How the IRS Helps the Rich Get Richer
The top 1 percent gets the most from federal tax breaks, a new report shows, fueling election-year outrage over income inequality.
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This U.S. presidential campaign, and particularly that of Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, moved the issue of income inequality front and center. Now there are some new numbers in that department, and they won’t make many people happy. At best, maybe just 1 out of 100.
The top 1 percent of Americans as measured by income rake in 17 percent of all U.S. income on an annual basis—before taxes, of course. And that caveat is important, according to a new analysis by the Tax Policy Center (TPC),1475094356528 because that select group of citizens gets 27 percent of the tax breaks doled out by the federal government.