The top 10 percent of U.S. earners pay roughly 72 percent of all federal individual income tax, based on IRS data for tax year 2022. That same group reported 49.4 percent of the country’s total adjusted gross income, so they pay a share of the tax that runs well ahead of their share of the income. Once payroll taxes and other federal levies are added in, their share of all federal taxes drops, but still sits around 60 percent or higher.
Who Is in the Top 10 Percent
The IRS sorts filers by Adjusted Gross Income, and for tax year 2022, an AGI of about $100,000 was enough to put you in the top 10 percent of all returns. That is lower than most people expect. A dual-income household where one spouse earns $65,000 and the other earns $45,000 clears the line.
AGI is your wages, salaries, interest, dividends, capital gains, and business income, minus a short list of above-the-line deductions like retirement contributions and student loan interest. It appears on line 11 of Form 1040, before the standard or itemized deduction.1Internal Revenue Service. Definition of Adjusted Gross Income The IRS uses AGI, not taxable income or take-home pay, when it ranks filers into income groups.
The 72 Percent Figure in Context
For 2022, the top 10 percent of filers paid about 72 percent of federal individual income tax while earning 49.4 percent of total AGI. The gap between earning roughly half the income and paying nearly three-quarters of the tax is the defining feature of a progressive rate structure.
Effective rates line up with that gap. The top decile faced an average effective federal income tax rate of about 21 percent in 2022. The bottom 50 percent of filers earned 11.5 percent of total AGI, paid roughly 3 percent of individual income tax, and faced an average effective rate near 4 percent. Refundable credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit pull many lower-income filers to zero liability or into net payments from the government, which is a large part of why the bottom half’s share is so small.
These figures cover federal individual income tax only. That tax is the single largest source of federal revenue, accounting for roughly half of all money the government collects.2U.S. Treasury Fiscal Data. Government Revenue It is not, however, the entire federal tax system.
Why Capital Gains Move the Number
Capital gains are the single biggest reason the top earners’ tax share swings from year to year. An IRS study found that 75.7 percent of all capital gains go to the top 10 percent of earners, and 45.3 percent go to the top 1 percent alone.3Internal Revenue Service. The Distribution of Capital Gains in the United States In a strong market year, realized gains surge, AGI at the top spikes, and the measured tax share climbs. In a downturn, the share drops even if nothing in the tax code changed.
Long-term capital gains also run on their own rate schedule. For 2026, the 20 percent rate starts at $545,500 for single filers and $613,700 for married couples filing jointly, with gains below those levels taxed at 0 or 15 percent. Those preferential rates mean investment income is taxed more lightly than wages at the same dollar level, which lowers the effective rate for filers who earn a large share of their income from selling assets.
What Changes When You Count All Federal Taxes
Individual income tax is one piece of the federal system. The government also collects payroll taxes, corporate income taxes, and excise taxes, and each of those shifts the burden differently.
Payroll Taxes Pull the Share Down
Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes make up about 35 percent of total federal revenue.2U.S. Treasury Fiscal Data. Government Revenue The Social Security portion applies only to earnings up to $184,500 in 2026, so every dollar above that threshold escapes the 6.2 percent tax entirely.4Social Security Administration. Social Security Tax Limits on Your Earnings A worker earning $80,000 pays on every paycheck. A worker earning $500,000 stops paying after the first 37 percent of their income. That wage cap makes payroll taxes regressive and pulls the top decile’s share of total federal taxes below their share of income tax.
For most households outside the top 10 percent, payroll taxes actually exceed their federal income tax bill. Combining the employee’s 6.2 percent Social Security and 1.45 percent Medicare contributions with the employer’s matching share, the payroll burden on a median-income worker often outweighs income tax after credits and deductions.
Surtaxes That Hit Only High Earners
Two additional federal taxes land almost entirely on the top decile. The Additional Medicare Tax adds 0.9 percent on wages above $200,000, with no employer match.5Internal Revenue Service. Publication 926, Household Employer’s Tax Guide The Net Investment Income Tax adds 3.8 percent on investment income once modified AGI exceeds $200,000 for single filers or $250,000 for married couples filing jointly.6Internal Revenue Service. Questions and Answers on the Net Investment Income Tax Neither threshold is indexed to inflation, so more filers cross into these taxes every year without any real rise in purchasing power.
The Corporate Tax
The corporate income tax rate has sat at a flat 21 percent since the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut it from 35 percent. Who ultimately bears that tax is a long-running economic debate. A 2024 Brookings Institution study estimated that between 50 and 80 percent of the corporate tax burden falls on capital owners and shareholders, with the remainder passed to workers through lower wages. Because stock and business equity are heavily concentrated at the top, most of the corporate tax burden also lands on the top 10 percent, even though it never appears on their individual returns.
Combined Share
Pulling everything together, Congressional Budget Office data shows the top 20 percent of households paid about 70 percent of total federal taxes in 2022. The top 10 percent’s share of all federal taxes is lower than their 72 percent share of income tax alone because the regressive payroll structure dilutes the concentration. A reasonable estimate puts the top decile at roughly 60 percent or more of all federal taxes, with the exact figure depending on how corporate tax and employer-side payroll contributions are allocated.
One important boundary: these shares are federal only. State income taxes, state and local sales taxes, and property taxes follow very different patterns, and some are flat or regressive. Adding them in would further dilute the top decile’s overall tax share.
Why the Top Share Has Grown
The top earners’ slice of federal income tax has climbed steadily since the 1980s, even in years when Congress cut top marginal rates. The top 1 percent alone went from about 33 percent of income taxes in 2001 to over 40 percent by 2022. Part of that reflects income itself becoming more concentrated at the top; even at a constant rate structure, a group earning a bigger share of income will pay a bigger share of the tax.
Policy changes contributed too. When the 2017 TCJA cut the corporate rate, some business owners shifted income from the corporate side to the individual side through pass-through structures, which showed up statistically as more individual income tax paid by top earners. The expansion of refundable credits over the last two decades reduced or eliminated income tax liability for many lower-income filers, which mechanically pushes the top group’s share higher as well.