real tax burden distribution

Media_httpvoiceswashi_kbibe

Saw lots of interesting discussion in my social nets on taxes today. Some of it even reasonable :-).

The graph above was from http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/04/do_the_poor_really_pay_no...

It's important to keep this one in mind, because it compares total tax liability and income percentages, and not just income tax.

Because income tax gets focused on one day it's easy to get wrapped in how many people or what percentages are paid of income tax. But the real thing to consider should be total tax liability if you want to compare how "fair" taxes burdens are.

Personally, I think that the graph above is important to keep in mind. I think it shows why saying that almost 50% of people pay no taxes is dubious. It makes me think that things aren't as bad as I usually think they are! :-)