How much of the federal income tax does each income group pay?

In tax year 2023, the 1% of tax returns with the highest incomes paid 38.4% of all federal income tax, the next 9% paid 32.1%, the next 40% paid 26.2% and the bottom 50% paid 3.3%. The top 1% reported 20.6% of all income and the bottom 50% reported 12.3%. Groups are tax returns ranked by adjusted gross income, leaving out returns of people claimed as someone's dependent; the top 1% started at $675,602 of income and the top half at $53,801. Income tax here is what returns owed after credits, never below zero; refundable credits paid out as refunds and payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare aren't counted. IRS figures are estimates from a sample of returns and come out about two years after the tax year.

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Key facts

Measure: Share of all federal income tax paid, %. Written from the data below.

  • Top 1% has the highest figure, 38.4%.
  • Bottom 50% has the lowest figure, 3.3%.
  • The highest is 12 times the lowest.

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Chartly. “How much of the federal income tax does each income group pay?” Chart. Data: IRS Statistics of Income, Table 4.1 (individual returns by income percentile), https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-individual-statistical-tables-by-tax-rate-and-income-percentile (data as of December 31, 2023). https://chart.ly/charts/income-tax-share-by-income-group (accessed October 17, 2026).

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Tax returns, by income Share of all federal income tax paid, %
Top 1% 38.4
Next 9% 32.14
Next 40% 26.2
Bottom 50% 3.26

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