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Who pays the most taxes?

Tax day is Wednesday, but who has the most legitimate gripe about paying income taxes? In other words, who pays the most?

The Wall Street Journal reported on a recent study by the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan research group, that shows the top 20 percent of American income earners, anyone making $134,300 or more, pay 83.9 percent of the nation’s income taxes. The top 20 percent of earners make 51.3 percent of the economy’s total income.

“The data comes from estimates … as Internal Revenue Service data for 2014 won’t be available for at least two years,” reported the Wall Street Journal. “Unlike IRS data, it includes information about nonfilers — both people who didn’t need to file and people who should have filed but didn’t. The total also includes Americans living overseas and others, which is why it is greater than the U.S. Census estimate of 319 million” people.

The bottom 20 percent of income earners, who make anywhere between zero and $24,200, actually share a negative percentage of income taxes, which means that they will get money back from the government. This 20 percent of income earners represent 4.5 percent of the total income earned in the U.S.

The Tax Policy Center data contrasts with a recent Pew Research Center study on people’s perceptions of their tax burden. The Pew survey found 53 percent feel that they are paying the right amount of taxes, while 40 percent feel that they are paying more than their fair share of taxes and only 4 percent saying they pay less than their fair share.

“Opinion varies considerably based on annual family income,” reported Pew. “Among those making $100,000 or more, 54 percent think they pay more than their fair share; among adults with incomes less than $30,000, just 27 percent say this.”

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