about 10% of filers earning $200,000 or more, and those earning $1 million or more will pay half of that. All told, filers in this group will earn 44% of income earned by individuals."

"many filers earning $1 million or more will get a large chunk of their income from long-term capital gains on investments rather than wages or other income. Overall, about 70% of long-term gains for 2022 are expected to come from people earning $1 million or more"

"Under current law, long-term gains have significant tax advantages. They include a top tax rate of 20% rather than the 37% top rate on wages; no tax due until an investment is sold; the ability to borrow against an investment without selling it and owing tax; and the “step-up” that exempts long-term gains from income taxes at death."

"the top 0.001% of earners—about 1,600 filers—had an average tax rate of 24%, lower than the average rate of 26% for the top 1% of filers."

"the number of filers with $1 million or more of income is expected to be 917,000 for 2022, compared with 597,000 in 2018, a 54% increase."

"words attributed to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, finance minister to King Louis XIV of France:   

“The art of taxation consists of plucking the goose so as to get the most feathers with the least hissing.”"