I don't know if this link still works. Bottom 20% pays 18% Second 20% pays 14% Middle 20% pays 14% Fourth 20% pays 17% Top 20% pays 19%
The rates for the working poor and the rich are fairly close together, Professor Kotlikoff said, in part because of the disproportionate effect of multiple taxation on low-income families. "You can have quintuple or octuple layers of taxation quite easily." Nonetheless, "the real issue is not the number of layers, it's the high effective tax rates at the margin."